Britain’s most notorious inmate Charles Bronson has said he can “taste freedom” ahead of his public parole hearing next week.
The Parole Board is expected to make a decision on whether Bronson – one of the UK’s longest serving prisoners – should be released.
Bronson, who now calls himself Charles Salvador after his artist hero Salvador Dali, was jailed for seven years for armed robbery in 1974 and, but for two brief periods of freedom, has been kept in jail for nearly 50 years because of his repeated violence inside jail, mostly towards prison staff.
He has been turned down for parole repeatedly because he was deemed a threat to the public.
Bronson is currently thought to be held at maximum security HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.
He is appearing in a new Channel 4 two-part documentary before his fate is determined at two hearings due to take place on 6 and 8 March.
In part one of Bronson: Fit to be free? which aired on Monday night, he is seen calling his son, George, from his cell, and tells him: “I’ve got a horrible, nasty, vicious, violent past (but) I’ve never killed anyone, I’ve never harmed a woman, never harmed a child.
“I’m focused, I’m settled, I can actually smell and taste freedom like I’ve never, ever, done in (my) life.
“I’m anti-crime, anti-violent. What the f*** am I still in prison for?”
‘I’m definitely coming home’
Bronson has held 11 hostages in nine different sieges, with governors, doctors, staff, and his own solicitor among the victims.
He was given a discretionary life term in 2000 with a minimum four-year sentence for holding a prison teacher hostage at HMP Hull for 44 hours.
The Parole Board has since refused to direct his release.
Bronson said in the documentary: “The system has labelled me for so many years untameable, untreatable, unpredictable, dangerous… I’ve had every label you can think of.
“But at the end of the day what people don’t realise, since George, my son, has come into my life, I’ve changed and… George has got me the best legal team in the world.
“I’m coming home, I’m definitely coming home.
“Cards on the table, do I sound like Britain’s most dangerous man? Come on.
“I’m 68-years-old and all I wanna do is get out there and enjoy my f****** life, what’s left of it.”
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‘I’ve swapped sawn-off shotgun for paintbrush’
Together with his son, Bronson credits his passion for art for helping him find his “true self”.
“My art now is my life,” he said. “When I create a piece of art, I create a piece of myself.
“I’m more proud of my art than I am anything and what I’ve basically done… I’ve swapped (my) sawn-off shotgun for a sawn-off paintbrush. And it’s lovely, it’s beautiful.
“When I sit there and do a piece of art, it feels like I’m part of the human race, I feel lovely and happy.
“It gets rid of all my frustrations and my tension and my madness.
“I’m an artist and people have got to start believing it and seeing it.”
Bronson, who now calls himself Charles Salvador, has been drawing for many years
Bronson earlier this month launched an art exhibition in the hope of boosting his parole bid.
Hundreds of his cartoonish drawings, many depicting the prisoner’s experience of decades behind bars, went on display in east London.
Artist and curator Oliver Hammond said: “If we can show that Charlie does genuinely want to be released from prison to work on his art, there’s definitely a good chance this can help with his parole.”
