Charles Bronson’s son has issued a stark warning over his father’s treatment during his lengthy spell in jail.
The 70-year-old has spent much of the last 50 years in jail, and his parole panel have been told he is showing signs of PTSD.
Speaking to GB News, his son, George Bamby, has bemoaned the “brutality” his father has been subject to in prison.
He said: “The thing is, a lot of people don’t understand that Charlie has been in situation where he has been beaten black and blue.
Charles Bronson is making his latest bid for freedom
PA
“He has allegedly been attacked by 12 police officers at a time and all sorts of different brutality.
He’s been strapped up in bodybags and been made to eat his food off the floor like a dog while in a straitjacket.
You wouldn’t treat an animal like that. Every time he’s seen a prison officer he sees them as someone who’s going to hurt and attack him.
“He’s been through so much in such a long time, it would get to you, if you keep an animal in a cage and every hour open it and keep brutalising it, one day you’re going to open the door and the animal is going to jump out and attack you.
“Charlie deserves to be in segregation, he’s done a lot of bad things, but there’s going to come a time where he needs a chance.”
The second day of Bronson’s parole review heard one of the UK’s longest serving prisoners holds “anti-authoritarian views” and is “suspicious” of others.
His case is being considered by three parole judges who have not been publicly named at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.
Bronson - whose real name is Michael Peterson - has previously been diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, is “naturally somewhat suspicious of other people’s motives” a psychologist stated.
Once dubbed one of Britain’s most violent offenders, Bronson has spent most of the past 48 years behind bars, apart from two brief periods of freedom during which he reoffended, for a string of thefts, firearms and violent offences, including 11 hostage-takings in nine different sieges.
Victims included governors, doctors, staff and, on one occasion, his own solicitor.
He was handed a discretionary life sentence with a minimum term of four years in 2000 for taking a prison teacher at HMP Hull hostage for 44 hours. Since then, the Parole Board has repeatedly refused to direct his release.
The review heard that Bronson has a “romanticised” view of violent incidents in the past, after he told parole judges how he loved a “rumble” and enjoyed mass brawls in prison but insisted he has since found solace in art and is a man of “peace”.
Some protesters have taken to the streets calling for Charles Bronson to be released
While he found violence “cathartic” in the past, he now draws on art in the same way, the psychologist – who was not named – said.
Bronson – who changed his surname to Salvador in 2014 – is the second inmate in UK legal history to have his case heard in public after rules changed last year in a bid to remove the secrecy around the process.
The third and final day of the proceedings will take place behind closed doors on Friday so confidential details can be discussed.
The Parole Board will consider whether he should remain behind bars after the hearing, with a decision due at a later date.
