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Nicolas Sarkozy plans a book this autumn titled Notes from a Cell, which recounts the period served in custody.

The announcement was made just 11 days following Sarkozy gained freedom as he contests the guilty verdict for unlawful coordination connected to efforts to obtain election campaign funds provided by the leadership of the late Libyan dictator.

Prison Experience: Solitary Musings

“Inside jail one sees little, and activities are scarce,” he writes in an extract, implying the memoir is more about his thoughts during isolation rather than extensive analysis of the strained and crisis-hit correctional facilities in the country.

“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist at the prison, where there is constant sound,” he continues. “The noise persists relentlessly. However, akin to empty spaces, inner life is strengthened in prison.”

Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle

During his plea for freedom, the former leader had appeared via screen from his cell, describing his time inside as gruelling. He stated to the judge: “I must acknowledge to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this difficult experience manageable – because it is a nightmare.”

“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship forced upon me. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It leaves a mark all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”

First of Its Kind

Sarkozy, who led the nation between 2007 and 2012, became the inaugural former head from the EU and the first leader since WWII of France to serve time in prison.

Ahead of his incarceration he declared he planned to utilize the opportunity to write a book.

Books in Prison

Unconfirmed is did he manage to go through the volumes he brought with him: a biography of Jesus in two parts together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, in which an innocent man ends up incarcerated later flees to exact retribution.

Life in Confinement

He was held in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a room of about nine sq metres featuring a personal bathroom at the correctional facility in the city. Two bodyguards occupied the next cell.

Reports indicated that he had eaten just yogurt in prison worried that any food could have been tampered with. He had facilities for self-catering but he turned this down, according to reports. Not known is if the memoir includes meals during incarceration.

Lawyer’s Statements

Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain every day while he was in prison, stated during proceedings security would be better out of prison rather than in custody. “There were menacing messages, listened to yells at night and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison in late October following a French court sentenced him to a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration in connection with efforts to acquire campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He denies wrongdoing and is contesting the ruling, and another court case is scheduled for early next year.