Charles Bronson (prisoner)

Charles Arthur Salvador (born Michael Gordon Peterson; 6 December 1952; formerly known as Charles Ali Ahmed), better known by his professional name of Charles Bronson, is a British criminal, with a violent and notorious life as a prisoner. He has spent periods detained in the Rampton, Broadmoor, and Ashworth high-security psychiatric hospitals.

First arrested as a petty criminal, he was convicted and sentenced in 1974 to seven years' imprisonment for armed robbery. Further sentences were imposed because of attacks on prisoners and guards. Upon his release in 1987, he began a bare-knuckle boxing career in the East End of London. His promoter thought he needed a more suitable name and suggested he change it to Charles Bronson, after the American actor. He was returned to prison in 1988 on conviction concerning another robbery. He was a violent prisoner, and has taken numerous hostages in the course of confrontations with guards, resulting in sentences of life imprisonment. He has been held at times in each of England's three special psychiatric hospitals.

Bronson has been featured in books, interviews, and studies of prison reform and treatment. He has said: "I'm a nice guy, but sometimes I lose all my senses and become nasty. That doesn't make me evil, just confused." He was the subject of the 2008 film Bronson, a biopic based loosely on his life, starring Tom Hardy as Bronson, with Kairon Scott Busuttil and William Darke playing him as a child.

Bronson has written many books about his experiences and the famous prisoners he has met throughout his incarceration. A fitness fanatic who has spent many years in segregation from other prisoners, Bronson wrote a book about exercising in confined spaces. He is an artist; paintings and illustrations of prison and psychiatric hospital life have been exhibited and won him awards.

In 2014, he changed his name again, this time to Charles Salvador, in a mark of respect to Salvador Dalí, one of his favourite artists. The Charles Salvador Art Foundation was founded to promote his artwork and "help those in positions even less fortunate than his own" to participate in art. In 2023, his application for parole was rejected.

Life

Early life

Born Michael Gordon Peterson in Luton, Bedfordshire, he was one of three sons of Eira (née Parry) and John G. Peterson. His father later ran the Conservative club in Aberystwyth. His uncle and aunt each served as mayor of Luton in the 1960s and 1970s.

His aunt, Eileen Parry, is quoted as saying: "As a boy, he was a lovely lad. He was obviously bright and always good with children. He was gentle and mild-mannered, never a bully; he would defend the weak".

Peterson lived in Luton from the age of four. When he was a teenager, his family moved to Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, where he started getting into trouble. At the age of 13, he was part of a gang of four robbers and was reprimanded in juvenile court after he was caught stealing. He enjoyed fighting from an early age, and was often absent from school. Peterson later returned to Luton, which he refers to as his home town. His first job was at Tesco, which lasted a fortnight before he was dismissed for attacking his manager. He passed through a number of jobs, working as a hod carrier and in a number of factories. He was imprisoned for the first time at Risley, serving time on remand for criminal damage after he smashed some parked cars following an argument with his girlfriend's father. Following his trial, he was fined and given probation.

Peterson worked as a furniture remover, while regularly fighting on his nights out. After being involved in petty crime, he was in serious trouble with the authorities for the first time after crashing a stolen lorry into a car. He was apprehended in his parents' home, 90 miles (140 km) from the scene of the incident. The driver of the car survived the collision, resulting in Bronson not facing serious penalty, receiving fines and probation. After his trial, he returned to petty crime and menial labour. Aged 19, Bronson was convicted for his part in a smash and grab raid. The judge gave him a suspended sentence.

He met Irene Kelsey in 1971, who described him as "so different from any other boys I knew. He always wore tailored suits, had perfectly-groomed sideburns and a Cockney accent." Eight months later in 1972, when Kelsey was four months pregnant, the couple married at Chester Register Office. Their son is Michael Jonathan Peterson. Five years later they divorced, and Kelsey later remarried.

1974–1987

Bronson was convicted of armed robbery in 1974, aged twenty two, and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. He was sent to Walton Gaol, and soon ended up in the punishment block after attacking two prisoners without being provoked. He was transferred to Hull in 1975. After refusing prison work, he smashed up a workshop after an altercation with a prison officer, and was sent to the punishment block. He was injected with the sedative chlorpromazine, which made him violently ill, and six months were added to his sentence.

After recovering, he continued to prove a highly challenging inmate, and was repeatedly placed in solitary confinement for several months. He attacked fellow prisoner John Henry Gallagher with a glass jug, and was charged with grievous bodily harm. The charges were later dropped to unlawful wounding, and he was convicted. Nine months were added to his sentence. He was transferred to Armley Gaol.

Peterson found that his reputation as a violent and highly dangerous inmate preceded him. During 1975 to 1977, he was switched between Armley, Wakefield, Parkhurst, and Walton prisons. He was taken from Yorkshire to London chained to the floor of a prison van. Kept in solitary confinement, he began a fitness programme. He continued to attack other convicts and damage prison property. While recovering in solitary from a beating given to him for punching two prison officers, Bronson was handed the divorce papers filed by his wife.

At Wandsworth, he attempted to poison the prisoner in the cell next to him. He was moved to Parkhurst Prison in 1976, where he befriended the Kray twins, whom he described as "the best two guys I've ever met". He was moved back to Wandsworth after threatening to kill a prison officer. He spent four months in isolation after he was caught trying to dig his way out of his cell. After being returned to the prison's general population, he caught up with the prisoner who had informed on his escape plan, and attacked him, scarring him for life.

The governor at Wandsworth wanted to transfer Bronson out of his facility, and only the C Unit Psychiatric Wing at Parkhurst was willing to accept him. Bronson was returned to the Isle of Wight. There he attacked a prisoner with a jam jar, and was again charged with grievous bodily harm. He attempted suicide and attacked another prison officer, and was made subject to a transfer direction order under the Mental Health Act.

In December 1978, Bronson arrived at Broadmoor, but was soon transferred to Rampton Secure Hospital. Unable to adapt to forced medication, and in the company of highly disturbed and highly dangerous patients, Bronson attempted to strangle child rapist and murderer John White. He was apprehended just as White was giving out his death rattle. Bronson was returned to Broadmoor, where he reunited with Ronnie Kray.

"I witnessed them running into walls, using their heads as rams. I've seen them fall unconscious doing this. They stabbed themselves with pens, needles, scissors. One even blinded himself in one eye and another tore out his own testicle. There was one just kept trying to eat himself, biting his arms, legs and feet."

At Broadmoor, Bronson attempted to strangle Gordon Robinson to death, but was prevented from doing so by the tearing of the silk tie he was using. Following this failure, Bronson became depressed, but found his spirits lifted when Ronnie Kray arranged a visit from boxer Terry Downes. In 1982, he performed his first rooftop protest after escaping to the top of Broadmoor, tearing off roof tiles. Not long after the first incident, he again reached the roof of Broadmoor. He caused £250,000 worth of damage in a three-day protest, before he was talked down by his family.

Following further treatment, he took up art. Eventually, he received more prison awards than any other inmate for his poems, prose, and cartoons. He made a third rooftop protest, this time demanding a prison transfer, and was again talked down. He began an 18-day-long hunger strike, and was eventually granted a transfer to Ashworth Hospital, then known as Park Lane Hospital, in June 1984.

"I'd been certified mad because of my violence. I was still violent – and they were now certifying me sane. Where's the sanity in that? Isn't the system just as crazy?"