With the future of Barlinnie and its superjail successor in limbo, Glasgow faces prison purgatory

Campaigners want HMP Barlinnie recognised as an A-listed historic landmark and turned into a museum when it closes. Meanwhile, its £400 million replacement has yet to materialise.

By Jacob Nicol
Photos by Colin Mearns

Inside Barlinnie 📷 Colin Mearns

On the outskirts of former gangland territory, Provanmill’s iconic gasometres stand watch waiting for the skeletal frame of Glasgow’s new superjail to rise from below. Set to replace HMP Barlinnie, the £400 million project has yet to materialise following its announcement six years ago. While ominous groans and grumbles about the prison’s soaring price tag and stalled schedule grow louder, there is at least some hope for the future of its infamous predecessor.

Since the gates first clanked open in 1882, HMP Barlinnie has housed more than a million misguided souls. Famous former residents include ‘Beast of Birkenshaw’ Peter Manuel, Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and, perhaps most fearsome of all, Dragon’s Den’s Duncan Bannantyne. But recently, it hasn’t been the inmates giving ‘The Big Hoose’ its notoriety, but the conditions inside the Victorian-era building.