Britain's most dangerous inmate says prisons have gone 'soft'

The serial hostage taker, who has attacked at least 50 prison officers over the past three decades, said criminals did not realise how lucky they were to live in today's politically correct regime.

Writing in prisoners' newspaper Inside Time, he complained about 'cons snivelling over petty things', adding 'it just cracks me up'.

Charles Bronson, Britain's most dangerous inmate, says prisons are not what they used to be

The 55-year-old describes the prison system as 'insane', and says: 'We are all living in one big asylum! You'd better believe it! It's no longer porridge, it's cornflakes; no longer mailbags, it's making fairy cakes; no longer planning the next bank job, it's doing an anger management course.

'The screws no longer wear studded boots and peaked hats, they wear moccasins and gel their hair! The days of hard cons and brutal screws are a thing of the past; even prison governors are softies – political correctness comes first.'

'I just wish some of you cons could live my existence for just a month, then and only then you’d wake up and start to appreciate just what you have got; TV, radio, CD’s, carpets, curtains, flasks, own clothes, open visits, phone calls, gym, pool, canteen – even the food is not so bad.

'Accept it, be grateful for it, and stop moaning about pathetic things!'

It follows claims by the Prison Officers' Association that prisons were so soft  that inmates did not want to leave.

Not like the old days: Prisons are going soft in today's politically correct regime, according to Bronson

They said prostitutes plied their trade in open prisons and criminals in secure units enjoyed breakfast in bed, satellite TV and sports facilities, while staff treated them 'with kid gloves' and were 'subservient' for fear of breaching their human rights.

Earlier this week, the Daily Mail revealed how almost 40,000 inmates have opted out of the early release tagging scheme since it was introduced in 2000, turning down the chance to leave jail up to 18 weeks early.

And more than 40 outsiders have been caught inside prisons or trying to enter by scaling walls.  Many are apparently selling drugs to criminals.

Since being jailed for armed robbery in 1974, Bronson has developed a reputation as Britain's most dangerous convict.

In his time in prison, he has been involved in at least ten jail sieges, attacked 50 prison officers and caused £500,000 of damage in rooftop protests. He has been deemed so dangerous that he has been moved 150 times, and has spent more than 22 of his 30 years in jail in solitary confinement. He is currently in Wakefield Prison.

Bronson, who has written a book called Loontology about the penal system, is about to be made the star of a feature length film.

According to Inside Time,  he has been advising the film-makers from his cell on how he should be characterised. His visitors include Tom Hardy, the British actor who appeared with Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's Band of Brothers, and who has been cast to play him in Bronson.

Last year, he was given £200 to buy designer glasses so he could see the ball while watching Match of the Day on TV.

The Prison Service offered the money to Bronson after his old pair of spectacles was damaged in a brawl with two guards at high-security Full Sutton jail.

Prisons Minister David Hanson: 'Prison is about punishment and reform. It is anything but soft and it is absurd to suggest otherwise. No-one should be fooled by suggestions to the contrary.

'The punishment of the court is loss of liberty by being sent to prisons which combine tough regimes with the opportunity of rehabilitation.'