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The ex-president of France is preparing a memoir next month called A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing his experience served behind bars.

This news was made less than two weeks following the former president left prison while his appeal proceeds the court ruling related to criminal conspiracy in a case to acquire election campaign funds from the leadership of the late Libyan dictator.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail there is nothing to see, and nothing to do,” he notes in an extract, suggesting the book centers around his thoughts during solitary confinement rather than wider commentary of the packed and crisis-hit jail system in France.

“Silence escapes me, not present at the prison, where one hears endless commotion,” he continues. “The racket unfortunately never stops. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world grows stronger while incarcerated.”

Freedom Plea: Sharing the Struggle

During his plea for freedom, the former leader had appeared via screen from inside the facility, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this difficult experience manageable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a hardship I must endure. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It affects one on any prisoner due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

He, who led the nation for a five-year term, set a precedent as former head of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure of France to experience jail.

Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he planned to utilize the opportunity for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

It is not certain did he manage to go through the volumes he took into prison: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the famous story, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek vengeance.

Daily Reality

The former leader was placed in isolation for his own security in a space roughly 100 square feet including private facilities in the Paris jail located in the capital. Two bodyguards stayed in the next cell.

Reports indicated that he consumed solely dairy snacks while inside worried that meals provided could have been tampered with. Although he had access to prepare his own meals yet he declined, as per accounts. It is uncertain if he will detail meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain every day during the incarceration, stated during proceedings security would be better outside jail than inside. “He received menacing messages, listened to yells at night and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Legal Proceedings

He entered custody last month after the judiciary gave him a half-decade term on conspiracy charges over a scheme to secure campaign funds for his presidential bid.

He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, with a new trial set for next spring.