Pictures of inmates in Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison in Victorian times can now be found on family history website Scotland’s People. Two thousand rare images have been added to the site along with 180,000 records containing details of people entering the prison between 1882 and 1899.
There are 180,000 register entries in total, with some people jailed more than once. Researchers can see digitised copies of the original registration books. Only some prisoners were captured on camera. The photographs show imprisoned people on the day of their release. Most served sentences of only a few days for petty offences. The harsh social conditions of the time are evident in the photographs.
John Porter features three times as an inmate all by age 18. Porter was charged with “being a rogue and a vagabond” at a time when homeless people were imprisoned for minor offences. HMP Barlinnie was built to replace eight small prisons across Glasgow city and the west of Scotland. Glasgow’s rapid population growth in the 19th century meant these existing custodial facilities were increasingly rundown and overcrowded.
Big hoose
Barlinnie opened in Glasgow in 1882 and had a reputation as a tough prison. Inmates carried out hard labour, breaking rocks from a local quarry. Punishments for misbehaviour were harsh. It soon developed a reputation as a tough prison, and across the years prisoners have nicknamed it ‘BarHell’ and the ‘Big hoose’.
Archivist Jessica Evershed of National Records of Scotland, which runs the Scotland’s People website, said: “Prison records are an excellent resource for social history research. You may even track down your own relatives in these records, and – in some cases – find a photograph of your ancestor. These photographs are a fantastic resource for researchers. The Scotland’s People website now allows you to put faces to names in a way that isn’t possible for other records. While Barlinnie prison did hold some people convicted of serious crimes, most prisoners were serving short sentences. The most common entries are for petty offences such as minor thefts and drunkenness.”
From 1946 onwards, Barlinnie General Prison served as a place of execution and the prison’s purpose-built hanging shed was used on 10 occasions between 1946 and 1960. New thinking around punishment and rehabilitation in the 1970s saw the introduction of an experimental therapeutic facility designed to reform the most violent and disruptive inmates.
The Barlinnie Special Unit (BSU), was in operation between 1973 to 1994 and sparked worldwide interest. Those committed to the BSU did not wear prison uniforms and had some input on how the unit should be managed. Despite some high-profile success stories, such as the sculptor and writer Jimmy Boyle, the unit was closed due to the loss of confidence from government ministers and prison officials. The prison was progressively modernised between 1997-2004, with flush toilets being added to cells, and finally ending the practice of ‘slopping out’.
Glasgow’s main prison
After 142 years as Glasgow’s main prison, the story of HMP Barlinnie is close to ending. The prison now holds 500 more prisoners than it was designed for, and is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain. In 2020, HMP Barlinnie was deemed unfit for purpose and a new purpose-built prison – HMP Glasgow – is scheduled to open in 2027.
The release on Scotland’s People of the admission registers of HMP Barlinnie, and its associated photograph album of prisoners, will give researchers a fascinating insight into the people behind the prison’s imposing walls.