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Nicolas Sarkozy plans a personal account next month called Notes from a Cell, detailing his experience served in custody.

This news was made shortly following the ex-leader was released as he contests the guilty verdict for unlawful coordination regarding a scheme to acquire presidential race money from the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail visibility is limited, and nothing to do,” he writes in an extract, indicating the account will focus on his thoughts from isolation instead of extensive analysis of the packed and crisis-hit correctional facilities in the country.

“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist in that facility, where one hears endless commotion,” he adds. “The din persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world is strengthened in prison.”

Freedom Plea: Describing the Ordeal

While appealing for release, he participated remotely from a room in prison, depicting prison life as draining. He stated to the judge: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who helped make this difficult experience bearable – as it truly is one.”

“I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I would end up incarcerated. It’s a trial that has been imposed on me. I confess it’s hard, extremely tough. It affects one all who experience it due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

The former president, who served as France’s president from 2007 to 2012, became the inaugural ex-leader of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure of France to serve time in prison.

Ahead of his incarceration he mentioned he would use his time for authoring a memoir.

Reading Material

Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to go through the volumes he brought with him: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, in which a blameless person ends up incarcerated but escapes to seek vengeance.

Life in Confinement

The former leader remained secluded due to safety concerns in a cell approximately nine square meters including private facilities at La Santé prison in the city. Two bodyguards were stationed in a neighbouring cell.

Reports indicated his diet consisted just yogurt during his stay due to concerns prison cuisine may have been contaminated. He had facilities for self-catering yet he declined, based on unnamed sources. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

The legal representative, Christophe Ingrain every day during the incarceration, stated during proceedings he would be safer outside jail rather than in custody. “There were death threats, heard shouts after dark and emergency responses in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison on 21 October when a French court sentenced him to five years in prison on conspiracy charges in connection with efforts to secure campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He maintains his innocence and is contesting the ruling, with a new trial is scheduled for early next year.