Hybrid Book Launch: The Barlinnie Special Unit edited by Kirstin Anderson

Dr Kirstin Anderson, Edinburgh Napier University

Introduction from Emeritus Professor Mike Nellis, University of Strathclyde

About the book

Fifty years ago, a small unit in HM Prison Barlinnie, Glasgow became a radical experiment whose approach polarised opinion. It encouraged shared decision-making between prisoners and staff, allowed greater access to families and enabled prisoners to explore creative activities. Through the support of visiting artists, and the voices of the prisoners themselves, notably the sculptor Jimmy Boyle (author of A Sense of Freedom), its impact challenged prevailing, disciplinarian prison culture.

Arts of various kinds, plus respectful and challenging dialogue, released dormant abilities and strengths in hitherto recalcitrant, formerly violent prisoners. Always controversial, the legacy of the Barlinnie Special Unit challenges overly punitive ideas around crime to this day.

The first edited collection on the unit’s 21-year history with contributions by those who were there at the time, or helped preserve its legacy. They include filmmaker Bill Beech, Scotland’s first art therapist Joyce Laing, leading Scottish impresario Richard Demarco, Sara Trevelyan, ex-wife of Jimmy Boyle (who also contributes), Rupert Wolfe Murray, son of Boyle’s publisher, Mike Nellis of Strathclyde University, Claire Coia, a curator at Glasgow’s Open Museum, Andrew Coyle, founding Director of the International Centre for Prison Studies and journalist, and former Scottish MP Brian Wilson.

Bio

Dr Kirstin Anderson has taught for 22 years in schools, universities and prisons and led the first empirical study to look at Music Education and Music Making in Scottish prisons. She is a Lecturer in Criminology at Edinburgh Napier University.

Mike Nellis is Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Community Justice in the Law School, University of Strathclyde. Formerly a social worker with young offenders in London, he has a PhD from the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge, and was long involved in the training of probation officers at the University of Birmingham. He has written widely on the fortunes of the probation service, alternatives to imprisonment and particularly the electronic monitoring (EM) of offenders.

This is a hybrid event which will take place via Zoom and in-person at the University of Glasgow.

The Barlinnie Special Unit: Art, Punishment and Innovation is published by Waterside Press and is available now.