Social Sciences students spend the day in Barlinnie Prison as part of educational trip
Social Sciences students had the unique opportunity of visiting the Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow to help expand their knowledge on the criminal justice system.
Students in the Social Sciences Society decided to plan the trip to help learn more about prisons in Scotland, thanks to a Criminology module which focused on punishment within the Scottish criminal justice system. After some planning, the HMP Barlinnie Prison offered the students to visit as part of a day trip, however word spread and there was an increase in demand.
Opening the trip to other students from Social Sciences, the Society was shocked to discover that 80 students were interested in attending and had to contact HMP Barlinnie to ask for another visit.
4th year Social Sciences student and Society Chair Catherine Mackie told us about how the idea came about to visit the prison. She said: “We contacted HMP Barlinnie as we found out that lecturers used to do trips to Barlinnie for either exchange or international students, so we wanted to offer a trip to Barlinnie for our Social Sciences members.
When we contacted Barlinnie, they said we could have 15 people attend so we decided to give spaces to Social Sciences students on a first come, first served basis. We shared the trip on our social media and asked our Criminology lecturers if they could promote the trip on GCU Learn.
Within four minutes of sharing the form to sign up, we had filled all our spaces on the trip and over 80 people wanted a space! Because of such significant demand, we asked HMP Barlinnie if they'd be willing to have us for a second trip and they very kindly allowed us to have 15 more people for a second trip in the afternoon!”
At the prison, students had the opportunity to hear from staff about the different programs they offer to their inmates, as well as general prison life. Catherine said: “The trips involved a presentation about Barlinnie and then a tour of the prison. During the presentation, we heard from two prison staff about what life is like in Barlinnie and the different programs they offer to inmates, such as work programs and lower level units that inmates could graduate to if they met certain criteria, such as proving they had stayed off drugs for at least 3 months.
We also heard from a psychologist who works with the inmates about the different psychological help that inmates are offered. The presentations were very insightful and gave us a deeper understanding of the criminal justice system.”
She added: “After the presentations, we enjoyed a tour of the prison. We firstly got to see the new Hub building which has a library, pool/snooker tables, ping pong tables and hosts the Citizens Advice Bureau for inmates if they need advice on different matters. We even saw the inmates playing ping pong and snooker whilst we were in the Hub!
We then got to see the sex offenders unit and look inside a cell which would normally be used for an inmate on suicide watch. It was very eye-opening to see just how small the cell was, especially as the staff told us that the other cells are the same size but most inmates share a cell. It gave us a very insightful look into what the conditions are like in a prison and I think it made people on the trip think more about what the purpose of prison should be as it made us appreciate how tough it must be to be incarcerated, especially years on end.
We also got to see the contrast from the sex offenders unit as we saw a mainstream prison block so it was very interesting (albeit a bit scary) to see the different prison blocks as we could even see the prisoners walking around! Everyone enjoyed the presentations and tour of the prison, albeit we were glad that we weren't spending the night in Barlinnie and were glad when the guards let us back out of the cell...”
Catherine, as well as other students on the trip, found the entire experience to be eye-opening and has felt their views on the prison system has changed. She said: “The trips were very beneficial to all of us as they gave us a more in-depth idea about the different programs that the Scottish criminal justice system offers to inmates.
Students who attended the trip have told me they've used the knowledge they learned in seminar discussions and have felt they have a more in-depth idea about different prison programs. The trip also allowed us to reflect on the purpose of prison as it is very contested.
I think seeing Barlinnie in real life challenged some of our views about what the purpose of prison should be in terms of whether prison should rehabilitate or punish offenders, especially after seeing inside the cell.”
By Rachael McAlonan
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