Product Description

Charles Bronson will never be set free. A convicted criminal, he is held in an impenetrable cell in an attempt to stop his hostage-taking. Though his time is now spent producing a constant stream of poetry and sketches, his story is an astonishing and terrifying one.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #404613 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Synopsis
Charles Bronson will never be set free. A convicted criminal, he is held in an impenetrable cell in an attempt to stop his hostage-taking. Though his time is now spent producing a constant stream of poetry and sketches, his story is an astonishing and terrifying one.

Customer Reviews

Quite entertaining for an autobiography
This book offers a light and enjoyable read, if you don't take it too seriously. Some parts were very funny. In places it can be construed as offensive, but this is reasonable considering the subject.

One flaw in my opinion was an element of repetitiveness, as we do not get the feel that this is a story, but more of a diary. I would have made some amendments, such as fewer names listed, fewer minor incidents, more reflection on the effects of the happenings, and possibly an impression of how Bronson had changed nearing the latter stages.

So, in summary, this not a serious autobiography, but nevertheless an eye-opening insight into a different place told in a humourous way.

Uplifting
I know some readers do not like the story of Bronson. But he is what he is and his story has been survival. As many prisoners cannot handle the system inside and end up doing suicide. He uses his time inside to train and work on his body, as he has a world record for most push ups in an hour, 1700 of them!! I don't know if someone can do more pushups than that but it is quite an achievement for the body and only possible through years of training. Personally his story has been inspirational to me as we begin to notice all benefits we have outside of prison; yet many people don't know how fortunate they are and never bother to work on their most valuable asset, their body. He has a short temper and believes in violence but he has never killed anybody and most people he has hit has deserved it. Rapists and phedos are in those prisons and Bronson has come across them and given many a beating. Wouldn't you want to?

Although violent and not of the normal physce, the man has deep feelings compared to other criminals. Instead of most thugs inside who turn to drugs and drink. He chooses to train. The man has discipline and is a survivor. If let out he would only hit someone and by the system, would only be put inside again; so he is not fit for our society. However there are lessons to be learned from the man. He does tell you a lot about prison life. This book is a must read!

Bronson raises questions but provides no answers
'Ghosting' is the term used when a high security prisoner is transferred at short notice between prisons. We know this because Bronson tells us. He also tells us about body belts, his many and seemingly never-ending supply of mates in and out of prison and a seemingly exhaustive account of his prison moves.
Robin Ackyrod is on hand to help tell Bronson's sad and depressingly predictable story but it's hard to tell what contribution he has made. In fact Bronson seems to be firmly in control here and his writing style rapidly becomes laboured and repetitive. There are far too many similar chapters which rarely deviate from a bare, blunt, no-nonsense tone. He does time and press-ups, he messes up, he is punished and moved. He lists the name of cons without going into too much detail.

I have no doubt that for someone who has spent 28 years in prison Bronson has a compelling story to tell. But it has to be told alongside that of the penal system for it to mean anything at all. As it stands, it reads as a diary of futility, railing against himself and the system. The repetitive structure is enlivened by the odd occasional anecdote and one-liner but there are many passages where some explanation is warranted but Bronson refuses to come clean. For example he impulsively attacks a prisoner who is a member of the IRA but he doesn't really address why he "explodes" or starts to build up to violent episodes. Cons and screws upset him, while some don't. After a while he's simply unable to say why and the only outcome of that is to have you empathising with the difficult job the screws are burdened with. I lost count of the number of best-ever mates he has at each prison. The impulsive, impetuous acts as far as I could see only had their root in boredom - not the most attractive reason or justification.

Consequently there is little insight into the psycho-pathology of the man - things just happen. Early on a potentially gripping trip through the asylums is weakly written. For anyone else that could have opened up a number of interesting topics but of course here we are limited to talk of "nutters" and their crazy behaviour. Nor does he linger on the extraordinary fact that he never should have been in the asylums in the first place.
Like some force of nature that reverberates between extremes we are asked to take him as he is or not at all. In fact he won't bend at all even when his violence affects those he respects and loves.

I found his points about a "strict moral code" inside prison to be distasteful. No he hasn't got much time for sex-killers and child abusers. In fact he tries to hurt them. Some people would say there is nothing wrong with that. But he does deify some very nasty people indeed particularly Reggie Kray. It's pretty clear at this point that Bronson's moral compass is seriously deficient. It's an area that he gets around by not condoning these crimes and emphasising virtues of loyalty, mental strength and camaraderie. It doesn't totally work for me because Bronson, who sees his life as a trial of his mental and physical strength, feels a victim of forces greater than himself and thus claims a degree of self-righteousness. And for someone of whom Ackroyd claims would merely have been a "circus strong-man" two hundred years ago, throwing his lot in with the likes of the Krays perhaps reveals more than Bronson intended.

On the plus side, Bronson says he is responsible for his situation, though crucially he claims that the system makes him worse, that while he is unyielding he is the only loser in this fight and he warns the reader about the perils of criminality. And if his account of his incarceration are fairly inclusive then I wonder why he hasn't been assessed for alternative psychological and drug treatments. And with a parole date of 2010 that he might conceivably make I would hope some sort of counselling is on the cards. After all he had reasonable grounds to complain of being ill-prepared when he was first released.

When I picked up this book I already found Bronson fascinating. But midway into this book I see him as merely an a conduit for fascination. He is a celebrity, adored by the cons and the crime-obsessed fan cliques and projected as a madman to the tabloid-reading masses. But they don't really know him, in fact don't need to, for his reputation is far more potent. This book doesn't really tell us anything particularly deep about Bronson or about the penal system. It is simply more fuel for our fascination for celebrity criminals and that is a pretty distasteful area in of itself.

I found it a frustrating read for this reasons but it clearly made me think. But I don't think anyone would be wise to make up their minds about Bronson on the basis of this one-sided and very narrowly focused account.