Achi news desk-
The new prison will be called CEM Glasgow and will be located on the former Provan Gas Works site, which is between Blackhill and Provanmill in the East End of the city, at the junction of the M8 and M80.
Anyone passing the 54 acre site in recent weeks has seen the site being prepared prior to construction.
The decision to close the prison and build a new one was taken for the first time in 2015 realizing that it was no longer fit for purpose.
Already the future of the prison has become a political hot potato.
HMP Glasgow was originally due to open in 2025, but the deadline has been pushed back to 2027.
Initial estimates for Barlinnie’s replacement nine years ago had been around £170m.
In November Justice Secretary Angela Constance told Holyrood’s criminal justice committee that building a new prison to replace the new prison would likely cost £400m or more.
Read the full series: Barlinnie – the story of Scotland’s super-prison
Concerns were then expressed about the delay with Pauline McNeill ASA in Glasgow saying: “I’m very concerned about what seems to be taking forever to build a prison – we’ve built loads of prisons before.
“I cannot understand what you are saying to the committee, is there something special about this prison?”
In response the Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Teresa Medhurst said: “I understand what you are saying about the concerns about Barlinnie.
“I would love it if we could deliver Glasgow in a much shorter timeframe.”
Construction delays have been blamed on higher interest rates and supply chain issues arising from Brexit.
The new prison will face many difficult challenges especially on the issue of rehabilitation.
A 2017 SPS report found that more than half of prisoners in Scottish prisons had been in care as children.
These numbers are greater in Barlinnie.
The challenges presented daily to its prison officers have been intensified in recent years by the influx of narcotics of all types and strengths.
In particular psychoactive street drugs which make prisoners’ behavior more erratic and unpredictable and which are a daily threat to the safety of officers who deal with them.
Prisoners are increasingly finding new and more inventive methods to get drugs into prison using anything from drones to forged legal documents.
One recent visitor to Barlinnie had tried to smuggle drugs in a Kinder egg in his rectum. Barlinnie is also said to have issued more of the heroin substitute methadone, over the years, than any other prison in Europe.
Read more: Days of rage: Inside the Barlinnie prison siege in January 1987
The prison houses around a fifth of Scotland’s total prison population of 7,700 and typically runs at around 50% over capacity.
Little is currently known about what the new prison will look like once it is completed.
In one respect it will be very similar to its predecessor, which is to house prisoners with sentences of four years or less.
People convicted of more serious crimes especially murder are more likely to be placed in specialist high security prisons such as Shotts in Lanarkshire, Glenochil in Stirlingshire and Addiewell, West Lothian, in the long term.
However, many lifers will spend some of their sentence either on remand or awaiting placement elsewhere on the prison estate.
One thing is certain that CEM Glasgow will be the largest prison ever built by the SPS and possibly the greenest.
Architecturally speaking it will also be very different to the current dark gray Victorian building.
The Scottish Prison Service has already described the new Barlinnie as having more in common with a school or college campus than a 19th century prison.
It is understood that the buildings will also incorporate the latest smart technology, which will include a prisoner movement system to keep track of prisoners.
CEM Glasgow will have 60 units of 22 people, with the aim of giving staff much more time to work with individual prisoners.
The SPS also sees Barlinnie as a community asset providing facilities for local groups to hold meetings and events within the prison itself.
Plans seen by The Herald show that the old halls of residence have been rebranded as housing blocks and prisoners referred to as residents.
Descriptions on the design statements submitted as part of the planning process make the new prison sound more like a religious retreat.
There is mention of woodland plantings, grassland, hedgerows, yards, community action spaces, areas for horticulture, walking paths and health and wellbeing gardens.
The X-shaped housing block will have their own sports and exercise facilities including a gymnasium.
There will be a community cafe for people visiting the prison and gardens where they can sit.
Play equipment has also been provided for children visiting their fathers in prison.
Planning documents detail five MUGA all-weather pitches including one with amphitheater style seating.
One submission said: “The spare land around the Central Facility Building is designed to promote a campus-like environment that encourages positive behavior and reflects normal life as closely as possible.”
Another part of the planning submission talks about the prison having an “open and welcoming appearance.”
One thing is for sure the new Barlinnie will be a million miles away, metaphorically speaking, from its dilapidated Victorian predecessor.
The new prison will also have the latest in security measures such as anti-climb walls.
The original prisoners were tasked with crushing stone from a quarry which was used to build four of the five halls.
However, in this case, an external contractor from the Keir Group has been engaged to carry out the construction work.
Glasgow Prison is also set to become home to hundreds of endangered swallows – thanks to proposals to build nesting boxes into the prison walls.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has asked for 300 special bricks – with holes for the globally threatened swifts to live in – to be incorporated into the prison’s five huge new halls or housing blocks.
CEM Glasgow will also include owl and bat boxes, fruit trees and landscaped gardens for prisoners and prison officers.
The Scottish Prison Service also hopes the new prison will be cost effective.
Millions of pounds have been spent over recent years on renovations and repairs due to the poor physical condition of the building.
One person who has high hopes for the new prison is veteran criminal lawyer Gary McAteer, senior partner at Beltrami & Co, which is based next door to Glasgow Sheriff Court.
He first visited Barlinnie about 40 years ago as a fresh-faced young law student.
Mr McAteer said: “Even then I was interested in doing criminal law and my class were invited to the prison to be shown around by our lecturer.
“My abiding memory of it was that I thought the visit was wrong.
“I was as if we were in a zoo and there was the reaction of the prisoners
hostile
“It felt like it was them and us.
“It was unfair on the prisoners, as if we were ogling them.”
Read more: Glasgow’s forgotten prisons and why Barlinnie was built
In 1984 Mr McAteer was hired as a trainee solicitor by veteran criminal lawyer Joe Beltrami and now runs the firm Beltrami founded in 1958.
Mr McAteer says Mr Beltrami was the only thing he ever found scarier than Barlinnie.
The legal legend died in 2007 and was still involved in running the firm until his death.
One of Mr McAteer’s first jobs was being sent to Barlinnie to interview a client who was on remand and felt like he was in a setting straight out of the 1970s sitcom Porridge.
He added: “The conditions have gone up and down over the years.
“In the early days the visiting rooms for lawyers were completely unpleasant and primitive.
“The prison itself was like a Tinderbox .
“It was poorly organized then.
“Often you had to queue for hours to get in and even then you weren’t guaranteed to see your client
“The prison was also quite overcrowded at that time and there were not enough staff.
“At one time Portacabins were used for visiting and that was serious and completely inappropriate.
“The facilities are much better now although they are far from ideal.”
Mr McAteer says using virtual meetings such as Zoom to see Barlinnie’s clients remotely has made a big difference and is something that could not have been imagined in the past.
He believes the focus of the new prison once completed must be on rehabilitation.
It is hoped the new prison could lead to a 20 per cent reduction in reoffending due to more services to help prisoners get their lives back on track.
Mr McAteer continued: “Treating people well in prison is essential to ensure there is a chance of rehabilitation in the future.
“The Scottish Government also needs to find more creative ways of dealing with criminals rather than sending them to prison.”
Over the years Mr McAteer has represented hundreds of clients who have passed through Barlinnie’s gates, for a wide range of crimes ranging from shoplifting to murder.
He believes the introduction of female officers has made Barlinnie a better experience and weakened much of the macho environment that can lead to violence.
Mr McAteer added: “We still don’t treat people well in prison.
“We need to treat them as human beings and look at alternatives instead of putting them behind bars.
“Barlinnie was of his time but that time is now over.
“When you’re in prison you meet the state at its most authoritarian.
“The most important thing for the new prison is to get the culture right as well as the design and look.”
The Governor of Barlinnie, Michael Stoney, has taken personal responsibility for the construction of the new prison and is hopeful that it will be completed sooner rather than later.
He told the Herald: “We have consulted with partners and set out a bold vision for CEM Glasgow, which will deliver the greatest possible benefit to those who live and work there, and our surrounding communities.
“Through a better quality living environment, and a strong relationship with staff, we are determined to help those in our care understand and understand how they can move forward and set themselves on the road to a better future.
“CEM Glasgow will be a strong and supportive partner, both locally and to the wider Scottish justice system, providing social value that benefits the wellbeing of our wider communities.”
