‘Welcome to hell’: Sarkozy’s prison memoir hits shelves

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s prison memoir hits shelves today. In it, he describes his 20-day prison stay, Euronews writes.

The 216-page-long prison memoir (that’s about 11 pages per day of incarceration) describes La Santé prison as a noisy, harsh “all-grey” world of “inhuman violence”.

It’s worth reminding that Sarkozy was held in solitary confinement and kept strictly away from other inmates for security reasons.

Sarkozy writes that his cell looked like a “low-end hotel, except for the armored door and the bars,” with a hard mattress, a plastic-like pillow and a shower that produced only a thin stream of water.

“The worst part was that this thin stream of water stopped very quickly, like a timer. You constantly had to find the button and press it,” the former president writes.

“The atmosphere was threatening. Welcome to hell! The most inhumane violence was the daily reality of this place.”

Sarkozy confirms that he declined the meals served in small plastic trays along with a “mushy, soggy baguette” – their smell, he wrote, made him nauseous. Instead, he ate “dairy products, cereal bars, mineral water, apple juice and a few sweet treats.” He was allowed one hour a day in a small gym room, where he mostly used a basic treadmill.

Sarkozy also uses the book to claim his “complete innocence.”

“As long as I have breath in my body, I will fight with all my strength to prove it, no matter how long it takes,” he says.

In October, Sarkozy became the first former French president to serve jail time post-World War II. He was convicted of criminal conspiracy over a scheme to fund his 2007 presidential race.

Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in prison, but after spending 20 days in a cell, the court decided that he would be released, but under supervision.