Nicolas Sarkozy Set to Write Jail Diary Chronicling Two Dozen Days Incarcerated
Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing a personal account this autumn named Diary of a Prisoner, detailing the period spent in jail.
The announcement came less than two weeks after Sarkozy gained freedom as he appeals the guilty verdict on charges of unlawful coordination connected to efforts to acquire election campaign funds from the government of former Libyan leader.
Prison Experience: Personal Reflections
“Behind bars one sees little, and nothing to do,” he notes in a preview, indicating the account will focus on his reflections during seclusion rather than wider commentary on the overcrowded and crisis-hit French prison system.
“Quiet is absent, not present in La Santé, where noise is endless commotion,” he adds. “The racket unfortunately never stops. However, akin to empty spaces, personal reflection is fortified behind bars.”
Release Hearing: Sharing the Struggle
During his plea for freedom, he participated remotely from his cell, depicting prison life as exhausting. He expressed in court: “I wish to commend those working in the jail, who are exceptionally humane, easing this nightmare bearable – because it is a nightmare.”
“It never crossed my mind that at 70 years of age, I would end up incarcerated. It’s an ordeal forced upon me. I confess it’s hard, extremely tough. It leaves a mark all who experience it as it’s exhausting.”
Historical Context
He, who led the nation from 2007 to 2012, set a precedent as ex-leader from the EU and the first leader since WWII from France to experience jail.
Prior to imprisonment he declared he would use his time for authoring a memoir.
Reading Material
Unconfirmed is if he found the opportunity to go through the three books he brought with him: a life story of Jesus spanning two books together with Dumas’s work the famous story, in which a wrongfully accused individual is imprisoned later flees to exact retribution.
Life in Confinement
He was placed in solitary confinement due to safety concerns in a space of about nine sq metres featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison in the city. Security personnel stayed in an adjacent room.
Reports indicated that he consumed solely dairy snacks in prison worried that meals provided may have been contaminated. He had facilities to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, according to reports. Not known is if he will detail what he ate in prison.
Defense Viewpoint
His attorney, who visited his client daily while he was in prison, told the release hearing he would be safer released than inside. “He has faced menacing messages, has heard screaming at night plus rapid actions in a neighbouring cell as a detainee harmed themselves.”
Legal Proceedings
His incarceration began on 21 October following a French court gave him five years in prison on conspiracy charges over a scheme to obtain election financing for his 2007 presidential race.
He disputes the charges and has appealed against the verdict, and another court case planned for early next year.
