Key Dates on the timeline of Barlinnie

The Building

from Bob Jeffrey's book “History of Barlinnie”

Barlinnie was designed by Major General T.B. Collinson, architect and engineer to the Scottish Prison Department, and it was built in the then rural area of Riddrie adjacent to the Monkland Canal now the route of the M8 motorway 

1879: Land bought from Barlinnie Farm Estate for £9,750. 

1880: Building work begins. 

1882: A Hall commissioned on July 25. First three prisoners arrive on August 15. 

1883: B Hall commissioned

1887: C Hall commissioned

1892: D Hall commissioned

1896: E Hall complete, bringing total 1887 capacity to around 900. in more recent times up to double the inmates have been crammed inside its walls.

1955: Female block built due to closure of Duke Street female prison. 

1958: Peter Manuel becomes one of the last men to be hanged at Barlinnie. Buried on site. 

1972: Special Unit set up in female block. It gains worldwide fame for its experimental treatment of dangerous prisoners, including Jimmy Boyle. 

1983: Segregation Unit complete. 

1987: Barlinnie became notorious worldwide as the site of Scotland's longest prison siege. Even those who had seen it coming were taken aback by the scale of the riot.

1993: Special unit closed when it was deemed too expensive to run.

1997: £5m refurbishment of D Hall complete. Other halls refurbished later. 

2000: Prisoner lodged compensation claim with the High Court for being unlawfully detained in appalling remand conditions in C Hall. 

2001: Bill McKinlay becomes Barlinnie's 20th governor. 

2001: Remand prisoner Robert Napier successfully claims slopping-out was inhumane and degrading, and was later awarded £2450. 

2002: Slopping-out ends after 122 years. 

2002: Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi arrived at Barlinnie by helicopter after first appeal against his 20-year sentence failed. Nelson Mandela later visited him.

2005: Al-Megrahi moved to lower-security Greenock prison. 

2006: First Night Centre set up in E Hall.