|
Staement on Charlies Parole hearing from
Giovanni De Stefano
- 29 August 2008:
- The Parole Board hearing was today adjourned. There is NO way that we can do justice to a man's future in a limited time of one hour. We will thus deal with the matter upon appointment with the Parole Board for a full day's hearing. Charlie was not pleased but then that is what the system has created. He is not per se a difficult man. It is what the Prison Service has created. The resolve of both myself and David Martin Sperry will not falter.
Prior to this statement
- STATEMENT ON CHARLES BRONSON
 27 August 2008:
- On Friday 29th August 2009 at 10.00am in a room within HMP Wakefield a man will be brought before a Judge and two other members of the Parole Board in shackles and chains. I would not be surprised if the Prison Service did not place a Hannibal Lector mask on his face. That man is CHARLES BRONSON. But the shackles and chains say much more about the system than about the man. Our submissions to the Parole Board specially convened will be that Charles Bronson should be released forthwith. The Prison Service has made a catalogue of errors in the way they have treated him. If Mr Bronson were a dog the RSPCA would without doubt prosecute. The Prison Service policy is simply to contain and batter. I asked Mr Bronson why it was he had originally refused to go before the Parole Board in person in chains and behind bars in a specially and hurriedly built cage (very much like that of Hannibal Lector). His reply: “Because they see bars and won’t see behind the bars.” Well put and accurate. Our answer thus will be for counsel to sit WITH Mr Bronson behind the bars and thus the Parole Board will be forced at seeing beyond the bars. Mr Bronson has been convinced to shave off his beard and to wear glasses where the Parole Board Members can see his eyes.
- As I stated the Prison Service have committed a catalogue of errors. In the so called Parole dossier revealed to us they allege that Mr Bronson is convicted of assault and false imprisonment. Wrong he was acquitted of assault. The dossier states that the tariff the Trial Judge set down was three years:-wrong it was four and it makes no difference that the said information may be against us simply because Mr Bronson has served now 8 years. There is absolutely no home probation officer report:-why? No funds to enable a home probation officer to attend Mr Bronson and visit him. The result is that at his last Parole Hearing almost no documents were before the Board to enable them to make a decision. The ‘system’ is quite happy to allow him to rot in jail. He is 57 years of age and can easily live another 30 years. He is dedicated to physical fitness. 1000 press-ups a day is what I call dedication. He is dedicated to his art. He is dedicated to his poetry. He is dedicated to his writing. Now the Parole Board will without doubt say to us why Mr Bronson refuses to see a psychiatrist. Easy answer: the psychiatrist will want to take Mr Bronson back 8 years ago when he held a teacher hostage (and fed him his pineapples) and did not repeat not assault him. He has moved on since then and is another person. Why does he need a man in a white coat to take him back 8 years?
- There is further an important legal issue. You see the Parole Board and the Prison Service for the past 22 years have all asked Mr Bronson to prove he is not dangerous. But that is a wrong interpretation of the Parole Board criteria. It is for the State to prove that Mr Bronson IS a danger TO THE COMMUNITY not to people in prison. That is the critical criteria. Is Mr Bronson a danger to the community and frankly there is no evidence. It is not for Mr Bronson to prove he is no danger to the community. It is for the State to prove he is. What he does inside prison is a matter for disciplinary proceedings and he has none for the last few years come what may. All these years simply because the Prison Service is quite happy to contain him in a specially built cage is frankly a disgrace and unlawful.
- We are thus asking that the Parole Board release him because there is absolutely no evidence presented in any format that he is a danger to the community and that is the test. Now we could ask, and probably should ask, that he be released forthwith. He fits the criteria. But we will ask the Parole Board ‘defer’ for three months. You see if Charles Bronson is released on Friday he has nowhere to go. Why? Because the external Probation Officer could not find anywhere because of lack of funding for him to visit Wakefield Prison and thus no reports or arrangements have been made. We will ask the parole Board to defer the release to a date when the Probation Officer from Mr Bronson’s chosen area where he wishes to live can make arrangements. Mr Bronson has no experience of day to day life. Imagine, he knows nothing about SKY TV, nothing about mobile phones, nothing about laptops and probably nothing about Smart Cars. That is not to say he does not know they exist but he has no experience.
- The Prison Service is happy to parade him in chains and shackles and place him in specially built cage. They are happy to contain him for the next 30 years. I am not. It is inhuman. It is unlawful and an affront to society. Whilst a police killer roams the streets on license after only 8 years, Mr Bronson he is not convicted for violence for the past 22 years has remained in solitary in conditions befitting Alexander Dumas character the man in the iron mask.
- We hope to change that Friday.
- GIOVANNI DI STEFANO
|
