PEOPLE INSPIRED BY CHARLIE'S SPIRIT

The following are emails I have received from various people at various times who tell of the positive effect Charlie has had on their lives. If Charlie has affected you in a similar way then please email me your story to add to this page.

Hello Mal, I am 18 years old and am an ex-prisoner myself, I read a few of Charlies books and then when I got out of prison, wich was only a month or so ago, I found your website, and found Charlie very inspiring as he is trying to turn his life around, and he inspired me to do so myself, I was thinking of sending him a letter and a few Stamped envelopes of course and maybe a few quid postal order, Just thought I would share my story, I am now going to college to get some GCSE's and hopefully do A levels next year and go to University.. thanks alot and please reply, Matty

Hello mr. bronson i would like to start by saying you have changed my life. i went out the other day and got your book Solitary Fitness. i have been doing it for about 3weeks and i am now doing 500 press ups a day. im a 18 year old boxer from dallas texas i know its a far way from where you are. i thought you might like to know that i have told all my friends about your book and now they are getting on the Solitary Fitness workout. im getting the word out about you. just the other day i was at a friends house and a guy who plays football for a school here was running his mouth about the fact the he could bench press 300 pounds. he was saying how he is on roids and that he is so strong! so i thought to myslef and said what would bronson do. so i said you want to do some arm wrestling. and i dont lift weights i do press ups pull ups sit ups and all the workouts from your book. so any ways he looks at me laughs and said yeah so we locked hads and my friend said go his face started to turn red he was trying as hard as he can and i looked him in the eyes and slamed his hand on the pool table and then as i walked away i said i guess thos roids are not working hahaha.and another thing i was in the boxing gym the other day and this 6ft5 255 pound guy walks up to me and asks if i want to fight? im 6ft3 196 i said sure why not and at my gym no one respects me cause im a white guy in a mexican and black gym. so i step into the ring the whole gym was thinking that this mexican monster was going to kill me but he had another thing coming. in the 3 round he tossed a right hook at my head i ducked it and came up with a left hook and hit him right on the chin. then he droped to the mat he was out!! haha lets just say they now respect this white boy. and its all thanks to you Mr.bronson.i wanted to tell thes stories so that all the ppl out there that might read this and think your workout wont work well im living proof that it does. Mr.bronson i have all the respect in the world for you. maybe one day i will get to live out my dream and get to shake your hand and have a talk with you.god bless and keep your head up i will keep praying for you to get out soon. Michael Smith Dallas, Texas

The following letter was written totally unprompted by eight year old Charley Morris (the niece of Dee Morris) to the governor of HMP Woodhill. Dee says she had no idea she was writing it until her niece asked her how to spell "opinion":

hi i was just looking at your web page and thought i would love to send my support to Mr Bronson.Lately i`ve been abit down with my health problems but then i was thinking about Charles Bronson and that made my problems seem so small and helped me carry on, so i would like to say chin up charles your one in a million. I`m going to put pen to paper and write a nice letter to you and hopefully it may help you smile. take care from millie x

Not as life changing but still a step in the right direction: Charlie is helping me with my illness Fibromyalgia through his book and letters. We aim to fight it. Just knowing he is on my side helps me through the bad days. We both love porridge LOL. Its nice to know that Charlie will help me while the doctors just want to fill me full of painkillers. I used to train everyday then I got this crappy thing which stripped me of my health, energy and body. Little steps at present but I will get myself back. Roze Thorn xxx

Hi there, Charlie – I was going to write a letter, but I have little faith in snail mail these days as it seems lately the USPS has gotten very lazy or very stupid, most of my mail has been returned with a stamp telling me my address doesn’t exist. Though this never happens when I mail out a phone bill or my car payment. A few years back I was told about the movie, and I’ve waited for it to come out here in the states. I couldn’t find it. Finally a few weeks ago a friend asked if I wanted to watch. They hated it. I loved it. I’ve seen it several times, Tom hardy is an excellent actor and the story is very refreshing these days of sparkling vampires. I’m a workout fanatic. I had intestinal cancer back in 2005 (I’m only 27-years-old today) and that had a major impact on me, I was always in shape but never as I am now. I would ride my bike to the lake (10 miles) come home and lift weights for about 2 hours and then jog a few miles. Then I got very sick. I became very slim. A year later, the staples came out of my belly and that very day I was jogging again. I shit myself. But it didn’t stop me. I kept jogging. I’ve been on and off sick, hospitalized more times than I can remember but when I’m doing good, all I do is workout and train, I’m a Sensei in Shito Ryu karate and Okinawan ju jutsu. Fucking love it. Fighting, it’s so freeing. I grew up in a foster home, with ten – twelve older brothers with me at any time. I began boxing soon as I could stand. I began pullups and pushups in elementary school, my father making me do ten or so of each every time I passed through my bedroom door. Being a small guy, 5’7 around 135-140 pounds, I’ve always been an easy target, I never picked the fights but I never backed out and I never lost. I’m ranting… anyway, since I saw Tom’s performance as Charlie Bronson I did some research on his workout. I needed a different routine, and body weight exercises were always preached to me for what I was looking for. For the last two weeks I’ve left behind the weights (except the dumb bell) and made a goal: 1000 pushups a day and the second goal, 1,128 a day. I reached both in four days. I’m doing 1000 pushups a day with pyramid pullups, situps and dumbbell curls and a jog every other day. My pre-cancer body has come back and gone further, even better, I fucking love it. I ordered your workout book and am looking forward to getting some of your routines to help the future redundancy. I’ve always admired inmate workouts. Nothing but a sink, bed and toilet and these guys are in better shape than our top athletes. All those record holders, weight lifters, athletes, fighters, they’re not the top, ‘cause the top are in prison… you can’t count out all those millions in there doing time. And Charlie, if you were here you would be out. My father was a prison guard, 25 years at the max facility Great Meadow. It fucking sickens me that a rapist, pedophile or any sex offender does two years and is sent home with a job lined up and a place to live when some punk kid gets caught fighting at the bar and goes in for 10 years. That’s bullshit. The longer you're in, the more the state can tax it to 'fund' whatever they see, that's why so many have done away with the death penalty and the same reason hospitals fight to keep those that are in a vegetative state alive on support instead of allowed the decency of death. The longer an inmate is in prison, the more money the state is given. It's all about money for some and that's wrong and sad, it's not about the car you drive it's about how you live your life. In the same way some are doing time, it seems there are those who are doing time behind a desk or a surgical mask for their home or their cosmetic surgery or their vacation and so on, it's almost similar. It’s sad, people who are given a shit hand and have so much they could give but aren’t allowed, when there are people here basically committing slow suicide with video games and fast food and beer and drugs and those fucking assholes with the fake science built steroid muscles and the tanning and the guys with the tight-ass girl pants complaining about how their hair looks… it all means nothing but step on their toe or mess up their hair and they’ll complain for a week about how bad their life is and the worst part, the very worst is when something does happen, when it does come down to it… they will never do a damn thing to make it better no matter what it is, their life, a friend or family member, if it takes determination or motivation, they’re out, they want no part. Fucking sickening. I hope you’re doing well. You’ve been a motivation to me, and not just me but so many more. Some complain online about how they see it as low society, I see it as courageous; a courageous fight, a motivational story, a determined protagonist. Keep on fighting peacefully and keep up the hope. There are those of us out here that are on your side and want to see that you get your freedom and continue to keep us fighting our own wars our-own-selves and remind us to never, ever, fucking give in and always, no matter how many fucking times before you’ve had to pick yourself up out of the mud, never stop and never give up. Your story has been a life changing eye-opener for me and I hope a little of my own story has helped you, even if only in the slightest way. All my best, Dustin LaValley (USA)

Hello my name is Jade Wood, I am 19 years old and this is the 2nd email i have sent. I have followed Charles Bronson most of my life, for some reason unknown i was always interested in his life and the development of his criminal career, i just found him as a person so creative and individual. I find him fasinating and he has impacted on my choice of career. I am currently at Worcester University studying counselling psychology and i hope to further this into a career of prison psychology to understand criminal behaviour and the reasons for criminal actions, also to help prisoners such as Charles bronson who have been victim to authority, Charles Bronson does not deserve to still be in prison, from what i have heard he is reformed and understands the seriousness of his past actions, it seems that he is still there because of his notorious reputation not for his actions. Depending on how my studies go, i would love to do my end of university assignment and project on Charles Bronson and the reasons behind actions, getting a reply from Charles bronson would be a great honour and a pleasure. Thank you, Jade Wood

Dear Charlie i would like to start off by saying how courageous and brave you are, it gives me constant inspiration that one man can go through so much shit and still be in a fighting mind. ive just finished reading your solitary fitness book and it really is better than any personal trainer, your wisdom and realistic mind makes me think i can do anything i want to. I dont care what people have said about you in the past and the present to me your a good guy and will always be a person i can think about and strive to do better because of your strength. for 3 years i have been through real bad depression and a lot of times i have come to the point where i want to end my life. its figures like you that keep me going. he can do it so i can to if i put my mind into it. i dont even know you but i want you out of prison, i feel you have been through more than a human should ever go through and im just an outsider looking in. i wish you all the best and im sure you will keep your head up during the bad. you will get out, lots of people want you out, we can get you out of this corrupt law system. i would love to hear back from you, but if i dont good luck, ill be hoping for you. from ben