The Former French President Preparing to Release Prison Memoir Chronicling His 20 Days Incarcerated
Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a personal account next month called Diary of a Prisoner, detailing the period spent in jail.
The announcement emerged just 11 days after Sarkozy left prison while his appeal proceeds his conviction related to unlawful coordination connected to efforts to secure election campaign funds from the regime of former Libyan leader.
Prison Experience: Inner Thoughts
“Inside jail visibility is limited, with little to occupy time,” he writes in an extract, implying the memoir centers around his reflections during seclusion rather than extensive analysis regarding the overcrowded and troubled French prison system.
“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist in La Santé, where noise is endless commotion,” he continues. “The din is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, personal reflection grows stronger behind bars.”
Court Appearance: Recounting the Hardship
During his plea for freedom, he participated by video link from a room in prison, depicting prison life as draining. He stated to the judge: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this ordeal tolerable – as it truly is one.”
“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a hardship that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It affects one every inmate as it’s exhausting.”
First of Its Kind
He, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, set a precedent as former head of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure of France to experience jail.
Before entering jail he declared he would use his time for authoring a memoir.
Cell Library
Unconfirmed is whether he had time to review and analyze the volumes he took into prison: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, in which a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated later flees to take revenge.
Life in Confinement
Sarkozy was placed secluded for his own security in a cell of about nine sq metres featuring a personal bathroom in the Paris jail located in the capital. Security personnel occupied the next cell.
It was stated that he consumed just yogurt during his stay because he feared prison cuisine might have been spat on. Options were available to prepare his own meals but refused this, based on unnamed sources. Not known is if he will detail meals during incarceration.
Defense Viewpoint
Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly every day throughout the jail term, stated during proceedings he would be safer released rather than in custody. “He received death threats, has heard screaming at night and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”
Case Background
His incarceration began last month when a Paris court gave him five years in prison on conspiracy charges related to a plan to acquire political donations during his election campaign.
He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and another court case set for next spring.
