The Evening Times goes behind the bars at city's jail to see what life is like for its 1300 inmates

Barlinnie is nestled in the residential suburb of Riddrie. About 1300 offenders of all categories - from those on short term sentences to killers - fill the cells.

They are separated from the outside world, and neighbouring houses, by locked metal doors, stone walls and barbed wire.

With kitchens, a laundry, clinics and workshops, everything the prison needs to function is contained within the walls, except for the constant stream of criminals who arrive in their dozens every week. Glasgow Sheriff Court, the busiest in the country, is the main provider.

The first thing many visitors see is a courtyard with perfectly manicured lawns and colourful flower beds - tended to by inmates in the Barlinnie uniform of red polo shirts.

Governor Derek McGill said: "Trusted prisoners are given jobs within the prison, depending on their behaviour."

Privileged duties include serving food and also taking part in volunteer projects - including an initiative that sees inmates sort and box donated glasses, which are then shipped to partially sighted people in India.

One of these is Raymond, from the city's West End. The 44-year-old said: "I have been in jails across Scotland and Barlinnie is the 'fastest'."

The repeat offender, who is serving an 18-month sentence for theft by housebreaking, added: "Prison is what you make it.

"If you have been here before you know what you are coming in to. It is a bit harder for first time offenders."

Raymond, who also takes part in support groups, said: "If I can't change the person that brought me here while I am in prison, it will be the same person who follows me out.

"If I don't use all the opportunities I have in here to change then I won't. And no one else can do it for me."

The prison's Day Centre runs daily classes, including literacy, numeracy and arts projects. There are also vocational training courses on offer.

Raymond had 11 crime-free years before getting into trouble again. His latest offence also coincided with him hitting the bottle after 11 sober years.

He said: "I went to my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in prison in 1996.

"When I got back out I kept away from alcohol and my life changed dramatically.

"But my relationship broke down and I ended up in a pub."

Mr McGill, 57, said: "Of the 1300 prisoners in here, 1200 will have been drinking at the time of their offence."

"Everyone thinks drugs are the main issue in this part of Scotland. But drink is the big problem."

Despite this, Barlinnie is also home to Europe's busiest methadone clinic. Up to 400 prisoners there are given the heroin substitute each day.

The clinic is overseen by a medical team of 45, which includes nurses, five doctors and a dentist - whom Mr McGill joked is "the busiest man in the prison".

The governor said: "We are dealing with people at their lowest ebb, who might also be coming off their

last hit."

He said staff must be "non-judgmental" and all prisoners, from murderers to those who have committed minor crimes, were treated the same.

Two nurses, working in pairs, assess them all at the time of admission.

They are among the first people the prisoners meet after being booked in by reception staff and locked in a tiny holding cell or "dog box", as it is known among inmates, for 40 minutes.

The medical assessment often uncovers long-running illnesses that have gone undiagnosed for years.

Nurses and doctors in Barlinnie are currently caring for five men who are terminally ill. The inmates, who are thought to be just weeks from death, are often taken into the chapel, which sits between the prison halls.

It hosts Catholic, Church Of Scotland, Church Of England and Islamic services every week.

Mr McGill added: "Barlinnie is a busy, noisy place but you can find solitude in there. It is an oasis."

Just a stone's throw away, however, is the B Hall cell block, which was destroyed in the riots of 1987.

Images of balaclava-wearing inmates on the roof of the building were broadcast around the world. Prison officers were taken hostage during the protest and B Hall was trashed when cells were stripped, fires lit and even floor tiles ripped up.

Mr McGill, who was working in Dumfries Prison at the time, said: "We have a plan for every eventuality - if an alarm sounds the prison officers jump into action.

"But times have changed in the prison service, it is not like it was. The period from 1987 to 1990 was when drugs had started making their way into prisons.

"Prisoner on prisoner violence was a problem and there was a lot of disquiet among those who were unhappy about their treatment."

Prison officer John McGhee said: "I came into the prison service in 1987 and I don't know why I stayed, it wasn't nice.

"If you told a prisoner off you would be surrounded by other inmates. It is just not like that now. There is a much higher level of respect."

As well as changes in treatment of prisoners - including, more recently, the abolition of slopping out - Barlinnie has seen the consequences of offending trends.

Mr McGill added: "The recession has led to more benefit fraud and crimes of theft and mugging.

"The average age of criminals has also been driven up and we have sex offenders in their 60s, 70s, and 80s serving sentences for crimes they committed 30 to 40 years ago.

"There are things you can do in here to help address the behaviour that led to offending and they can help pass the time.

"But it is still hard, there is no doubt about that."

linzi.watson@eveningtimes.co.uk