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The ex-president of France will soon publish a book this autumn called A Prisoner’s Diary, detailing his experience spent in jail.

The announcement was made less than two weeks after the ex-leader gained freedom as he appeals the guilty verdict on charges of criminal conspiracy connected to efforts to acquire political financing provided by the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi.

Prison Experience: Solitary Musings

“Inside jail visibility is limited, and activities are scarce,” he writes in an extract, indicating the memoir centers around his reflections while in seclusion instead of extensive analysis of the packed and crisis-hit French prison system.

“Quiet is absent, which is missing at the prison, where there is constant sound,” he continues. “The din unfortunately never stops. However, akin to empty spaces, one’s inner world is fortified while incarcerated.”

Release Hearing: Describing the Ordeal

While appealing for release, he had appeared via screen from his cell, describing his time inside as gruelling. He had told the court: “I want to pay tribute to all the prison staff, who are exceptionally humane, and who have made this ordeal bearable – since it’s deeply troubling.”

“I didn’t expect at this stage of life, I’d be in prison. It’s a hardship forced upon me. I admit it’s difficult, deeply straining. It affects one every inmate as it’s exhausting.”

First of Its Kind

He, who served as France’s president for a five-year term, was the first former head in the European Union and the initial post-WWII figure of France to be incarcerated.

Ahead of his incarceration he had said he would use his time to write a book.

Reading Material

It remains unclear whether he had time to review and analyze the texts he took into prison: a life story of Jesus spanning two books and Alexandre Dumas’s novel the famous story, in which a wrongfully accused individual is sentenced to jail but escapes to exact retribution.

Life in Confinement

The former leader was held in solitary confinement to protect him in a cell roughly 100 square feet featuring a personal bathroom at La Santé prison in Paris. Security personnel were stationed in the next cell.

It was stated that he had eaten only yoghurts in prison worried that any food could have been tampered with. He had facilities to prepare his own meals but he turned this down, based on unnamed sources. Not known is if he will detail what he ate in prison.

Defense Viewpoint

The legal representative, who visited his client each day during the incarceration, stated during proceedings he would be safer released compared to inside. “He has faced threats against his life, listened to yells at night and the urgent intervention next door as a detainee harmed themselves.”

Charges and Sentence

He entered custody last month following a French court gave him a five-year sentence for illegal collaboration in connection with efforts to secure campaign funds for his presidential bid.

He denies wrongdoing and is contesting the ruling, and another court case is scheduled for next spring.