Nicolas Sarkozy Set to Write Prison Memoir Chronicling Three Weeks In Custody
The ex-president of France will soon publish a personal account this autumn named Diary of a Prisoner, chronicling his time served in jail.
The announcement was made just 11 days following the former president left prison as he appeals the guilty verdict on charges of illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to secure political financing from the regime of the late Libyan dictator.
Life Behind Bars: Personal Reflections
“Behind bars there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he notes in one passage, suggesting the account is more about his musings from solitary confinement as opposed to extensive analysis regarding the overcrowded and crisis-hit jail system in France.
“I forget silence, which is missing in that facility, where there is a lot to hear,” he continues. “The noise unfortunately never stops. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world grows stronger behind bars.”
Court Appearance: Recounting the Hardship
At his release request hearing, Sarkozy had appeared via screen from his cell, depicting prison life as gruelling. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, showing great humanity, and who helped make this ordeal bearable – as it truly is one.”
“I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I would end up incarcerated. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, extremely tough. It affects one on any prisoner as it’s exhausting.”
Historical Context
He, who served as France’s president between 2007 and 2012, was the first past president in the European Union and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to experience jail.
Prior to imprisonment he declared he planned to utilize the opportunity to compose an account.
Books in Prison
It is not certain if he found the opportunity to read and critique the three books he took into prison: a life story of Jesus spanning two books and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the famous story, a plot where a blameless person is imprisoned later flees to exact retribution.
Prison Conditions
He was held in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a room of about nine sq metres including private facilities at La Santé prison in the city. Two bodyguards occupied a neighbouring cell.
Sources mentioned that he consumed solely dairy snacks in prison due to concerns any food could have been tampered with. Options were available to prepare his own meals but refused this, based on unnamed sources. Not known is if the memoir includes what he ate in prison.
Legal Perspective
His attorney, who saw him regularly each day during the incarceration, informed the court security would be better outside jail compared to inside. “He has faced death threats, heard shouts during nighttime plus rapid actions next door during an inmate’s self-injury.”
Case Background
His incarceration began last month following a Paris court imposed five years in prison for illegal collaboration over a scheme to acquire political donations for his 2007 presidential race.
He denies wrongdoing and is contesting the ruling, and another court case is scheduled for early next year.
