Long-term prisoner Charlie Bronson tells the story of his five-year stay at Britain's most notorious mental hospital
In the winter of 1979, aged just 27, the inmate who would come to be known as "Charlie Bronson" was considered uncontrollable by the prison system. Certified insane, he was transferred from Parkhurst Prison to the most infamous high-security psychiatric hospital in England, Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane. There he embarked on a one-man campaign to retain his sanity, and to fight against the brutality of a largely hidden regime that relied on enforced drug control. This outstandingly honest account takes the reader back to those dark days. It is a journey filled with sadness, and yet it is one that includes much laughter and pathos, as well as detailing the camaraderie among fellow patients, who included Ronnie Kray and Frankie Fraser. How Charlie Bronson survived Broadmoor, what he endured, and the things he witnessed are, for the very first time, documented in this sad, often chilling, sometimes funny, and often moving account of one man's journey into madness and his methods for surviving this notorious psychiatric hospital. Capturing Bronson's unique voice, this roller-coaster ride of madness, pain, laughter, and tears is also a testament to one man's triumph over adversity.