Many of you will have a preconceived notion that Charles Bronson is some sort of an inhuman, murdering, baby-eating monster. It's hardly surprising considering the stories that they print about him in the national press: "Britain's Most Dangerous Prisoner!" and "The Most Violent Inmate in the Country!" they scream. Wales Online even put up an erroneous headline proclaiming him a "Mass Murderer" (they had meant Charles MANSON!)
Well, I have known Charlie for almost ten years now. I have spent a good deal of time in his company and many hundreds of hours speaking to him on the telephone and I can tell you that I know the truth about the man.
To date he has spent 36 years in English prisons, 32 of those years have been spent in solitary confinement. That means 23 hours a day locked in a cell on his own with only cockroaches for company and let out for one hour a day (if he's lucky) to exercise in a small yard. He is totally isolated from other inmates. If you or I treated a dog like that then we would be rightfully and successfully prosecuted by the RSPCA for cruelty!
Please, just take a moment to reflect on that. Imagine (if you can) spending 23 hours locked up with no one to talk to. It's a bare cell, just 10 feet by 8 with a concrete plinth for a bed, a toilet and a cardboard table screwed to the floor. Then imagine the same thing is going to happen to you tomorrow and the next day and the next with no end in sight. No hope of even being allowed to associate with your fellow inmates. If you shout really loudly then someone might hear you and shout a reply that you can only just hear. How would you cope? What would you do? How long could you stand that sort of isolation before you cracked?
Charlie has never killed anyone and has never laid a finger on a woman or a child, but he earned his reputation for violence in his earlier years in prison. It was a reputation that was to bury him in the segregation "Blocks" of England's prisons for more than a third of a century.
Rehabilitation? Ha! That's a word that Charlie can only dream about, for the prison system does nothing to assist Charlie to move forward. It just keeps him ... in desolate isolation.
The prison system has systematically played with Charlie's life, pushing the buttons it knows will make him react. They "ghosted" (moved) him from prison to prison frequently to destabilise him. Why? Well, a long time ago they decided to make an example of Mr. Bronson. I have spoken with Police Officers who have worked in the prison system and former Prison Officers. They have told me that The System will resist any and all pressures to rehabilitate or release him. How? By pressing his buttons and getting him to perform, thus justifying his retention in jail!
But for ten years now Charlie has resisted their attempts to bait him. That is until they redoubled their efforts in the wake of the film Bronson. They really didn't like the way they (or Charlie) were portrayed. They decided to punish him some more. He was moved twice, without any reason, from the relative calm of HMP Wakefield; he has been banned from sending his art out to his friends; his letters have been delayed and stopped; anyone with anything to do with the film has been banned from visiting or even talking to him on the phone; security vetting to visit him is now taking months. Months designed to upset and frustrate him.
If you want to understand how Charlie came to this situation then I suggest you read his books rather than the daily rags. They're only interested in circulation - not the truth! In the book "Bronson" Charlie makes no bones about his behaviour in the past. He freely admits that there were years of insanity and violence. But he has since been declared sane (how many of us can say that?)
These days Charlie is an artist, a writer and a poet. His work has won prizes. Over the years he has raised many thousands of pounds for children's charities and other good causes.
This website is NOT a fan-site but a place of information about a human being who has had his Human Rights dismissed as irrelevant. What is stated here is all factual. Please take the time to read through the pages and get to know and understand the real Charles Bronson and sign the petition when you come to the conclusion that it's the right thing to do.
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