A Scottish Prison Timeline

1210	Old jail Perth rebuilt after flood. It stood at the foot of High street near the old bridge.
1325	Robert 1st granted permission to build tolbooth at Dundee.
1359	Dundee tolbooth extended.
1384	End of Law of Gallovidians.
1385	Earliest record of a Barron Court at Longforgan.
1394	Charter to build tolbooth Aberdeen.
1425	Sheriffs to arrest beggard and keep them in confinement while enquiries were made as to whether they could find employment. If not they would be sent to the King for punishment.
1440	Dundee tolbooth abandoned. Replacement built facing Nethergate.
1455	Beggars were treated as common thieves.
1457	Beggars who could not work were given a token by the Sheriffs. Without it they were branded or banished.
1480	Old tolbooth Edinburgh erected.
1487	The crown took responsibility for safe custody of prisoners before trial.
1550	Nethergate tolbooth, Dundee, abandoned. Replacement constructed on site of Town House.
1555	Iron room Edinburgh constructed.
1560	Kirk Sessions began to administer criminal justice.
1561	Edinburgh tolbooth demolished. Replacement built close to Signet library.
1572	Musselburgh prison constructed.
1576	Houses of correction established on the model of Bridewell.
1579	Dumfries magistrates petitioned to build a new prison.
1597	Responsibility for prisons put in the hands of the burghs.
1616	Tolbooth Aberdeen started.
1636	House of Correction built at Aberdeen.
1696	Act of Grace - Incarcerating creditor had to pay towards the upkeep of the debtor.
1722	Last witch hung in Scotland at Sutherland.
1730	Dundee tolbooth no longer used.
1735	Act repealed statutes against witchcraft.
1747	End of heritable jurisdiction. Granted by King David 1st with land rights the rights and privileges of jurisdiction over all the inhabitants of the land.
1771	Act of Session gave definition of "squalor carceris".
1777	John Howard published "The state of the prisons".
1779	Penitentiary Houses Act. Providing for a national penitentiary. To Howard's design.
1786	Transportation to Australia revived.
1787	First convicts to Botany Bay.
1790	Calton prison Edinburgh built with 52 working cells and 129 sleeping cells.
1802	Edinburgh tolbooth - 26 felons Edinburgh bridewell - 51 felons Glasgow jail - 27 felons Glasgow bridewell - 90 felons Aberdeen jail - 8 felons
1806	Selkirk jail completed.
1808	Work started on new jail in Edinburgh at Calton Hill.
1809	Neild visits iron room Glasgow tolbooth. Only 112 debtors in 32 prisons (Neild)
1812	James Neild published a book on prison conditions. State of the Prisons in England, Scotland and Wales.
1812	Glasgow Burgh Prison built. (South Prison)
1813	Elizabeth Fry started her work among the women of Newgate.
1817	Edinburgh tolbooth demolished.
1818	Glasgow jail crowded to suffocation. Likewise Edinburgh also a report about lunatics in Scottish prisons (Gurney).
1818	Fowell Buxton published a book on prison conditions. Joseph Gurney toured Scottish prisons with his sister Elizabeth Fry.
1819	Old prison Perth closed and new one built.
1819	Committee set up to bring about a revision of the criminal code.
1819	East prison Aberdeen built.
1820	Inverary Jail constructed.
1823	Jedburgh Jail constructed.
1825	Incarcerating creditor to pay deposit of 10/-.
1825	Glasgow Bridewell established "Seperate System".
1835	Imprisonment for debts under £8.6s.8d. made incompetent.
1835	Peel's Act - inspection of prisons.
1837	New bridewell in Bell Street, Dundee completed.
1839	Magestrates no longer liable for debts of an escaped prisoner.
1839	Prison (Scotland) Act 'Improve Prisons & Prison Discipline in Scotland'. General Board of Directors to erect a central prison at Perth. Provision to be made for criminal lunatics.
1839	178 Locally administered establishments.
1839	First uniform dietry scale.
1840	Perth General Prison started being built.
1840	Part of Perth to be used for criminal lunatics.
1842	Pentonville built. Solitary confinement.
1844	1 committal to prison per 140 population.
1846	Transportation suspended for two years.
1846	French Depot Perth set up for criminal lunatics.
1852	Tasmania refused to take any more transportees.
1852	Dumfries prison built.
1853	Penal Servitude Act - substituting transportation with penal servitude. Introduced Progressive stage system.
1856	Charles Reade published It's never too late to mend.
1857	Second Penal Servitude Act.
1859	Perth General Prison completed.
1860	Prisons (Scotland) Administration Act abolished General Board of Directors. 101 prisons closed since 1840. Act closed further 21 leaving 56.
1861	Dangerous and Criminal Lunatics Bill
1862	South Prison Glasgow closed.
1864	West Prison Aberdeen closed.
1865	Distinction between jails and bridewells abolished.
1866	Formation of Howard Association.
1867	Last convict ship sailed to Western Australia.
1869	Greenock Nelson St. prison built.
1877	Prisons Act which brought all prisons in the UK under control of central government beginning of modern British prison system.
1877	Prisons Commission for Scotland appointed.
1877	Number of prisons reduced to 56.
1878	Royal Commission introduced the Star Class System - first offenders segregated from others. Recommendation on prison diets.
1878	Prison Commissioners closed 13 prisons leaving cell accommodation for 1,938 males and 1,168 females. Average daily population 2,024 males and 1,028 females. Star Class System introduced.
1880	Imprisonment for civil debt generally abolished.
1880	Construction started Barlinnie.
1883	Report on education in prisons in England. Scotland brought in line.
1883	New prison Dumfries built.
1884	Total number of prison staff 429.
1885	Powers over Scottish prisons transferred from Home Dept to Scottish Secretary.
1886	12 Cells added to Inverness prison.
1886	Peterhead Harbour Refuge Act.
1886	Barlinnie completed.
1887	French prison bearth closed.
1888	Peterhead prison opened.
1891	Aberdeen prison built.
1895	Gladstone Report.
1898	Number of prisons reduced to 14.
1898	1 committal to prison per 75 population.
1899	Report on prison diet.
1899	Fine or Imprisonment Act.
1901	New dietry introduced.
1902	Paupers to be medically examined before being committed to prison.
1902	Total number of prison staff 454.
1902	First extension Aberdeen finished second started.
1903	New prison at Inverness occupied. Built by prison labour.
1904	Second extension Aberdeen completed.
1907	Probabtion Offenders Act.
1908	Childrens Act. Prohibition imprisonment for those under 14. Between 14 and 16 required a certificate from the court.
1908	Criminal Justice Act instituted Borstal.
1909	First attempt to organise State assistance for discharged convicts.
1910	Greenock Nelson St. prison closed.
1921	Howard Association united with Penal Reform League.
1922	The term Prison Officer superseded Warder.
1935	Approval to build State Assylum at Carstairs.
1937	Children and Young Persons Act. Provisions regulating the sentencing and treatment of young offenders.
1939	Cutlasses withdrawn Peterhead.
1948	Carstairs occupied.
1948	Peterhead the only prison which flogging can be given.
1949	Criminal Justice Act abolished penal servitude and hard labour, sentences to particular prison divisions, sentences of whipping and prisoner's ticket of leave also substituted the term inmate for convict.
1952	Inmates of the Criminal Lunitic Dept. no longer subject to prison rules.
1954	Penninghamme opened.
1959	All weapons discontinued Peterhead.
1960	Management committee set up to run Carstairs.
1963	Courts given powers to suspend sentences.
1965	Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act.
1966	Mountbatton Report.
1967	Criminal Justice Act removed the power to order corporal punishment. Parole introduced.
1968	Social Work Act reduced from 17 to 16 the Minimum age for committal on a sentence of detention.
1972	Start made on remodelling prison industries.
1973	special unit Barlinnie set up.
1975	Cornton Vale built using prison labour.
1978	Justice May report.
1978	Average daily population 4,893 males 169 females.
1980	Prison population 5,116 capacity 5,200.
1980	Courts have powers to order compensation.