🔗 Share this article

Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a book this autumn named Notes from a Cell, detailing his time endured behind bars.

The announcement emerged just 11 days after the ex-leader left prison while he appeals his conviction on charges of unlawful coordination connected to efforts to obtain election campaign funds from the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail visibility is limited, with little to occupy time,” he notes in one passage, implying the memoir will focus on his reflections while in solitary confinement as opposed to wider commentary regarding the strained and troubled correctional facilities in the country.

“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist in La Santé, where noise is a lot to hear,” he adds. “The noise persists relentlessly. However, akin to empty spaces, inner life grows stronger behind bars.”

Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle

While appealing for release, he participated via screen from a room in prison, depicting prison life as exhausting. He had told the court: “I must acknowledge those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this difficult experience bearable – as it truly is one.”

“I didn’t expect at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s a trial that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It affects one every inmate because it’s gruelling.”

First of Its Kind

He, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, was the first former head from the EU and the first postwar leader from France to serve time in prison.

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

Reading Material

Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to go through the volumes he had in his cell: a two-volume biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, where a blameless person is sentenced to jail but escapes to exact retribution.

Prison Conditions

The former leader was held secluded for his own security in a cell of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet at La Santé prison located in the capital. Two bodyguards occupied an adjacent room.

It was stated that he had eaten just yogurt while inside worried that prison cuisine could have been tampered with. Although he had access for self-catering yet he declined, as per accounts. Unclear remains if he will detail meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly daily while he was in prison, informed the court security would be better out of prison compared to inside. “He received menacing messages, heard shouts at night and emergency responses next door during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Charges and Sentence

He entered custody in late October following a French court sentenced him to a five-year sentence on conspiracy charges related to a plan to acquire campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He disputes the charges and has appealed against the verdict, and a fresh trial planned for early next year.