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Nicolas Sarkozy plans a book next month called Notes from a Cell, which recounts his experience served behind bars.

The revelation was made less than two weeks after Sarkozy left prison while his appeal proceeds the guilty verdict related to illegal collaboration in a case to acquire presidential race money from the leadership of the late Libyan dictator.

Prison Experience: Inner Thoughts

“In prison visibility is limited, and activities are scarce,” he reflects in one passage, suggesting the account will focus on his thoughts while in isolation as opposed to wider commentary of the packed and struggling jail system in France.

“Silence escapes me, not present at the prison, where one hears endless commotion,” he adds. “The din persists relentlessly. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world is strengthened behind bars.”

Court Appearance: Describing the Ordeal

While appealing for release, he had appeared remotely from inside the facility, depicting prison life as draining. He expressed in court: “I want to pay tribute those working in the jail, displaying remarkable compassion, easing this ordeal manageable – because it is a nightmare.”

“I didn’t expect that in my seventies, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship forced upon me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, deeply straining. It has an impact every inmate as it’s exhausting.”

First of Its Kind

The former president, who led the nation for a five-year term, was the first former head in the European Union and the first leader since WWII from France to serve time in prison.

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

Books in Prison

It is not certain if he found the opportunity to read and critique the texts he had in his cell: a two-volume biography of Jesus plus the novel by Dumas the classic tale, a plot where a wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned then breaks out to seek vengeance.

Prison Conditions

The former leader was placed in isolation due to safety concerns in a cell of about nine sq metres including private facilities at the correctional facility located in the capital. Two bodyguards occupied an adjacent room.

Reports indicated that he had eaten only yoghurts in prison worried that any food might have been spat on. Options were available for self-catering but he turned this down, as per accounts. Unclear remains whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Lawyer’s Statements

His attorney, who saw him regularly daily while he was in prison, stated during proceedings he would be safer released than inside. “He has faced threats against his life, has heard screaming during nighttime and the urgent intervention next door as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Legal Proceedings

He entered custody in late October after a Paris court sentenced him to a half-decade term for illegal collaboration over a scheme to secure campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race.

He denies wrongdoing and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case set for the coming spring.