Boy George unsure he wanted to leave jail

The former Culture Club singer - who spent four months in prison in early 2009 for assault and the false imprisonment of a male escort – had mixed feelings when he realised he was close to being allowed to return home as he appreciated the simplicity of life behind bars.

He explained: “To be honest when I knew I was being released I did have a moment when I was like, ‘Do I really want to get out?!’ and I thought you know when you read about people being institutionalised I thought well I can understand why. Because you know what you’re doing.”

The ‘Karma Chameleon’ hitmaker appreciated getting to spend a lot of time alone when he was in jail as he had not done so since a holiday to India more than 10 years prior to his imprisonment.

He told Absolute Radio DJ Frank Skinner: “You do get a lot of time on your own and at a certain point you do actually think oh, this is actually quite good because you get time to think. The only thing is it’s kind of an enforced situation though.

“The last time I kind of had that experience was when I went to India in the 90s when I kind of really felt like I had some time to me. But that was a different kind of experience. But it wasn’t that dissimilar. I mean I got to read a lot.”

The singer - real name George O'Dowd – has written a song, Pentonville Blues, about his time in London’s Pentonville Prison where he was held before being moved to Edmunds Hill in Suffolk, South East England.

Despite only spending a few days there, he admitted he was scarred by the experience.

He said: “I think those kind of places, the holding prisons, are a bit run down and I think maybe, my theory is that they put you there for a bit to horrify you, then they send you somewhere a bit nicer.”