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Nicolas Sarkozy plans a personal account next month called A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing his time served in custody.

The revelation was made shortly after the ex-leader was released while he contests his conviction on charges of criminal conspiracy in a case to obtain election campaign funds from the regime of the late Libyan dictator.

Life Behind Bars: Personal Reflections

“Behind bars there is nothing to see, and activities are scarce,” he reflects in an extract, implying the account will focus on his musings while in seclusion instead of wider commentary of the overcrowded and troubled French prison system.

“Quiet is absent, which doesn’t exist in La Santé, where there is a lot to hear,” he adds. “The din is alas constant. However, akin to empty spaces, inner life is strengthened while incarcerated.”

Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship

At his release request hearing, he participated via screen from inside the facility, describing his time inside as draining. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, showing great humanity, easing this difficult experience tolerable – because it is a nightmare.”

“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s a trial I must endure. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It affects one every inmate due to its intensity.”

Unprecedented Situation

He, who led the nation between 2007 and 2012, set a precedent as past president in the European Union and the first postwar leader in the French Republic to serve time in prison.

Before entering jail he mentioned he intended to spend the period to compose an account.

Books in Prison

It remains unclear did he manage to read and critique the volumes he brought with him: a biography of Jesus in two parts and Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo, in which a wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned later flees to take revenge.

Prison Conditions

The former leader was placed in isolation due to safety concerns in a room of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail in the city. Security personnel were stationed in the next cell.

Sources mentioned that he consumed only yoghurts in prison because he feared meals provided could have been tampered with. Although he had access to cook for himself yet he declined, based on unnamed sources. It is uncertain whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

The legal representative, Christophe Ingrain each day throughout the jail term, told the release hearing security would be better released compared to inside. “He has faced threats against his life, listened to yells after dark plus rapid actions next door during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Charges and Sentence

His incarceration began last month after a French court gave him five years in prison for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to obtain election financing for his presidential bid.

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