The Story of Calton Jail

Located a short distance from Edinburgh's Princes Street, the castellated design of Calton Hill Prison was often mistaken by 19th-century visitors to the city for Edinburgh Castle. Occupying a prominent site on the rocky slope of Calton Hill, the then largest jail in Scotland was constructed to replace the aging Tolbooth and soon became the region's main correction facility, housing prisoners awaiting trial and those facing execution, including murderers, political agitators, fraudsters, terrorists, and even the notorious body-snatchers Burke and Hare. For the inmates--the first of whom arrived in 1817--life inside the prison was wretched: conditions were squalid and discipline harsh, food was basic, and the cells cold. In this, the first long overdue history of the prison, Malcolm Fife tells the story of Calton Jail's from its earliest days to the present, the staff and prisoners, the escapes and executions, the crimes and punishments, and it's rebuilding and reform. Richly illustrated, it offers an absorbing insight into the Scottish criminal justice system.