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The ex-president of France plans a memoir in the coming weeks named Diary of a Prisoner, detailing the period endured behind bars.

The revelation came less than two weeks after Sarkozy left prison while he appeals his conviction for illegal collaboration connected to efforts to secure political financing from the government of the late Libyan dictator.

Prison Experience: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail there is nothing to see, with little to occupy time,” he notes in one passage, suggesting the memoir will focus on his reflections during solitary confinement rather than a broader observation of the packed and troubled French prison system.

“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where one hears constant sound,” he adds. “The racket is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, inner life is strengthened behind bars.”

Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle

During his plea for freedom, the former leader had appeared by video link from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as exhausting. He had told the court: “I must acknowledge to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this ordeal bearable – as it truly is one.”

“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a hardship I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It affects one all who experience it due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

He, the ex-head of state between 2007 and 2012, set a precedent as former head in the European Union and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to be incarcerated.

Before entering jail he mentioned he would use his time for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

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 classic tale, a plot where a blameless person ends up incarcerated but escapes to seek vengeance.

Prison Conditions

He was held secluded for his own security in a cell of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail in the city. Guards stayed in the next cell.

Reports indicated that he consumed solely dairy snacks during his stay worried that any food may have been contaminated. Although he had access for self-catering yet he declined, as per accounts. It is uncertain whether Sarkozy will write about meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client every day during the incarceration, told the release hearing he would be safer outside jail than inside. “There were death threats, heard shouts at night and the urgent intervention next door as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Legal Proceedings

His incarceration began on 21 October when a Paris court imposed five years in prison for criminal conspiracy in connection with efforts to secure election financing for his 2007 presidential race.

He disputes the charges and has appealed against the verdict, with a new trial is scheduled for early next year.