5 Uniformity across the UK

In July 1883, the Home Secretary encouraged the Scottish Prison Commissioners to bring the content and delivery of education in Scottish prisons into line with the new regulations for English and Welsh prisons. The Scottish Commissioners agreed to adopt the Fenwick scheme but with two modifications:

Figure 7 An aerial view of Barlinnie Prison, on the outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland. Barlinnie Prison was built by the Scottish Prison Commission between 1880 and 1894 in order to allow for the closure of inadequate prisons at Campbelltown, Rothesay, Airdrie, Hamilton and Lanark. With cell accommodation for 1000 prisoners, it was intended to serve as a prison for all categories of prisoner. In July 1882, it became a General Prison for Scotland.

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This black and white photograph provides an overhead view of a walled prison complex. It consists of five separate four-storey blocks of identical size, with a chapel between two of them at upper left. There are what look like workshops at lower right, and an open yard at upper right.

Figure 7 An aerial view of Barlinnie Prison, on the outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland. Barlinnie Prison was built by the Scottish Prison ...

In Ireland, the achievement of uniformity in prison discipline lagged behind the other nations in part because of political unrest. A Royal Commission established to review the Irish prison system in 1884 delivered a harsh critique of the system of cellular instruction which had become common after 1878, and in which prisoners received just 4 or 5 minutes of tuition each week (Royal Commission on Prisons in Ireland, 1884, p. 36). The Irish Prisons Board agreed that improved arrangements were necessary. In November 1887, new Regulations for the Educational Instruction of Prisoners were circulated to prison governors. They were, in all essentials, a replication of the Fenwick scheme (General Prisons Board (Ireland) Tenth Report, 1888, pp. 25–7).