Craiginches: Life in Aberdeen’s Prison by Bryan Glennie

Former prison officer Bryan
Glennie spent much of his career within the imposing Victorian walls of
Craiginches Prison. Having lived and breathed the life of the prison up to
his retirement, his account of the prison and prison life is both fascinating
and well informed. In Craiginches – Life in Aberdeen’s
Prison, Bryan tells the stories behind history of this forbidding
place: including the prison’s only hanging, rooftop riots, botched escapes,
drug smuggling and how prisoners tried to brew their own beer in a dung heap.
He also recalls being deployed to the special teams at Peterhead where in one
particular riot he was hit by a flying toilet. And he was in Peterhead again
when the SAS stormed D Wing to free a prison officer who was being held
hostage. Life in Craiginches had its glamorous side too. From Princess Anne
to Robbie Shepherd, Billy McNeill, Ally MacLeod, Charlie Nicholas, Toyah
Willcox, Dominic Kirwan, Evelyn Glennie and Andy Cameron, many have have a
direct connection with the prison thanks to Bryan. Not to mention his very
special relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson which has endured through the
decades. And as well as the long term prisoners who did their time and often
reoffended soon after release, Bryan presents the other side of modern prison
work and the efforts made to rehabilitate those who wanted to be helped,
including work on a number of big projects when prisoners were taken outside
to help install walkways at the nature reserve at Burn O’Vat, clean up
Balmedie Beach, help the Donmouth get Conservation status and even adopt a
ward at Woodend Hospital. This is a unique insight into prison life in
Craiginches, showing both the difficulties and dangers that were a part of
everyday life and the rewarding side of the job when inmates gave something
positive back to society.