Sarkozy publishes prison diaries from his 20 days behind bars

2025-12-10 22:26:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Hastily published in less than three weeks, Nicolas Sarkozy's new book, "Diary of a Prisoner," contains plenty of color about what it's like for a former president to find himself in the solitary confinement wing of a French prison.

We learn that prisoner number 320535 had a 12 square meter cell, equipped with a bed, desk, refrigerator, shower, and television. There was a window, but the view was blocked by a massive plastic panel placed outside.

"It was clean and well-lit," Sarkozy writes. "One might have thought one was in a low-class hotel - were it not for the reinforced door with a peephole through which the prison guards could look in."

Sarkozy, 70, was released from La Santé prison in Paris last month after serving 20 days of a five-year sentence for taking part in a campaign finance conspiracy. This is his 216-page memoir.

Told that he would have to spend 23 hours out of 24 in his cell and that contact with anyone other than a prison employee was prohibited, the former president chose not to take the option of a daily walk in the yard, "more like a cage than a promenade."

Instead, he did his daily exercises on a treadmill in the small sports room, which "became a real oasis in my situation."

How he was "touched by the kindness, delicacy, and respect of the prison staff... each of whom addressed me with the title of President."

And how he managed to cover the walls of his cell with postcards from all the people who wrote to him to express their support.

"Touching and sincere, it demonstrated a deep personal connection even though I had left office long ago," he writes.

The details are fascinating. Perhaps most important are the thoughts on fate, justice, and politics.

Sarkozy was sent to prison after a court found him guilty of criminal complicity after allowing his subordinates to try to raise funds for elections 20 years ago from Libya's Colonel Gaddafi.

At the end of the trial in October, the judge - who could have allowed Sarkozy to remain free pending his appeal - decided instead that he should go to prison. Three weeks into his imprisonment, he was allowed to be released after a plea by his lawyers.

The former president strongly denies the allegations against him and claims he is the victim of a politically motivated cabal within the French justice system.

All of this is repeated again and again in the book. In fact, at one point, Sarkozy compares himself to France's most famous victim of justice, Alfred Dreyfus - the Jewish officer who was sent to Devil's Island on a trumped-up charge of espionage./ CNA, translated by BBC