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The ex-president of France will soon publish a book next month named A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing the period spent behind bars.

The announcement was made shortly after the former president gained freedom while his appeal proceeds his conviction related to illegal collaboration regarding a scheme to acquire presidential race money linked to the government of former Libyan leader.

Life Behind Bars: Personal Reflections

“Behind bars there is nothing to see, and nothing to do,” he writes in an extract, indicating the book will focus on his musings from solitary confinement as opposed to a broader observation of the strained and struggling French prison system.

“I forget silence, which doesn’t exist at the prison, where there is endless commotion,” he continues. “The noise is alas constant. Yet, similar to barren lands, personal reflection is fortified while incarcerated.”

Freedom Plea: Describing the Ordeal

At his release request hearing, he was present by video link from inside the facility, describing his time inside as gruelling. He stated to the judge: “I must acknowledge the correctional officers, showing great humanity, and who helped make this ordeal manageable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“It never crossed my mind that at 70 years of age, I would end up incarcerated. It’s an ordeal that has been imposed on me. It’s challenging, I acknowledge, it’s very hard. It affects one on any prisoner because it’s gruelling.”

First of Its Kind

The former president, the ex-head of state for a five-year term, became the inaugural past president in the European Union and the first leader since WWII of France to serve time in prison.

Prior to imprisonment he declared he intended to spend the period for authoring a memoir.

Cell Library

It remains unclear did he manage to read and critique the volumes he brought with him: a biography of Jesus in two parts together with Dumas’s work the classic tale, in which a wrongfully accused individual ends up incarcerated then breaks out to seek vengeance.

Life in Confinement

Sarkozy was held in isolation due to safety concerns in a room of about nine sq metres featuring a personal bathroom at the correctional facility in Paris. Guards were stationed in a neighbouring cell.

Sources mentioned that he had eaten solely dairy snacks during his stay because he feared meals provided may have been contaminated. Options were available for self-catering but refused this, as per accounts. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.

Defense Viewpoint

Sarkozy’s lawyer, who visited his client each day during the incarceration, informed the court security would be better outside jail compared to inside. “There were death threats, heard shouts during nighttime and the urgent intervention next door as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Legal Proceedings

He entered custody last month after a French court sentenced him to a half-decade term on conspiracy charges over a scheme to secure election financing for his presidential bid.

He disputes the charges and is contesting the ruling, and a fresh trial is scheduled for next spring.