Conrad Black has used his latest newspaper article written in prison to refute a media report that said he had to endure a "full-body cavity search" in front of other inmates.

In Saturday's National Post newspaper, the Canadian-born former media mogul writes that "the source and description" of the recent article in the New York Post are "fiction."

The U.S. tabloid said Lord Black of Crossharbour was searched in a room filled with guards and prisoners shortly after checking into the federal prison in Coleman, Fla., last March.

While he admits having been strip-searched, he says it did not happen in the presence of other inmates. He says searches at the low-security facility are "absurd but in no way embarrassing."

In the National Post article, Black does not address claims made last Wednesday by London's Daily Mail tabloid that he is called "Lordy" by other inmates, orders around his cellmate and has created a "small fiefdom."

He writes that he has been approached by publishers in both Canada and the United States to publish lectures he has given inmates on American history.

The former newspaper mogul is serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence on convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice.

This week, Black lost his bid to have a U.S. appeals court reconsider his case. But he says the process is continuing to appeal his convictions, or at least to mitigate his sentence.