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Nicolas Sarkozy plans a book this autumn called A Prisoner’s Diary, chronicling his experience endured in jail.

The revelation came shortly after the ex-leader was released while his appeal proceeds his conviction on charges of illegal collaboration connected to efforts to obtain presidential race money provided by the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail visibility is limited, and nothing to do,” he notes in a preview, indicating the book will focus on his thoughts while in isolation as opposed to extensive analysis on the overcrowded and crisis-hit French prison system.

“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist at the prison, where there is a lot to hear,” he continues. “The noise is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, personal reflection grows stronger in prison.”

Court Appearance: Describing the Ordeal

At his release request hearing, Sarkozy had appeared via screen from inside the facility, characterizing his incarceration as exhausting. He expressed in court: “I must acknowledge the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this ordeal bearable – as it truly is one.”

“I never imagined that in my seventies, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It affects one all who experience it due to its intensity.”

Unprecedented Situation

He, the ex-head of state from 2007 to 2012, was the first past president from the EU and the first postwar leader from France to be incarcerated.

Before entering jail he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity for authoring a memoir.

Books in Prison

It is not certain if he found the opportunity to go through the volumes he took into prison: a life story of Jesus spanning two books and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the famous story, where an innocent man is sentenced to jail but escapes to seek vengeance.

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy remained secluded to protect him in a cell approximately nine square meters featuring a personal bathroom in the Paris jail in the city. Two bodyguards were stationed in an adjacent room.

It was stated his diet consisted just yogurt in prison because he feared any food may have been contaminated. Although he had access to prepare his own meals but refused this, based on unnamed sources. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about meals during incarceration.

Legal Perspective

His attorney, who visited his client each day while he was in prison, informed the court he would be safer released than inside. “He has faced death threats, heard shouts at night and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Legal Proceedings

His incarceration began in late October after a French court imposed a five-year sentence on conspiracy charges in connection with efforts to acquire political donations for his presidential bid.

He maintains his innocence and is contesting the ruling, with a new trial set for the coming spring.