Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick addresses future in interview, says he's 'not going to prison'

(WXYZ) - Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is speaking out, addressing his future in an interview with 950-AM WWJ reporter Vickie Thomas.

In the interview, which was conducted near Kilpatrick's Dallas area home, the embattled former mayor says he's doing well, but misses Detroit.

“You know, I miss Detroit, but I was missing Detroit before I left, which is something I’m looking forward to talking about at the NABJ," Kilpatrick said.

"The Detroit I miss, it wasn’t there when I left and that spirit, that energy, that swagger that was Detroit, is just not there anymore. I’m in and out of the city every other week now and I sense it. The cloud that’s there is horrible.”

Kilpatrick is scheduled to return to Detroit in August to speak with the Detroit chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.

When asked about his upcoming federal corruption trial, Kilpatrick said he believes he won't be convicted.

“I’m not going to prison. I’m not going to spend another day there. It was never a place that I should have been in the first place and by the grace of God I won’t go back. But I don’t think about that, I think about winning,” Kilpatrick said.

Kilpatrick also said he believes he's still linked to the city of Detroit.

“I still believe that the city of Detroit and Kwame Kilpatrick are inexplicably intertwined and if I start to lift myself up I think you’ll see a lot of Detroiters lifting themselves as well because nobody's coming to save either of us,” Kilpatrick said.

Click here to listen to the entire interview