Charles Bronson – Charles Arthur Salvador is a legendary British criminal known for his violent and infamous life behind bars. His full name is Charles Arthur Salvador Charles Bronson. He has been committed to Rampton, Broadmoor, and Ashworth, all of which are high-security psychiatric facilities for periods of time. After being detained for the first time as a minor offender, he was eventually tried for armed robbery and sentenced to seven years in jail for the crime in 1974.

As a result of attacks on both convicts and guards, more sentences have been handed out. After being released from prison in 1987, he immediately launched a career as a bare-knuckle boxer in the East End of London. His promoter believed that he required a more acceptable name and proposed that he alter it to Charles Bronson, like the American actor who played the role. In 1988, he was sentenced to prison once more after being convicted of committing another crime.

As a result of his violent nature as a prisoner and his taking of multiple hostages during altercations with security personnel, he was sentenced to life in prison on multiple occasions. He has spent time in all three of England’s specialized psychiatric institutions at various points in his life. In addition to being the subject of books and interviews, Bronson has also been the focus of research on the subject of jail treatment and reform.

He has said: “Even though I’m generally a good guy, I have episodes in which I completely lose control and become unpleasant. That doesn’t make me a bad person; it just makes me perplexed.”  He was the focus of the biopic Bronson, which was released in 2008 and starred Tom Hardy. The film was only loosely based on his life.

During his time in jail, Bronson had the opportunity to interact with a number of notable inmates, and he later wrote a number of books on these interactions. Bronson, a health and fitness enthusiast who has been isolated from other inmates for a significant portion of his incarceration, penned a book on the subject of working out in tight places. He is a talented artist, and his paintings and pictures of life in psychiatric hospitals and prisons have been shown in exhibitions and won him accolades.

In 2014, he went through yet another change of name, this time to Charles Salvador. He did this as a way to pay tribute to Salvador Dal, who is one of his most admired artists. In order to accomplish these goals, Charles Salvador established an art foundation.