Nicolas Sarkozy Set to Write Prison Memoir Documenting Three Weeks In Custody
The ex-president of France is preparing a memoir this autumn named Notes from a Cell, which recounts his experience spent behind bars.
The revelation came less than two weeks following Sarkozy gained freedom as he appeals the court ruling for unlawful coordination in a case to secure presidential race money from the regime of the late Libyan dictator.
Life Behind Bars: Solitary Musings
“In prison one sees little, and nothing to do,” he reflects in one passage, suggesting the memoir is more about his thoughts during isolation as opposed to extensive analysis of the overcrowded and crisis-hit French prison system.
“Quiet is absent, which is missing in that facility, where there is a lot to hear,” he states. “The racket persists relentlessly. Yet, similar to barren lands, personal reflection grows stronger while incarcerated.”
Court Appearance: Describing the Ordeal
During his plea for freedom, Sarkozy had appeared via screen from a room in prison, describing his time inside as exhausting. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute those working in the jail, showing great humanity, easing this difficult experience bearable – since it’s deeply troubling.”
“I never imagined at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. I confess it’s hard, extremely tough. It has an impact every inmate due to its intensity.”
Historical Context
Sarkozy, the ex-head of state from 2007 to 2012, was the first past president of an EU country and the first leader since WWII in the French Republic to experience jail.
Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he intended to spend the period to write a book.
Cell Library
Unconfirmed is whether he had time to go through the volumes he brought with him: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual is sentenced to jail then breaks out to seek vengeance.
Daily Reality
He remained in isolation to protect him in a cell approximately nine square meters including private facilities at the correctional facility in the city. Guards were stationed in an adjacent room.
It was stated his diet consisted solely dairy snacks during his stay worried that any food could have been tampered with. Although he had access to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, based on unnamed sources. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about meals during incarceration.
Lawyer’s Statements
His attorney, who visited his client every day during the incarceration, told the release hearing he would be safer released than inside. “He has faced threats against his life, heard shouts at night and the urgent intervention in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”
Legal Proceedings
His incarceration began on 21 October after a Paris court gave him five years in prison for illegal collaboration over a scheme to obtain election financing for his presidential bid.
He disputes the charges and is contesting the ruling, and another court case is scheduled for the coming spring.
