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The ex-president of France is preparing a book this autumn called Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts his experience endured behind bars.

The announcement was made less than two weeks following the ex-leader left prison while he appeals his conviction related to illegal collaboration connected to efforts to acquire election campaign funds from the leadership of the late Libyan dictator.

Prison Experience: Solitary Musings

“Inside jail there is nothing to see, and nothing to do,” he notes in a preview, suggesting the memoir is more about his musings while in seclusion as opposed to a broader observation on the packed and crisis-hit French prison system.

“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist at the prison, where noise is endless commotion,” he states. “The noise persists relentlessly. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world is fortified in prison.”

Freedom Plea: Sharing the Struggle

While appealing for release, he had appeared via screen from his cell, characterizing his incarceration as gruelling. He stated to the judge: “I want to pay tribute those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this nightmare manageable – as it truly is one.”

“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, it’s very hard. It affects one every inmate because it’s gruelling.”

Historical Context

He, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, set a precedent as former head of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure of France to be incarcerated.

Ahead of his incarceration he declared he intended to spend the period for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

Unconfirmed is did he manage to go through the texts he brought with him: a life story of Jesus spanning two books together with Dumas’s work the classic tale, in which a blameless person is imprisoned then breaks out to exact retribution.

Daily Reality

Sarkozy was placed in solitary confinement to protect him in a space roughly 100 square feet including private facilities at La Santé prison located in the capital. Guards stayed in an adjacent room.

Sources mentioned his diet consisted just yogurt in prison due to concerns any food could have been tampered with. Options were available for self-catering yet he declined, according to reports. Unclear remains whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who visited his client daily during the incarceration, informed the court security would be better outside jail compared to inside. “He has faced death threats, has heard screaming during nighttime and emergency responses in a neighbouring cell during an inmate’s self-injury.”

Legal Proceedings

Sarkozy went to prison in late October after a Paris court imposed five years in prison for criminal conspiracy related to a plan to acquire political donations during his election campaign.

He maintains his innocence challenging the decision, with a new trial set for the coming spring.