The Former French President Set to Write Jail Diary Detailing Two Dozen Days Incarcerated
Nicolas Sarkozy plans a personal account in the coming weeks titled Notes from a Cell, detailing his experience spent in custody.
The announcement was made shortly after Sarkozy left prison while he appeals the guilty verdict on charges of criminal conspiracy in a case to secure presidential race money linked to the leadership of former Libyan leader.
Life Behind Bars: Solitary Musings
“Behind bars there is nothing to see, with little to occupy time,” he notes in an extract, suggesting the memoir centers around his reflections from isolation instead of wider commentary of the strained and struggling French prison system.
“Silence escapes me, not present in that facility, where one hears endless commotion,” he continues. “The racket unfortunately never stops. However, akin to empty spaces, inner life is fortified in prison.”
Freedom Plea: Sharing the Struggle
During his plea for freedom, Sarkozy participated remotely from a room in prison, characterizing his incarceration as exhausting. He had told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this ordeal tolerable – because it is a nightmare.”
“I never imagined that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s a hardship forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It has an impact all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”
First of Its Kind
The former president, 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.
Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he would use his time to write a book.
Books in Prison
It is not certain if he found the opportunity to review and analyze the texts he brought with him: a life story of Jesus spanning two books and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, in which an innocent man ends up incarcerated but escapes to exact retribution.
Life in Confinement
He was held in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a room roughly 100 square feet featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison located in the capital. Security personnel were stationed in an adjacent room.
It was stated his diet consisted only yoghurts in prison due to concerns prison cuisine may have been contaminated. He had facilities to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, as per accounts. Unclear remains whether Sarkozy will write about his dietary choices.
Legal Perspective
Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client each day throughout the jail term, told the release hearing he would be safer outside jail compared to inside. “He received menacing messages, heard shouts at night and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”
Charges and Sentence
He entered custody on 21 October following a Paris court sentenced him to a half-decade term for criminal conspiracy in connection with efforts to secure political donations for his presidential bid.
He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, with a new trial planned for early next year.
