Download or read book The Barlinnie Story written by Robert Jeffrey and published by Black & White Publishing. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Barlinnie is one of the most notorious prisons in the world and for a hundred years it has held Glasgow's toughest and most violent men, swept up from the city streets. Ten men died on its gallows in the infamous Hanging Shed, including serial killer Peter Manuel. It has sparked rooftop protests and cell block riots, and been home to godfathers of crime like Arthur Thompson Snr and Walter Norval. Barlinnie was also the scene of one of the most controversial experiments in penal history, the Special Unit, where the likes of Jimmy Boyle and Hugh Collins were at the centre of a fierce battle between those who see prison as retribution and those who regard it as a step on the road to redemption, even for the most evil killers. Paul Ferris, T C Campbell and gangleaders galore have languished behind its grim walls and, a hundred years on, Barlinnie still makes headlines. This is its fascinating, turbulent story.
Download or read book The Real Gorbals Story written by Colin MacFarlane and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-07-22 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colin MacFarlane was born in the Gorbals in the 1950s, 20 years after the publication of No Mean City, the classic novel about pre-war life in what was once Glasgow's most deprived district. He lived in the same street as its fictional 'razor king', Johnnie Stark, and subsequently realised that a lot of the old characters represented in the book were still around as late as the 1960s. Men still wore bunnets and played pitch and toss; women still treated the steamie as their social club. The razor gangs were running amok once again, and filth, violence, crime, rats, poverty and drunkenness abounded, just like they did in No Mean City. MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals as a major regeneration programme, begun in 1961, was implemented, and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. In this engrossing book, MacFarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals.
Download or read book Peterhead written by Robert Jeffrey and published by Black & White Publishing. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert Jeffrey, author of the bestselling "Barlinnie Story" and other true crime books, now tells the remarkable story of the infamous Peterhead Prison in Scotland's far north-east. Built in the 1880s as part of an ambitious humanitarian plan to use convict labour to construct a 'harbour of refuge' on the town's wild, storm-battered coast, it became what some call Scotland's gulag. A cold and brutal place, it has held down the years some of Scotland's most violent criminals and most infamous prisoners, convicted of the most heinous of crimes. In the early days, convicts were controlled by men as hard as their charges. The wardens carried swords and were quick to use them if necessary. And when convict labour was used to build the harbour, they worked with rifles trained on them at all times. Peterhead's wardens were clearly not to be crossed. Throughout the history of the prison, riots and breakouts have made headlines, with the SAS involved in restoring order at one point.Peterhead also had the reputation of being so secure that escape was impossible, with the notable exception of Johnny Ramensky, the safeblower turned war hero who went back to his criminal ways and spent more than forty years of his life in prison, many of them in Peterhead. He became the first inmate to escape and repeated the exercise four more times, often for his own satisfaction and amusement, each time being recaptured after a short taste of freedom. "Peterhead - Scotland's Toughest Prison" tells the remarkable inside story of a truly grim institution with a fearsome reputation.
Download or read book The Herald Diary 2014 written by Ken Smith and published by Black & White Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's a memorable year in Scotland. The country will vote on independence, Glasgow will welcome the world to the Commonwealth Games, and the world's best golfers battle it out in the Ryder Cup on Scottish soil. Meanwhile, Scots do what they always do - eat and drink too much, complain about the weather and, fortunately, have a laugh about it. Their tales of the funniest events will be sent to The Herald newspaper's iconic Diary column, and the best of them are gathered here.
Download or read book Pain and Retribution written by David Wilson and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2014-03-15 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, the Tower of London is a tourist site, home only to the crown jewels, but not long ago the imposing structure held traitors, political prisoners, and more, often on their way to the chopping block. Even outside of this famous building, prisons have changed radically since the Norman Conquest in 1066. In the first book on the history of prisons in Britain, former prison governor and professor of criminology David Wilson offers unrivaled insight into the penal system in England, Scotland, and Wales, charting the rise and fall of forms of punishments that take place behind their walls. Pain and Retribution explores prisons as an institution and examines how they are designed, organized, and managed. Wilson reveals that prisons have to satisfy the demands of three interested parties: the public, from politicians and media commentators to everyday citizens; the prison staff; and the prisoners themselves. He shows how prevailing concerns and issues of the times allow one faction or another to have more power at varying points in history, and he considers how prisons are unable to satisfy all three at the same time—leading to the system being seen as a failure, despite rising numbers of prisoners and growing funds invested in keeping them incarcerated. With intriguing comparisons between the prisons of New York City and Britain and searching questions about the purposes of the current penal system, Pain and Retribution provides unparalleled access to prison landings, staffs, and the people behind the locked doors.
Download or read book Crime Justice and Social Order written by Alison Liebling and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-23 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To honour the extraordinary contribution of Professor Anthony Edward Bottoms to criminology and criminal justice, leading criminologists and penal scholars have been asked to contribute original essays on the wide range of areas in which he has written. The book starts by reflecting on the depth and breadth of Anthony's contribution and his melding of perspectives from moral philosophy, social theory, empirical social science research, and criminal justice. This is no ordinary collection, because it also contains a major essay by Anthony Bottoms, on Criminology and 'positive morality', reflecting on social order and social norms. In similar vein, Jonathan Jacobs approaches criminology from a moral philosophical viewpoint, whilst Ian Loader and Richard Sparks ponder social theory and contemporary criminology. Topically, Peter Neyroud reflects on evidence-based practice and the process of trying to do experiments in relation to policing. In the second section of the book on Crime, Justice, and Communities, Loraine Gelsthorpe reminds us that justice is about people, in considering the treatment of women in community justice. Joanna Shapland draws parallels between the process of desistance from crime and the potential role of restorative justice in affecting offenders' journeys. P.-O. Wikstrom reflects on the social ecology of crime, whilst Antje Du Bois Pedain considers the theoretical and practical challenges of sentencing constructively. Finally, the book turns to Anthony Bottoms' major interest in punishment and penal order. David Garland puts penal populism under the microscope, whilst Alison Liebling explores the empirical evidence for theories of penal legitimacy. Mike Nellis looks back at the use of the creative arts in prisons in Scotland's Barlinnie Unit, whilst Justice Tankebe explores police legitimacy.
Download or read book Scotland s Cruel Sea written by Robert Jeffrey and published by Black & White Publishing. This book was released on 2014-11-06 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High cliffs jutting out into the Atlantic and the North Sea, many hundreds of rocky skerries, deep sea lochs, dangerous unseen reefs, powerful tides and gales that batter the land fiercely from all points of the compass...Scotland has a coastline of immense beauty and danger, and its cruel sea has claimed many lives down the years. Disaster at sea is a poignant part of Scotland's history, and in this chilling and awe-inspiring book, bestselling author Robert Jeffrey tells the compelling stories of the victims of the ocean deeps. Car ferries, fishing boats, troopers, pleasure yachts and Navy vessels of all sorts, including submarines, have gone to the bottom. And in brave attempts to save those in danger with lifeboats, many have died. Including the famous tales of the Princess Victoria, the ill-fated Kl3 submarines, the Longhope lifeboat and the Iolaire, Scotland's Cruel Sea remembers the maritime tragedies that made headlines and became part of the folk memory of a seagoing nation.
Download or read book The Official History of Criminal Justice in England and Wales written by David Downes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-04-22 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume III of The Official History of Criminal Justice in England and Wales draws on archival sources and individual accounts to offer a history of penal policymaking in England and Wales between 1959 and 1997. The book studies the changes underlying penal policymaking in the period, from a belief in the rehabilitative potential of imprisonment to a reaffirmation in 1993 that ‘Prison Works’ as a deterrent to crime. A need to curb the rising prison population initially focussed on developing alternatives to prison and a new system of parole; however, their relative ineffectiveness led to sentencing becoming the key to penal reform. A slackening of faith in rehabilitation led to pressure for greater emphasis on humane containment and the rebalancing of security, order and justice in prison regimes. Thus, 1991 was the climactic year for what became largely unfulfilled hopes for lasting penal reform. Escapes, riots and prison occupations were prime catalysts for changes, often highly contentious, in penal policymaking. Notably, there was no simple equation between political party, minister and policy choice. Both Labour and Conservative governments had distinctly liberal Home Secretaries and, after 1992, both parties took a more punitive approach. This book will be of much interest to students of criminology and British history, politics and law.
Download or read book Glasgow s Godfather written by Robert Jeffrey and published by Black & White Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05-22 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Walter Norval was a man marked by destiny to be a career criminal in one of Britain's hardest cities. As a boy he grew up in a world of illegal betting, violent canal bank pitch-and-toss schools, sleazy dance halls, brothels and bars where the denizens of the slums in the north side of Glasgow slaked gargantuan thirsts and plotted murder and mayhem. Before he had reached his teens, close relatives had died as blood was spilled in the streets. As a youngster he ran 'messages' for the toughest gangsters in the city and stood guard over the pots of cash in illegal gambling schools. It was a remarkable apprenticeship, dangerous and sometimes deadly. It honed a latent toughness and a talent for lawbreaking that saw him emerge in the Seventies as the first of a succession of Glasgow godfathers. Dressed in pinstriped style, he controlled his foot soldiers with fearsome fists and planned robberies with the attention to detail of a military general. He organised various Glasgow fighting factions into a single gang, which pulled off a spectacular series of robberies. But, unlike his successors, he abhorred drugs and drug-dealing.And, in a remarkable twist, he joined the anti-drugs war in later life. His story - told by the best-selling crime historian Robert Jeffrey - provides a fascinating insight into the making of a criminal mastermind, from boy to man.
Download or read book In Search of Duncan Ferguson written by Alan Pattullo and published by Random House. This book was released on 2014-09-11 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He was one of the hardest, most controversial footballers of his generation: the £20million man who became the first professional player to go to jail for an offence committed on the field of play. He was the fans’ hero who disappeared. Duncan Ferguson was an old-fashioned Scottish centre-forward who went from a boarding house in Dundee to the marble staircase of Rangers in a record-breaking transfer. His £4m move from Dundee United to Ibrox made him British football’s most expensive native player. But he would also become one of the most notorious footballers in the land. Sent to prison after head-butting an opponent during a Scottish Premier Division match between Rangers and Raith Rovers, Ferguson made history all over again. He served half of a three-month sentence in Glasgow’s infamous Barlinnie Prison. A twelve-match ban from the Scottish Football Association was later overturned following a long appeal process. Bruised by the experience, he turned his back on Scotland’s national team and the media. Ferguson reaped the riches of the Sky era. He was a folk hero at Everton, where he spent ten years either side of an injury-hit spell at Newcastle United. Although the game made him a millionaire, he rejected its new culture of celebrity and remained a fiery figure, racking up a Premiership record of eight red cards. And then, after scoring in the final minute of the last game of his career, he turned his back on football completely – or so it seemed.
Download or read book Glasgow Crimefighter written by Les Brown and published by Black & White Publishing. This book was released on 2005-11-15 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For decades, a war to control Glasgow's streets has been waged. On one side are some of the most violent and dangerous criminals in the world and, on the other, a police force with officers as hard as the gangsters, striving to keep the city safe. In GLASGOW CRIMEFIGHTER, legendary detective Les Brown tells the extraordinary and controversial inside story of his part in this conflict during his twenty-two years as a Glasgow detective. Throughout this time, he dealt with gangland bosses like Arthur Thompson and Tam McGraw, took on mobs of street fighters and helped in the hunt for Bible John. Compelling, hard-hitting and intensely human, GLASGOW CRIMEFIGHTER is a fascinating report from the frontline of a great city's battle against crime.
Download or read book Giants of the Clyde written by Robert Jeffrey and published by Black & White Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is barely a corner of the five great oceans where Clyde-built is not recognised as the ultimate shipbuilding accolade. As late as the 1950s, around a seventh of the total of the world’s sea going tonnage was built on the Clyde. It is not a particularly wide river, nor spectacularly long – it is certainly no Mississippi or Amazon – but its fame is legendary. From the many yards on its banks, north and south, en route from the gentle hills of Lanarkshire to the Firth of Clyde, came engineering innovation and fabled names in shipping – iconic vessels like the Cutty Sark and the Delta Queen, fearsome warships like the mighty Hood, and the cream of the world’s great liners, the Cunard Queens and the beautiful white Empress vessels. All that and cargo carrying workhorses that opened up the world. More recent times have seen the phoenix-like revival of Ferguson Shipbuilders, the last remaining yard on the Lower Clyde, saved from closure by industrialist Jim McColl and now investing in the hybrid technology of the future that has thrown a lifeline to this once great yard. This is the fascinating, often turbulent, story of a great river, its great ships and the folk who built them.
Download or read book Lost in Care The True Story of a Forgotten Child written by Jimmy Holland and published by Kings Road Publishing. This book was released on 2013-10-18 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jimmy Holland was born into a family suffering at the hands of their drunk and abusive father. At the age of just two weeks, he was placed into care. The beginning of a life lived in a constantly changing environment of homes, authorities and institutions began. Let down and frequently abused, it wasn't long before Jimmy strayed onto the wrong side of the tracks. Before long, the mould for a problem child was set. He quickly turned from substance abuse to drug use and, in turn, to crime - his only means of an escape. An inevitable lifetime of crime faced him and he soon became associated with the ringleaders of an infamous gang responsible for prison riots and hostage taking. A heart-felt, shocking and despairing insight into life as a state-raised boy, Lost in Care is the heart-rending tale of a man who has lost his childhood and also lost his way.
Download or read book So You Think You Know Me written by Allan Weaver and published by Waterside Press. This book was released on 2008-06-19 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The autobiography of an ex-offender and twice-times inmate of Barlinnie Prison, now a social work team-leader in his native Scotland.
Download or read book Peter Manuel Serial Killer written by Hector MacLeod and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Manuel was an icy-eyed psychopath and sexual predator, a petty thief and a relentless liar given to violent and uncontrollable rages. His unprecedented crimes presented the Scottish police and public with a new sort of criminal: the ruthless serial killer. Manuel was hanged at the age of thirty-one and convicted of seven murders, but suspected of many more. He slew many of his victims as they lay sleeping in bed, while others were picked up in lonely places and strangled or savagely beaten to death. Right up to his final arrest, he played a taunting game with the police, mocking their bungling attempts to trap him and continuing to kill with impunity - that is until he was trapped by his own vanity and arrogance. This definitive definitive biography recounts Manuel's chilling story from his birth in the USA to the moment the hangman's rope snapped his spine in Glasgow's notorious Barlinnie Prison.
Download or read book Stages in the Revolution written by Catherine Itzin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-09-05 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, first published in 1980, is a comprehensive study of the radical theatre movement in Britain from 1968 to 1978. The essays are based on first-hand interviews, with each section being introduced with a summary of key events before detailing the artists under examination.
Download or read book Scottish Hard Bastards written by Jimmy Holland and published by Kings Road Publishing. This book was released on 2007-09-05 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meet the hardest men from a country where the streets are the most dangerous and the gangsters and criminals are the scariest in Britain. These faces have seen it all: the guns. The knives, the fights and the hardship of life behind bars. This book will take you deep inside the mad, bad, drug-infested, cut-throat world of the Scottish prison system, bringing to light the last fifty years of infamous incidents. With a frightening in-depth look at the most notorious penal institutions and the most daunting and fearsome of inmates, as well as those on the outside, this compulsive guide covers them all; from the 'Tax Man', Scotland's most feared enforces, to Walter Scott Ellis, a famous armed robber who only just escaped the sinister fate of the hangman's rope.
