Bronson 3

by Charles Bronson

  I dedicate my book to my loving brother John,

  whom I miss dearly. Forgive me for not being

  with you at your final hour of life, but the

  journey has to go on.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Dedication

  FOREWORD

  INTRODUCTION

  GLOSSARY

  1 CHARLIE BRONSON – PROFILE

  2 ‘YOU’RE NICKED!’

  3 A-Z OF PRISONS

  4 HOSTAGE HELL

  5 STARS BEHAVING BADLY

  6 BRONSON VS. THE SYSTEM (I), (II), (III) AND (IV)

  7 WORLD’S WORST, OLDEST, HARDEST AND MOST INFAMOUS

  8 TIEPINS, QUOTES AND GHOSTS

  9 LAST MAN/WOMAN HANGING

  Copyright

  FOREWORD

  For anyone who has never been to prison and served time, understanding what prison is all about is well nigh impossible, but I will try to explain it to you. Remember when you were a child – maybe you played hide-and-seek – you looked for the best place to hide. Usually, the hiding place was a cramped space in a dark and dingy cupboard; that experience might have been the nearest you will ever come to understanding what being in prison is really about.

  Let me tell you a little about prison segregation units, as they are where both Charlie Bronson and I spent most of our prison life. Charlie continues to experience these units whilst I have long since left them behind. Even so, the memory of them is branded deep within my mind.

  I have been given the almost impossible job of having to describe the hell on earth these segregation units represent. I don’t even think the imagination of horror writer Stephen King could impart the degradation, the pain and suffering these places create for mankind.

  These places are ‘extreme’; they are places where even the rodents and cockroaches only prowl around in a last desperate attempt to find food. Finding a cockroach in one of these places is like finding a long-lost friend; it is your only friend!

  According to how dangerous you have been labelled, between two and ten screws await you when your cell is unlocked. Should you decide to fight them, then you can be certain that however many are there at the start, twice that amount will come running to the aid of their colleagues. And, as Charlie says, no matter how many times you land a punch on them, you will receive ten back for every one you throw.

  You will find yourself stripped naked and forced into a piece of equipment called a ‘body belt’. This is forcibly wrapped around your midriff and is fastened so tight that every breath becomes so painful that you wish your breathing would stop, but it can’t … it’s what keeps you alive! The belts come in various sizes, but you can count on them wrapping you with one which is always a couple of sizes too small.

  Then your hands are cuffed to each side of the body belt in a cuff that is attached to it. You’re now trussed up and not able to defend yourself from the boots and fists that come flying your way.

  In the days when the liquid cosh was around, you were forcibly injected with it; all that was needed was a simple authorisation from the MO (medical officer), so the following morning the doctor would come in and sign all these back-dated authorisations for the screws. In effect, then, you would have been forcibly injected without the prior authorisation of the doctor, but what doctor would defy the system and own up to this having happened – none!

  You are then slung into a strip-cell that only has dirt on the floor and muck on the walls; your brain is drained and your body is weakened. Anyone without a strong mind could crack in such a place. That is how it was when I first met Charlie in Armley Prison in Leeds almost 30 years ago! Ever since, we have remained good friends and things have changed in some of the prisons … but not all!

  Currently, Charlie is in Wakefield Prison, in the Special Unit. He’s totally isolated from mainstream and other high-security prisoners because he’s considered double dangerous. These secure conditions enforced upon Charlie can vary in the degree of degradation and violence inflicted on him, depending on which prison he’s in. Although the staff within certain prisons might be welcoming and understanding, as they seem to be where Charlie is currently housed, this doesn’t mean that the conditions are acceptable. Being locked up on your own for 23 hours out of a 24-hour day cannot be considered humane.

  In such an environment, your whole existence becomes regimented and controlled by regular events. You become used to the hour of day when you are given the free run of the exercise cage or yard. When the appointed time arrives, come rain or shine, you want your exercise … it becomes a ritual. No matter whether the prison has a shortage of staff, no matter whether the Governor’s wife has died … you expect to be unlocked at the appointed time.

  You expect to be let out of your cell at the appointed time for your weekly shower; you expect the library trolley to be on time; you time your day by your meals. And when any of these patterns is broken, you can become a very angry and disgruntled person. That’s all you’ve got in your life. Nothing else matters; nothing else can matter. Everyone has forsaken you, or so it seems, and you’re on your own, you have to stand up for your own rights. Many flounder by the wayside, but a few like Charlie and I grasped the nettle of solitary confinement. We bathed in all its gory glory, we filled our senses with the infusion of pain and we embraced the unremitting violence inflicted on us. We braved the coldness that winter brought and, in the summer, we stifled in the heat. We couldn’t escape the elements.

  These units are nothing but a punishment inflicted on those within by Prison Service HQ. They argue that segregation is not a punishment but merely a tool to stop dangerous prisoners mixing with their fellow cons. Isolation within the confines of a prison is legalised brainwashing. Isolation is sensory depravation at its best … or worst. The doors are several feet thick … or so it seems, they might as well be, as you can’t hear anything going on beyond them. You’ve got two doors in your cell, one opens to another, and that’s why you can’t hear what’s going on. This is why a cockroach can become your friend, a living thing. Never mind if there’s life on Mars, just seeing another living thing in your cell can be just as awesome.

  What alternatives are there for the prisoner in isolation, what can they spend their time doing? Recreation is limited. Education means studying in your cell on your own; you have to find the strength from within. Religion is no longer forced upon you, it’s there if you want it. But that’s it.

  How do you go about challenging such a state of isolation? You can do it physically or legally. Years ago, we did it physically, but now we’ve got the European courts behind us, and some are doing it legally. That is what Charlie is starting to understand … that the pen is mightier than the sword. Until the courts actually challenge and outlaw these isolation units and make them obsolete and illegal, then I know that someone somewhere will be suffering in one of these places.

  To give you an idea of what it’s like being in isolation, I will tell you about the time Charlie and I had a little mix up which was caused by the paranoia that such isolation creates in prisoners.

  Charlie once sent me a letter to the effect that he believed me to be making fun of his life sentence. I have still got that letter, in which he wrote ‘do not make fun of a life sentence’. Those were the words he used for one reason or another – I don’t know why – but Charlie is Charlie. Of course, me being me, I blew my top completely!

  I lost it, I really did, and, as a consequence of what I did out of temper, I could have been killed that day … his letter flipped me. I actually went into Newcastle’s East End and put my gloves on because I was just so wound up. It was a slagging letter and that was just part of it. I went to this boxing club, and you are talking about a lot of big lads there, you are talking about big
bouncers. At my age, I shouldn’t even have been in the ring.

  I ended up with a face like a piece of raw liver, but I could not feel any pain, I was just blinded from the pain and I just wanted to battle on and on. I went round after round, one after the other.

  And what brought me round was hearing this voice, it was Carlo’s, one of my sons, and he was at the ringside crying. I was in a right state, and so were a few others, but the aggression kept me going, but I didn’t know I was doing it.

  That is how much respect I have for Charlie for what he’s gone through and endured, but this one letter … all my past just came flooding back in one big gush. For Charlie to say that I was laughing at his life sentence was something that had been misunderstood by him caused by the paranoia that being in isolation brings with it. I wouldn’t laugh at somebody doing a week behind bars.

  Since then, it has all been straightened out and Charlie gave me real big apology because he realised what had happened in this crazy mix up. And I did crack that day – I know for a fact I had, I had just flipped my lid. It was then that I realised that your past never leaves you, because I just became the animal I always was. It was as if I had gone back to being in the block. Maybe that shows you what isolation all about. Even as a professional isolationist, after many years of freedom, such a place can still come back to taunt and haunt you.

  Charlie, stay sane.

  Harry Marsden

  INTRODUCTION

  Let me start out by telling you that, contrary to public opinion, I have never killed anyone … hard to believe, ain’t it! The film director Michael Winner called me a murderer when he wrote about me in his News of the World column. The following week, after he was put straight on the matter, he apologised in the same column and withdrew his remarks … apology accepted.

  Why did Michael believe me to be a killer? Simple – public opinion. Another feature in a national newspaper by Chris House had me down as ‘the man, killer and robber …’ It’s an easy mistake to make, and a mistake that has caused me to lose public support for the hell I’ve been put through.

  Why is it that a man like me who has served so long behind bars and has been branded the most dangerous con in the UK penal system is considered automatically to be a killer? Why am I mistakenly branded in such a way? I’ve never killed anyone in my life!

  Propaganda perpetrated by HM Prison Service has caused me no end of trouble. Sneaky little stories leaked to the press by prison officers only sets out to cut you all off from me; it makes you turn your backs on the ‘no good Bronson’. Well, this book, after you’ve read it, will cause you to have grave concerns about the way HM Prison Service can get away with gross acts of violence against me with the full backing of HM Government’s Home Office.

  I do not stand without admitting my own failure as a convict and human being; I do not stand without admitting my own failure as a caring man; and I do not stand without admitting my own failure as an example for young people to look up to. But neither does HM Prison Service stand without being able to admit defeat when it comes to why they haven’t been able to help me and why the prison population is steadily growing.

  For those of you who have never cast eyes on the inside of a prison or even a police cell, this book should act as a deterrent. For those of you unfortunate enough to find yourselves lost and forlorn and pushed up against the wall of a prison cell, this book could be your saviour. For those of you already incarcerated in prison, then this book should help pass the time … unless, of course, they’ve banned it! And then you’re not to know what is within, but my thoughts are with all of those in such a situation.

  Just about everyone on earth has or will be affected by some sort of crime at least once in his or her lifetime. You’ve all been hurt by crime, even if it’s been indirectly. A member of your family, a close friend or a workmate can cause you to share their pain by virtue of the crime they have had perpetrated against them.

  Whole communities can be affected by a sudden monstrous crime carried out against one of their own. Look at how Mary Bell, as a child, caused so much pain and suffering in her community when she murdered her peers. Look at how Brady and Hindley caused so much suffering. Look at how Sutcliffe caused so much blind panic amongst women. Look at how Fred and Rose West preyed on those too weak to defend themselves. Look at how the murder of Sarah Payne caused so much emotional turmoil. Look at how paedophilia causes us to want to kill or, at the very least, punish the perpetrators of evil. Crime affects all of us – you included – without you even necessarily being a victim of a crime?

  Doesn’t that tell you something? Doesn’t that explain why we have prisons and why people like me should be locked up for ever and have the key to their cell thrown away? ‘Bollocks’ is what I say to that!

  How can I make such a statement? How can I qualify what I mean without causing every good citizen to break out in a sweat? First, read this book and then let it soak in. I intend to show you that prisons are obsolete and that they do not act as a deterrent to crime, neither do they rehabilitate those within their walls … mind you, it’s a good way to keep hundreds of thousands of people employed, isn’t it?

  Think about how the economy of any Western country would falter if prisons ceased to exist, but also think about how many others would be employed in other ways. OK, we can’t have paedophiles and child-killers walking the streets, we can’t have evil killers walking the streets and we can’t have any sort of criminal walking the streets. But what about when the day comes and they are legally free to walk the streets of your community amongst you and your children?

  Well, that is happening right now; you might be living next-door to a paedophile or, as you walk along your local streets, you’re bound to see someone with a shady past. What if these characters – anyone who has ever had a criminal record, say – were all rounded up and just slung behind bars! Do you know how many millions in this country would be imprisoned? Fucking loads! Bring back the prison ‘hulks’ is what they’d be screaming for!

  Where would we imprison them all? I once read that if everyone on earth stood next to each other, then they would all fit on the Isle of Man. Maybe we could do the same with these criminals – stand them all on an island next to each other. We could drop food from a helicopter and keep sharks and piranha fish in a giant moat to seal the island off from all those other nice people in the world.

  But, in reality, you know all of that just isn’t possible and if you do believe what I say, then you need to get real. The public is out for revenge against anyone who has committed a crime against them … and you can’t blame them.

  I mean, look at Tony Martin of the Bleak House murder. He suffered a sting by two burglars and he reacted in the way any person defending their property should be allowed to. Joe Public is out for blood – he wants revenge. And when he has exacted his revenge, he wants a further gallon of blood by wanting prisoners to suffer. What if it was your little Johnny who’d been shot at Bleak House?

  Now look at it another way. What if it was your little Johnny who was doing time in the Grey Bar Hotel? Would you be pleased to see little Johnny beaten or even raped by another con? Would you give the prison officers a pat on the back for knocking some sense into your loved one? Would you congratulate the prison officers who allowed your little Johnny to tear some sheets up, make a noose out of them and hang himself?

  You see, prisoners are just as much victims of crime as those they have wronged. When you’re in prison you are a helpless victim, nothing you do or complain about will prevent some sort of malady creeping into your life. You cannot walk away from a situation because there is no place to walk to. You are in an enforced position of having to do as you are told or face the consequences.

  What if you were living in a town with 74,000 other occupants, the size of the current prison population? You can’t tell me that there wouldn’t be some sort of crime committed against some individuals, yet in prison all these crimes against individuals are overlooked or
brushed under the carpet. Police should be brought in to man the prisons and you should outlaw drug-users by pulling them out and putting them into drying-out institutions on an island somewhere where they can’t get drugs.

  The whole prison system has gone tits up and needs an overhaul, just as the prison system was shaken up in the early 1800s when over 50 new prisons were built in England The same should happen now … a shake-up! New systems need to be brought in; the old regime has to go.

  The rehabilitative process in our so-called modern-day penal system is a complete failure. Until you know what the real deal is in prison then you cannot begin to understand how it is failing every citizen in this country. Forget the humiliation of prison, forget about the stigma of having your name in the newspapers, start to think about how a whole community has to start surviving the new-found agony of isolation and brutality of prison life.

  The Good Prison Guide is about surviving in prison. Just as there are rules in every society, there are written and unwritten rules in any prison. Just as stable behaviour is expected of your peers out there in Civvy Street, so it is expected of prison inmates; even though we are in an unstable and volatile environment, we are expected to remain stable. One minute you can be standing waiting in the dinner queue, and the next minute someone has the top of their head sliced off with a steel dinner tray! In prison, that’s normal and no one would bat an eyelid. Out in ‘civilised’ society where you are, it would involve trauma teams being sent out to help everyone get over the shock! In prison, when that happens, you are banged up in your cell.

  What is and what is not acceptable behaviour? I define acceptable behaviour as that which is deemed acceptable by the majority. A tribe of cannibals finds it easy to indulge in the consumption of human flesh, but when those who are revolted by such acts outnumber the rest of the tribe, then it becomes unacceptable. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to eat human flesh. Look at those people who survived that plane crash; they survived for months by eating the flesh of their dead fellow travellers. Suddenly, the rules had changed, and suddenly the survival instinct kicked in and suddenly it was all right to do what was once considered taboo.