From extreme violence to acts that defy comprehension, the prisoners on this list have left a mark on history for all the wrong reasons. While some targeted specific victims, others acted out of rage, boredom, or twisted pleasure. Each of these inmates challenges the limits of human morality and survival.
Pedro Rodrigues Filho: Brazil’s “Pedrinho Matador”
Pedro Rodrigues Filho, nicknamed Pedrinho Matador, began his life of crime at just 14 years old. Born on a farm in Brazil, he killed his first victim, a local politician, after the man accused his father of theft and fired him from a security job. Pedro’s violent streak continued following the death of his pregnant fiancée, leading him and friends on a killing spree at a wedding reception that left seven dead and 16 injured.
Arrested at 18 and sentenced to 126 years, Pedro primarily targeted criminals like drug traffickers, rapists, and murderers even while behind bars. He murdered over 40 inmates during his incarceration. His most infamous act, however, was an act of revenge against his father, who had killed Pedro’s mother. Pedro chewed a piece of his father’s heart in a chilling display of vengeance.
Despite his violent history, Pedro was released in 2007 due to a legal loophole limiting imprisonment in Brazil to 30 years. He later reoffended but appeared to turn his life around with a YouTube channel warning against crime. Tragically, in March 2023, Pedro was shot and killed by two unknown assailants, and no arrests have been made.
Robert Maudsley: Britain’s “Hannibal the Cannibal”
Robert Maudsley endured a traumatic childhood in Liverpool, England, which some believe shaped his later crimes. In 1974, while working as a sex worker in London, he strangled a client who had abused children and later surrendered himself to authorities. Deemed unfit for trial, Maudsley was sent to Broadmoor Hospital, where he killed again in a gruesome act that earned him the nickname “Hannibal the Cannibal.”
He continued killing at Wakefield Prison, murdering two more inmates, all of whom were sex offenders. Maudsley admitted that he pictured his victims as his abusive parents, a horrifying method of processing childhood trauma. He has spent 46 years in solitary confinement, the longest in British history, living in a specially built two cell unit resembling the fictional prison in The Silence of the Lambs.
Charles Bronson: Britain’s Most Violent Prisoner
Born Michael Gordon Peterson in Bedfordshire, England, Charles Bronson gained notoriety for his extreme prison violence. Arrested for armed robbery in 1974, Bronson repeatedly attacked guards and inmates, escaped cells, and rioted in psychiatric hospitals. His erratic behavior included running naked with a makeshift spear and greasing himself with butter during an outburst.
Though he has never killed anyone, Bronson’s repeated violent acts and hostage taking earned him a life sentence. Known for his unpredictable and dangerous nature, he has become a symbol of the extremes of British prison life.
Carl Panzram: Murder for Pleasure
Carl Panzram, born in 1891 near Minnesota, started his criminal life at just eight years old. After a childhood of abuse, he committed arson at a reform school and later joined the military, only to be imprisoned for theft. His killings began in 1920 following a robbery of former U.S. president William Howard Taft’s home.
Panzram lured sailors onto his yacht, drugged and assaulted them, and then murdered them. In Africa, he killed six men under the guise of a job and fed them to crocodiles. Captured in 1928, Panzram continued killing while in prison, ultimately being sentenced to death for murdering a guard. His crimes display chilling premeditation and sadistic pleasure.
Niels Hogel: The Serial Killer Nurse
Niels Hogel, born in Germany in 1976, is infamous for killing patients in his care. Working in ICU and cardiac surgery units, he caused unexplained cardiac arrests, resuscitations, and deaths, eventually being caught injecting patients with lethal doses. Hogel admitted to murdering at least six patients, later confessing to as many as 85, with investigators suspecting the number could be closer to 200.
Hogel’s motive was reportedly boredom and a twisted desire to prove his medical skill, a revelation that shocked both the medical community and the public. He remains in prison serving a life sentence.
Aileen Wuornos: America’s Notorious Female Killer
Aileen Wuornos, born in Michigan in 1956, endured an abusive childhood and turned to prostitution to survive. Between 1989 and 1990, she killed seven men in Florida, claiming self defense in some cases but admitting later that the murders were for profit.
Convicted in 1992, Wuornos was executed in 2002, becoming the second woman in Florida to face the death penalty since its reinstatement in 1976. Her story inspired the Oscar winning portrayal by Charlize Theron in the film Monster.
Richard Speck: Chicago’s Mass Murderer
Richard Speck, born in Illinois in 1941, experienced abuse and early exposure to alcohol, which set a path toward criminality. Speck’s most notorious crime involved the murder of eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, an act that shocked the nation and made him one of America’s most infamous mass murderers. His lack of remorse and callous attitude toward victims remains chilling to this day.
