Nicolas Sarkozy Preparing to Release Prison Memoir Documenting His 20 Days In Custody
The ex-president of France is preparing a personal account next month called Diary of a Prisoner, chronicling his time served in jail.
The revelation came shortly following the ex-leader left prison as he appeals the court ruling for unlawful coordination regarding a scheme to acquire presidential race money provided by the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.
Life Behind Bars: Personal Reflections
“Inside jail there is nothing to see, and nothing to do,” he notes in an extract, suggesting the account will focus on his musings during isolation as opposed to a broader observation regarding the strained and struggling correctional facilities in the country.
“Quiet is absent, not present in La Santé, where one hears a lot to hear,” he adds. “The din is alas constant. But, just like the desert, personal reflection grows stronger behind bars.”
Freedom Plea: Sharing the Struggle
At his release request hearing, the former leader was present remotely from a room in prison, describing his time inside as gruelling. He stated to the judge: “I must acknowledge to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who helped make this difficult experience tolerable – as it truly is one.”
“It never crossed my mind that at 70 years of age, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a trial I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It has an impact every inmate because it’s gruelling.”
First of Its Kind
Sarkozy, who served as France’s president between 2007 and 2012, was the first former head of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure of France to experience jail.
Before entering jail he mentioned he planned to utilize the opportunity for authoring a memoir.
Reading Material
It remains unclear whether he had time to read and critique the texts he had in his cell: a life story of Jesus spanning two books together with Dumas’s work the classic tale, where an innocent man is sentenced to jail later flees to exact retribution.
Daily Reality
He was placed in solitary confinement for his own security in a room roughly 100 square feet featuring a personal bathroom in the Paris jail located in the capital. Guards were stationed in the next cell.
Sources mentioned his diet consisted only yoghurts while inside because he feared meals provided might have been spat on. He had facilities to cook for himself but he turned this down, based on unnamed sources. Unclear remains if he will detail meals during incarceration.
Defense Viewpoint
Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly daily during the incarceration, told the release hearing security would be better outside jail than inside. “There were menacing messages, listened to yells during nighttime plus rapid actions in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”
Legal Proceedings
Sarkozy went to prison last month after a Paris court imposed a half-decade term for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to obtain campaign funds during his election campaign.
He maintains his innocence and is contesting the ruling, and another court case is scheduled for the coming spring.
