Nicolas Sarkozy Preparing to Release Jail Diary Documenting Three Weeks In Custody
The ex-president of France will soon publish a personal account in the coming weeks titled Diary of a Prisoner, which recounts the period spent in jail.
This news came just 11 days following the former president was released as he appeals his conviction for criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to obtain election campaign funds from the government of Muammar Gaddafi.
Time in Custody: Inner Thoughts
“Behind bars there is nothing to see, with little to occupy time,” he reflects in one passage, suggesting the memoir centers around his thoughts while in solitary confinement as opposed to extensive analysis regarding the strained and troubled correctional facilities in the country.
“I forget silence, which doesn’t exist in La Santé, where one hears a lot to hear,” he states. “The noise is alas constant. But, just like the desert, one’s inner world is strengthened while incarcerated.”
Court Appearance: Sharing the Struggle
At his release request hearing, he was present by video link from inside the facility, depicting prison life as exhausting. He had told the court: “I must acknowledge the correctional officers, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this ordeal tolerable – because it is a nightmare.”
“I never imagined that at 70 years of age, I’d find myself behind bars. It’s a hardship that has been imposed on me. I admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It affects one on any prisoner as it’s exhausting.”
First of Its Kind
He, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, set a precedent as ex-leader of an EU country and the first leader since WWII from France to experience jail.
Ahead of his incarceration he had said he planned to utilize the opportunity to compose an account.
Reading Material
Unconfirmed is whether he had time to go through the three books he took into prison: a two-volume biography of Jesus and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the classic tale, a plot where an innocent man ends up incarcerated then breaks out to seek vengeance.
Daily Reality
Sarkozy remained in isolation due to safety concerns in a space of about nine sq metres with his own shower and toilet in the Paris jail located in the capital. Security personnel occupied a neighbouring cell.
Reports indicated his diet consisted solely dairy snacks in prison because he feared prison cuisine might have been spat on. He had facilities to prepare his own meals yet he declined, based on unnamed sources. Not known is whether Sarkozy will write about what he ate in prison.
Defense Viewpoint
His attorney, who saw him regularly daily during the incarceration, told the release hearing his safety would improve outside jail compared to inside. “There were menacing messages, heard shouts after dark and the urgent intervention in an adjacent room when a prisoner self-harmed.”
Legal Proceedings
He entered custody in late October after a French court sentenced him to five years in prison for illegal collaboration over a scheme to acquire campaign funds during his election campaign.
He maintains his innocence and has appealed against the verdict, with a new trial is scheduled for the coming spring.