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The ex-president of France will soon publish a personal account in the coming weeks called Notes from a Cell, which recounts his experience spent behind bars.

The announcement emerged less than two weeks following the former president was released while his appeal proceeds the court ruling for illegal collaboration in a case to acquire political financing linked to the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Prison Experience: Inner Thoughts

“Inside jail there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he notes in a preview, suggesting the book will focus on his reflections during isolation as opposed to wider commentary of the strained and struggling correctional facilities in the country.

“Quiet is absent, which is missing in La Santé, where noise is constant sound,” he states. “The racket is alas constant. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world is fortified in prison.”

Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship

While appealing for release, Sarkozy was present by video link from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as draining. He stated to the judge: “I must acknowledge to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this difficult experience tolerable – as it truly is one.”

“I didn’t expect that at 70 years of age, I would end up incarcerated. It’s an ordeal I must endure. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It affects one on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

Historical Context

Sarkozy, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, set a precedent as past president in the European Union and the initial post-WWII figure in the French Republic to experience jail.

Prior to imprisonment he declared he would use his time for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

It remains unclear whether he had time to go through the three books he took into prison: a life story of Jesus spanning two books plus the novel by Dumas the classic tale, in which a wrongfully accused individual is sentenced to jail later flees to seek vengeance.

Life in Confinement

The former leader remained in isolation due to safety concerns in a cell of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail in the city. Two bodyguards stayed in an adjacent room.

Reports indicated his diet consisted solely dairy snacks in prison worried that prison cuisine might have been spat on. Options were available to cook for himself but refused this, based on unnamed sources. Unclear remains whether Sarkozy will write about his dietary choices.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who visited his client every day during the incarceration, stated during proceedings his safety would improve outside jail than inside. “He has faced menacing messages, listened to yells during nighttime and emergency responses next door when a prisoner self-harmed.”

Case Background

Sarkozy went to prison in late October after the judiciary gave him a half-decade term for illegal collaboration over a scheme to acquire campaign funds for his presidential bid.

He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case set for the coming spring.