Nicolas Sarkozy to Pen Prison Memoir Detailing His 20 Days Incarcerated
The ex-president of France will soon publish a personal account next month named A Prisoner’s Diary, which recounts his experience endured in jail.
The announcement was made less than two weeks following Sarkozy gained freedom while he appeals his conviction related to criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to obtain election campaign funds from the leadership of former Libyan leader.
Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts
“Inside jail there is nothing to see, and nothing to do,” he notes in one passage, implying the memoir centers around his thoughts during isolation instead of a broader observation of the packed and struggling correctional facilities in the country.
“Silence escapes me, which is missing in La Santé, where noise is a lot to hear,” he continues. “The racket unfortunately never stops. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world grows stronger behind bars.”
Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle
While appealing for release, Sarkozy was present via screen from inside the facility, depicting prison life as gruelling. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who helped make this ordeal bearable – because it is a nightmare.”
“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s an ordeal I must endure. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It has an impact on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”
Unprecedented Situation
The former president, the ex-head of state between 2007 and 2012, became the inaugural former head of an EU country and the first leader since WWII of France to be incarcerated.
Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he would use his time to write a book.
Cell Library
Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to read and critique the volumes he had in his cell: a two-volume biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, where a blameless person ends up incarcerated but escapes to exact retribution.
Prison Conditions
He was placed in isolation due to safety concerns in a cell roughly 100 square feet featuring a personal bathroom in the Paris jail in the city. Two bodyguards stayed in a neighbouring cell.
Reports indicated that he consumed only yoghurts in prison because he feared meals provided might have been spat on. Although he had access to prepare his own meals yet he declined, based on unnamed sources. Not known is if he will detail what he ate in prison.
Defense Viewpoint
Sarkozy’s lawyer, who saw him regularly each day during the incarceration, informed the court his safety would improve released rather than in custody. “There were threats against his life, has heard screaming after dark plus rapid actions next door as a detainee harmed themselves.”
Case Background
His incarceration began last month when the judiciary imposed a half-decade term on conspiracy charges related to a plan to acquire political donations for his presidential bid.
He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, with a new trial is scheduled for early next year.
