The Former French President to Pen Prison Memoir Detailing Two Dozen Days In Custody
Nicolas Sarkozy plans a book next month named Diary of a Prisoner, chronicling his experience served in custody.
The revelation emerged less than two weeks after the former president gained freedom while he appeals his conviction on charges of criminal conspiracy in a case to obtain presidential race money provided by the government of former Libyan leader.
Life Behind Bars: Solitary Musings
“Inside jail one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he writes in an extract, indicating the memoir centers around his thoughts during seclusion instead of extensive analysis regarding the strained and crisis-hit jail system in France.
“I forget silence, which is missing in that facility, where there is a lot to hear,” he states. “The noise is alas constant. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world is fortified in prison.”
Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle
While appealing for release, Sarkozy had appeared via screen from a room in prison, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He stated to the judge: “I must acknowledge those working in the jail, displaying remarkable compassion, and who have made this difficult experience tolerable – because it is a nightmare.”
“I never imagined at this stage of life, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a hardship forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, extremely tough. It leaves a mark every inmate due to its intensity.”
First of Its Kind
He, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, became the inaugural ex-leader in the European Union and the first leader since WWII from France to be incarcerated.
Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he planned to utilize the opportunity to write a book.
Reading Material
Unconfirmed is whether he had time to review and analyze the volumes he took into prison: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, in which an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to take revenge.
Life in Confinement
He remained in isolation due to safety concerns in a room of about nine sq metres including private facilities at La Santé prison in the city. Two bodyguards were stationed in a neighbouring cell.
Reports indicated that he had eaten just yogurt in prison worried that meals provided might have been spat on. Options were available for self-catering but he turned this down, based on unnamed sources. It is uncertain if he will detail what he ate in prison.
Legal Perspective
Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client each day during the incarceration, told the release hearing he would be safer outside jail rather than in custody. “There were death threats, listened to yells after dark plus rapid actions in an adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed.”
Legal Proceedings
He entered custody last month when a Paris court sentenced him to a five-year sentence on conspiracy charges related to a plan to obtain political donations during his election campaign.
He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and a fresh trial set for next spring.
