Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy to publish prison memoir on his 20 days behind bars

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will publish a book about his three weeks behind bars, titled “A Prisoner’s Diary” ("Le journal d'un prisonnier" in French).

His publisher Fayard, part of the media group controlled by right-wing billionaire Vincent Bolloré, announced that the prison memoir is 216 pages long and will hit shelves on 10 December.

By our count, that’s just under 11 pages per day in the slammer. Which, considering the 20 days he spent inside, could seem like overkill.

Sarkozy, who was separated from the general prison population, trailed the release in a post on X, writing that in La Santé prison “the noise is, unfortunately, constant” and that “the inner life of man becomes stronger in prison.”

A quote from the book was also released as a teaser: “In prison, there is nothing to see, and nothing to do.”

Apart from writing, clearly. Quite what insights the 216 pages will contain considering Sarkozy’s short stay and how little there was to do remains a mystery. Musings from solitary confinement? An appraisal of the decibel levels plaguing the French prison system? Perhaps a critical appreciation of Alexandre Dumas’ novel “The Count of Monte Cristo”, which Sarkozy brought with him to prison?

Not long to find out if this opus lives up to Oscar Wilde’s incarcerated work “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”.

The former head of state, who governed France from 2007 to 2012, was convicted on 25 September of criminal conspiracy over a scheme to obtain campaign funds for his 2007 presidential race. A Paris court gave him a five-year sentence and he became the first former French president to end up behind bars since Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain.

He was released pending appeal on 10 November.

Sarkozy’s appeal against the conviction is scheduled to be heard from 16 March to 3 June 2026.