Inside ‘human distress’ jail the place Charles Bronson had punch-up with assassin

Forget Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson – who wouldn’t pay to see Britain’s most notorious lag going toe to toe with a raging murderer?

That’s what reportedly happened in recent days when Charles Bronson, 71, was supposedly ambushed by the younger Robert Donaldson, 48, before a brutal punch-up ensued.

But rather than taking place at the AT&T Stadium in Texas in front of 80,000 fans, it instead went down in the not-so-glamorous Category A HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.

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Bronson reportedly managed to land two hooks and two uppercuts on a charging Donaldson, who was jailed in 2005 for murdering a man, gagging a 100-year-old deaf woman and beating up her son.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed they were investigating the incident – but the fight is just one of a number of violent assaults and deaths the 760-bed jail has been hit by in recent years. We’ve taken a look inside the infamous jail home to Bronson and where Soham killer Ian Huntley tried to end his own life in 2003 after he was convicted of murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

History

Ironically, the Alcatraz-style prison opened in 1992 to help the system cope with hardened criminals like Charles Bronson, who has now spent 50 years in the clink.

After new units were added, the then director-general of the Prison Service, Richard Tilt, described it as “therapeutic not punitive” and in 1998 he was quoted in the BBC as saying: “There is a need to address the problem of prisoners who are continually disruptive or provide a consistent danger to staff and other inmates.”

The report also suggested cells were designed so inmates would be prevented from making weapons and that the ambition was for Britain’s most dangerous criminals to return to “near-normal behaviour”.

Deaths

Between 2013 and 2016, a total of 17 inmates inside Woodhill took their own lives. For context, there were seven deaths at Britain’s biggest prison – HMP Wandsworth – during the same period.

The Howard League for Penal Reform and the Centre for Mental Health Charity blamed staffing and budget cuts for the wave of deaths and expressed concerns that inmates were spending 23 hours a day in their cells.

This isolation took place in the ‘D-wing’ and a previous report in 2009 stated how prisoners were “chronically socially isolated and understimulated.”

Chief executive of the Howard League, Frances Crook, said: “The number of people dying by suicide in prison has reached epidemic proportions. No one should be so desperate while in the care of the state that they take their own life, and yet every three days a family is told that a loved one has died behind bars.

“Cutting staff and prison budgets while allowing the number of people behind bars to grow unchecked has created a toxic mix of violence, death and human misery.”

‘Violent and unsafe’

Things went from bad to worse at Woodhill last November when it was deemed “fundamentally unsafe”. This was following an unannounced inspection where it was reported that staff faced the highest rate of serious assaults in England and Wales.

Morale among workers was understandably low with a spokesperson for HM Inspectorate of Prisons saying more officers were leaving than joining.

And in a damning statement, the spokesperson added: “There were high levels of violence and drug use at the jail, which holds category A prisoners in addition to its role as a category B trainer. In a survey of prisoners, 71% said they had felt unsafe and inspectors found at least 26 who were self-isolating in their cells in fear for their safety.”

Self-harming was a recurring issue that was highlighted and being understaffed meant education support for prisoners was canned.

The prison itself was found to be grubby with communal areas being “filthy” in some parts while some cells were damaged, as reported in MKCitizen.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, said: “Woodhill had the highest rate of serious assaults on staff, as well as levels of self-harm among male prisoners. Woodhill is a complex, high-risk prison, holding prisoners convicted of serious offences; it simply cannot operate effectively with such chronic staff shortages. Urgent support is needed from HMPPS to help Woodhill and other establishments to develop credible, long-term plans that improve staff recruitment, and, crucially, staff retention.”

In recent months the Ministry of Justice announced it was taking “urgent action” to improve safety, security and living conditions at Woodhill.

This included employing specialist psychological staff to support prisoners at risk of self-harm. Former Prisons Minister Damian Hinds also said the findings in the recent reports were “incredibly serious” and that support was to be given to offenders so they have the tools to “turn their backs on crime and live law-abiding lives on release”.

Inmate found dead

HMP Woodhill was at the centre of more worrying headlines earlier this year after the prisons ombudsman found staff had failed to properly check on an inmate on the morning he was found dead.

Anil Gll was serving life for murdering his wife and his body was discovered on July 31, 2022. But during morning roll call, his cell panel was blocked and his door would not open – but this was initially ignored.

He was found dead 30 minutes later and the ombudsman concluded that the governor has since “taken steps to prevent future occurrences and she will want to continue to monitor staff compliance and understanding”.

Staff are now understood to do visual checks on all inmates during roll checks.

The latest violent incident concerning Charles Bronson will likely harm his parole bid and a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We do not tolerate violence in prisons and anyone who breaks the rules will be punished. It would be inappropriate to comment further while investigations are ongoing.”