Historic images of inmates in Glasgow's Barlinnie released

The National Records of Scotland (NRS) have shared images of prisoners in the well-known nick during the 1800s on the family history website Scotland's People.

HMP Barlinnie, which is located in the city's East End, first opened in 1882. 

The 'Big Hoose' (Image: NRS) John Porter (Image: NRS)

READ MORE: Glasgow's 'Big Hoose' that rehabilitated a notorious Gorbals gangster

The NRS says two thousand rare images have been added to the site along with 180,000 records containing details of people entering the city's jail between 1882 and 1899.

There are 180,000 registered entries in total, with some people jailed more than once.

However, only some prisoners were captured on camera and the photographs show imprisoned people on the day of their release. 

Workers at the slammer (Image: NRS) John Porter (Image: NRS) Thomas Hynes (Image: NRS) According to the NRS, most of those pictured served sentences of only a few days for petty offences.

Meanwhile, they say the 'harsh social conditions' of the time are evident in the photographs.

John Porter features three times as an inmate all by age 18.

Thomas Rushton (Image: NRS)

READ MORE: Construction begins on Glasgow prison to replace Barlinnie

He was charged with 'being a rogue and a vagabond' at a time when homeless people were imprisoned for minor offences.

When it first opened, Glasgow's Barlinnie had a reputation as being a 'tough prison'.

It is believed inmates carried out hard labour, breaking rocks from a local quarry.

Meanwhile, punishments for misbehaviour were harsh.

Sample prisoner photographs sheet (Image: NRS) Since being opened, HMP Barlinnie, otherwise known as the 'Big Hoose', has housed inmates including political activist Tommy Sheridan, footballer Duncan Ferguson, gangster Paul Ferris, and Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.

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.”

(Image: Newsquest)

The 142-year-old slammer in Glasgow is set to be replaced by a new £400million prison.

In March this year, we reported how work got underway on the new facility - which will be known as HMP Glasgow.

Glasgow City Council previously approved plans to build the nick on the former Provan Gas Works site which lies between Blackhill, Blochairn, Germiston and Provanmill.

The prison will have five four-storey residential housing blocks at its centre which will be equipped with heat pumps and solar panels.