Nicolas Sarkozy Set to Write Jail Diary Documenting Three Weeks In Custody
The ex-president of France will soon publish a memoir in the coming weeks called A Prisoner’s Diary, which recounts his time endured in jail.
This news emerged less than two weeks following Sarkozy was released while he contests the guilty verdict related to illegal collaboration in a case to acquire presidential race money linked to the regime of the late Libyan dictator.
Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts
“Inside jail visibility is limited, with little to occupy time,” he writes in a preview, indicating the account is more about his reflections while in solitary confinement instead of extensive analysis regarding the packed and crisis-hit correctional facilities in the country.
“Silence escapes me, which doesn’t exist in La Santé, where there is constant sound,” he continues. “The noise is alas constant. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world is strengthened behind bars.”
Court Appearance: Describing the Ordeal
During his plea for freedom, Sarkozy was present remotely from inside the facility, describing his time inside as draining. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute the correctional officers, displaying remarkable compassion, and who have made this difficult experience manageable – as it truly is one.”
“It never crossed my mind that in my seventies, I’d be in prison. It’s a hardship I must endure. I confess it’s hard, it’s very hard. It has an impact on any prisoner as it’s exhausting.”
Unprecedented Situation
He, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, became the inaugural ex-leader of an EU country and the initial post-WWII figure of France to be incarcerated.
Ahead of his incarceration he declared he would use his time for authoring a memoir.
Reading Material
It remains unclear did he manage to read and critique the three books he had in his cell: a biography of Jesus in two parts together with Dumas’s work the classic tale, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual is sentenced to jail later flees to take revenge.
Life in Confinement
He was held secluded to protect him in a room roughly 100 square feet with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail located in the capital. Guards stayed in a neighbouring cell.
Reports indicated his diet consisted just yogurt during his stay due to concerns meals provided may have been contaminated. Options were available to cook for himself but he turned this down, as per accounts. Not known is if he will detail his dietary choices.
Lawyer’s Statements
Sarkozy’s lawyer, Christophe Ingrain every day throughout the jail term, told the release hearing he would be safer outside jail than inside. “There were threats against his life, listened to yells during nighttime and emergency responses in an adjacent room during an inmate’s self-injury.”
Legal Proceedings
He entered custody on 21 October after a French court imposed a half-decade term for criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain election financing for his 2007 presidential race.
He maintains his innocence challenging the decision, with a new trial is scheduled for the coming spring.
