Nicolas Sarkozy to Pen Prison Memoir Documenting Two Dozen Days Behind Bars
The ex-president of France is preparing a personal account next month called Notes from a Cell, which recounts the period served behind bars.
The revelation was made just 11 days after Sarkozy was released as his appeal proceeds the guilty verdict for illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to obtain presidential race money provided by the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.
Life Behind Bars: Inner Thoughts
“In prison visibility is limited, with little to occupy time,” he notes in a preview, indicating the book will focus on his thoughts during solitary confinement rather than extensive analysis of the overcrowded and crisis-hit jail system in France.
“Quiet is absent, not present in La Santé, where there is endless commotion,” he states. “The racket unfortunately never stops. But, just like the desert, personal reflection is strengthened while incarcerated.”
Release Hearing: Recounting the Hardship
While appealing for release, the former leader had appeared by video link from a room in prison, depicting prison life as exhausting. He had told the court: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, displaying remarkable compassion, and who have made this nightmare tolerable – since it’s deeply troubling.”
“It never crossed my mind that at 70 years of age, I’d be in prison. It’s a hardship I must endure. I admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It has an impact all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”
Historical Context
The former president, who served as France’s president between 2007 and 2012, set a precedent as former head of an EU country and the first leader since WWII from France to experience jail.
Ahead of his incarceration he declared he intended to spend the period for authoring a memoir.
Books in Prison
It remains unclear if he found the opportunity to review and analyze the three books he had in his cell: a two-volume biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, where a blameless person ends up incarcerated later flees to exact retribution.
Life in Confinement
Sarkozy was placed in isolation to protect him in a room of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail in Paris. Security personnel occupied the next cell.
Sources mentioned that he had eaten solely dairy snacks during his stay due to concerns any food could have been tampered with. Options were available for self-catering but he turned this down, as per accounts. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.
Defense Viewpoint
His attorney, who visited his client every day during the incarceration, stated during proceedings security would be better outside jail compared to inside. “He has faced threats against his life, listened to yells after dark and the urgent intervention in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.”
Charges and Sentence
He entered custody in late October when a French court imposed a half-decade term on conspiracy charges over a scheme to acquire election financing for his 2007 presidential race.
He denies wrongdoing challenging the decision, and a fresh trial is scheduled for the coming spring.
