It is Scotland’s largest and most infamous prison, with a reputation as tough as San Francisco's infamous former Alcatraz.

Over its 142-year history, HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow has been home to over a million offenders and witness to countless notable events, including the hanging of Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel, a prison siege in 1987 and the imprisonment of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

Now people can explore the construction of the prison itself, and uncover the stories of people who spent time behind Barlinnie's imposing walls, thanks to the release of records of around 180,000 admissions to the prison dating from 1882 to 1899.

This release, by Scotland's People - the official Scottish Government site for searching government records and archives - also includes a prisoner photograph album, providing photographs of over 2,000 inmates. 

Only some prisoners were captured on camera, with the photographs showing imprisoned people on the day of their release - most of whom served sentences of only a few days for petty offences.

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The Story of Barlinnie: Find all the articles in the series here

Glasgow's forgotten prisons and why Barlinnie was built

The harsh social conditions of the time are also evident in the photographs.

The recent Barlinnie Prison records release includes a rare example of a photograph volume of prisoners for the period 1882-1891. Although images do not exist for all prisoners, the unusual record allows us to follow one individual, through multiple stays, in Barlinnie Prison.

John Porter features three times as an inmate all by age 18. Although he was only photographed three times by the Prison authorities, Porter had become a regular inmate of Barlinnie Prison during his teenage years, primarily for offences of vagrancy. Porter served a total of five short sentences between 1883-1885. 

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.

Peter Davidson alias John Porter. The photograph was on his liberation from Barlinnie Prison on 23 March 1883.Peter Davidson alias John Porter. The photograph was on his liberation from Barlinnie Prison on 23 March 1883. (Image: Crown Copyright/National Records of Scotland)

“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.”

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.

Major General Thomas Bernard Collinson, the architect and engineer to the Scottish Prison Department, was called up to produce plans for Barlinnie prison. The original drawings consisted of four accommodation blocks which were four-stories high and could house 200 prisoners.

A site on the north-eastern outskirts of the city in Riddrie was purchased in 1879 and construction started in 1880. The building of the new Barlinnie prison, which took six years to complete, eased overcrowding at Glasgow (Duke Street) Prison and allowed the Prison Commissioners to close the inadequate prisons at Campbeltown, Rothesay, Airdrie, Hamilton and Lanark.

Each block of the prison was brought into use upon completion, and the first prisoners arrived at A Hall on 15 August 1882. B, C and D Halls were completed between 1883 and 1892, and a further block ‘E Hall’ was added in 1896 to ease overcrowding. This increased capacity to approximately one thousand prisoners.

After Barlinnie opened in 1882, it soon developed a reputation as a tough prison, and across the years prisoners have nicknamed it ‘BarHell’ and the ‘Big hoose’. Initially, prisoners were occupied breaking rocks from the local quarry. A common punishment for unruly behaviour appears to have been ‘handcuffs behind [their back] & canvas jacket at night’ or a number of nights. The prisoner would be assessed as fit for this punishment by the Prison Surgeon, and the warden would administer the cuffs and or jacket.

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.

Pictures of the inmates can be found on family history website Scotland's People.