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Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a memoir in the coming weeks named Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts his time endured behind bars.

The revelation was made shortly after the former president was released while he appeals the court ruling for illegal collaboration connected to efforts to secure presidential race money from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Prison Experience: Personal Reflections

“Inside jail visibility is limited, and nothing to do,” he reflects in one passage, implying the memoir will focus on his musings from seclusion as opposed to a broader observation on the overcrowded and struggling jail system in France.

“Silence escapes me, which is missing in that facility, where there is a lot to hear,” he continues. “The din is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, personal reflection is strengthened behind bars.”

Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal

While appealing for release, he had appeared remotely from a room in prison, describing his time inside as exhausting. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, 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 an ordeal that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It affects one every inmate as it’s exhausting.”

Unprecedented Situation

He, who served as France’s president between 2007 and 2012, set a precedent as ex-leader in the European Union and the first leader since WWII from France to experience jail.

Prior to imprisonment he mentioned he planned to utilize the opportunity for authoring a memoir.

Books in Prison

Unconfirmed is did he manage to review and analyze the volumes he brought with him: a two-volume biography of Jesus plus the novel by Dumas the classic tale, where an innocent man is imprisoned then breaks out to take revenge.

Daily Reality

He remained secluded for his own security in a cell of about nine sq metres featuring a personal bathroom in the Paris jail in Paris. Guards were stationed in an adjacent room.

Sources mentioned that he consumed just yogurt in prison worried that meals provided could have been tampered with. Although he had access for self-catering but refused this, as per accounts. It is uncertain whether Sarkozy will write about meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who visited his client daily while he was in prison, told the release hearing his safety would improve released compared to inside. “He has faced threats against his life, listened to yells during nighttime and the urgent intervention in an adjacent room during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison in late October following a Paris court sentenced him to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to secure campaign funds during his election campaign.

He maintains his innocence challenging the decision, with a new trial planned for early next year.