One month after his release from La Santé prison, former president Nicolas Sarkozy publishes his book Journal d’un prisonnier with Fayard on Wednesday. In this 216-page work, he recounts his three weeks of detention, religious reflections, and political critiques. Excerpts reveal an experience marked by isolation and perceived injustice.
Nicolas Sarkozy, sentenced on September 25, 2025, to five years in prison for 'association of malfaiteurs' in the Libyan financing case of his 2007 campaign, spent three weeks at La Santé prison. Aged 70, he was incarcerated under prisoner number 320 535 and protected by two security officers. Locked in his cell 23 hours a day, he describes an environment dominated by gray: 'I was struck by the absence of all color. The gray dominated everything, devoured everything, covered all surfaces.'
On his first day, Sarkozy knelt to pray: 'It came as an evidence. I stayed like that for long minutes. I prayed for the strength to bear the cross of this injustice.' He also discusses his conversations with the chaplain and the evolution of his religious feelings. His meals consisted of dairy, cereal bars, mineral water, apple juice, and some sugary treats. He regretted not being able to look out the window: 'I would have given a lot to be able to look out the window, to take pleasure in seeing cars pass by.'
Written with a Bic pen on a small plywood table, the book was completed after his release. Sarkozy questions: 'But how did I get here?' He criticizes the judicial process that weakens the defendant and targets political figures like Emmanuel Macron, who allegedly 'looked away,' or Ségolène Royal. He firmly rejects the 'front républicain' against the RN and mentions his relationship with Carla Bruni and his children. Definitively convicted in the wiretapping and Bygmalion cases, he faces other investigations, including his consulting in Russia and the controversial awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. For him, 'prison is very hard,' but it was a productive ordeal: 'I learned a lot at La Santé, about others as well as myself.'