Conrad Black will learn Monday if his sentence includes time behind bars, but the former media mogul seems unfazed by the prospect, telling CBC News that while prison would be a "bore," it would be "quite endurable."

The comments, made in e-mails to the CBC over the past few days, portray Black as combative as ever.

Conrad Black, seen leaving court in August, will return on Monday for his sentencing.
(Jerry Lai/Associated Press)

The Montreal-born Black takes aim at the justice system and writes that "prison will be a badge of honour to help expose prosecutorial excesses, the frailties of the plea bargain system."

He and his co-defendants — Mark Kipnis, John Boultbee and Peter Atkinson — were convicted July 13 by a Chicago jury on three charges each of mail fraud. Black was also convicted on one count of obstruction of justice for removing boxes of documents from his Toronto office.

Black is scheduled to appear in a Chicago courtroom Monday to face U.S. District Court Judge Amy St. Eve for his sentencing hearing.

While prosecutors have asked for at least 15 years in prison, he could face up to 35.

But the 63-year-old doesn't see the prospect of prison as a dead end, pointing to other famous people who ended up behind bars, including homemaking maven Martha Stewart.

"I can cope with it if it comes, and it will … only compound the injustice of this entire vendetta," he writes. "Prison would be a bore, but quite endurable."

He adds, "I can get on with anyone and adjust to almost anything, and I don't consider [prison] shaming."

The former head of the newspaper holding company Hollinger International Inc. has had months to prepare for what lies ahead.

Asked whether he's sorry and whether he plans to ask the judge for leniency, his reply was cryptic: "Wait until Monday and learn the answers."