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Nicolas Sarkozy plans a personal account in the coming weeks titled A Prisoner’s Diary, which recounts his experience spent in jail.

The announcement emerged shortly after Sarkozy left prison while he contests the court ruling for criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to secure political financing from the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Prison Experience: Inner Thoughts

“In prison there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he writes in an extract, indicating the account will focus on his reflections while in isolation as opposed to a broader observation regarding the strained and crisis-hit jail system in France.

“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist at the prison, where noise is endless commotion,” he continues. “The noise persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world grows stronger in prison.”

Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle

While appealing for release, the former leader had appeared remotely from inside the facility, depicting prison life as exhausting. He stated to the judge: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, showing great humanity, 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. I admit it’s difficult, extremely tough. It leaves a mark all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”

First of Its Kind

He, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, was the first past president in the European Union and the first postwar leader of France to be incarcerated.

Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he would use his time for authoring a memoir.

Reading Material

It remains unclear whether he had time to go through the volumes he had in his cell: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, where a blameless person is sentenced to jail then breaks out to take revenge.

Prison Conditions

He was placed in isolation for his own security in a space roughly 100 square feet featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison in Paris. Guards stayed in a neighbouring cell.

It was stated that he had eaten only yoghurts while inside due to concerns prison cuisine could have been tampered with. He had facilities for self-catering but he turned this down, according to reports. Unclear remains if he will detail meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who saw him regularly each day during the incarceration, informed the court his safety would improve outside jail than inside. “There were menacing messages, has heard screaming after dark and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Case Background

Sarkozy went to prison last month after a French court gave him a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration related to a plan to secure political donations for his presidential bid.

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