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Nicolas Sarkozy will soon publish a personal account next month titled Diary of a Prisoner, detailing his experience served in custody.

The revelation emerged just 11 days after the ex-leader gained freedom as he contests his conviction on charges of unlawful coordination regarding a scheme to secure presidential race money linked to the regime of the late Libyan dictator.

Time in Custody: Solitary Musings

“Inside jail one sees little, with little to occupy time,” he writes in an extract, indicating the account is more about his musings from seclusion rather than a broader observation of the packed and crisis-hit jail system in France.

“Silence escapes me, not present at the prison, where there is constant sound,” he adds. “The racket persists relentlessly. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world grows stronger in prison.”

Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal

At his release request hearing, Sarkozy participated via screen from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as gruelling. He had told the court: “I wish to commend the correctional officers, displaying remarkable compassion, and who helped make this nightmare manageable – because it is a nightmare.”

“I never imagined that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s a trial forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It has an impact all who experience it due to its intensity.”

First of Its Kind

The former president, who served as France’s president between 2007 and 2012, became the inaugural ex-leader in the European Union and the first postwar leader from France to be incarcerated.

Before entering jail he mentioned he would use his time for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

It is not certain whether he had time to go through the volumes he had in his cell: a two-volume biography of Jesus together with Dumas’s work The Count of Monte Cristo, where an innocent man is sentenced to jail later flees to take revenge.

Prison Conditions

Sarkozy was placed in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a space of about nine sq metres including private facilities at the correctional facility in Paris. Guards were stationed in the next cell.

Reports indicated that he consumed just yogurt in prison due to concerns meals provided could have been tampered with. Options were available to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, according to reports. Unclear remains if the memoir includes what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who visited his client every day during the incarceration, told the release hearing security would be better released compared to inside. “He has faced threats against his life, listened to yells during nighttime and the urgent intervention in an adjacent room as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

Sarkozy went to prison last month after the judiciary sentenced him to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy in connection with efforts to secure campaign funds for his presidential bid.

He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and a fresh trial is scheduled for early next year.