🔗 Share this article Nicolas Sarkozy Set to Write Prison Memoir Documenting Three Weeks Behind Bars The ex-president of France will soon publish a memoir this autumn titled Notes from a Cell, chronicling the period spent behind bars. The announcement emerged less than two weeks following the ex-leader left prison while he appeals the court ruling for criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to acquire presidential race money from the government of the late Libyan dictator. Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts “Behind bars one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he notes in one passage, indicating the book is more about his reflections from isolation rather than a broader observation regarding the overcrowded and troubled correctional facilities in the country. “Silence escapes me, which is missing at the prison, where noise is constant sound,” he continues. “The racket is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, one’s inner world grows stronger while incarcerated.” Court Appearance: Sharing the Struggle At his release request hearing, he had appeared remotely from his cell, describing his time inside as draining. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, easing this difficult experience tolerable – as it truly is one.” “I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a trial that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It affects one on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.” Unprecedented Situation The former president, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, became the inaugural ex-leader in the European Union and the first postwar leader of France to experience jail. Before entering jail he mentioned he would use his time to write a book. Reading Material It remains unclear if he found the opportunity to read and critique the texts he had in his cell: a life story of Jesus spanning two books together with Dumas’s work the classic tale, in which an innocent man ends up incarcerated then breaks out to take revenge. Life in Confinement The former leader was placed in isolation for his own security in a room roughly 100 square feet including private facilities in the Paris jail located in the capital. Guards occupied a neighbouring cell. It was stated that he consumed solely dairy snacks during his stay worried that meals provided could have been tampered with. Although he had access to cook for himself but he turned this down, as per accounts. Not known is if the memoir includes meals during incarceration. Defense Viewpoint Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client every day throughout the jail term, told the release hearing security would be better out of prison rather than in custody. “There were menacing messages, has heard screaming after dark plus rapid actions in a neighbouring cell when a prisoner self-harmed.” Legal Proceedings He entered custody last month when a French court sentenced him to a five-year sentence on conspiracy charges related to a plan to acquire election financing for his presidential bid. He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case is scheduled for the coming spring.