Peterhead Prison Museum

Scotland's most northerly jail housed some of the country's most violent offenders between 1888 and 2013 - including those convicted of serious sex crimes. A new facility - HMP Grampian - was built in a nearby location to replace the Victorian institution, which was converted to a museum and opened its doors to the public in the summer of 2016.

My mum and I had been wanting to visit for some time and I suggested we take a drive up north before I returned to work after my summer break. Off we set at 8am on a Friday morning and the journey took just under three hours, via the new Aberdeen by-pass that was completed in 2019. A couple of hours inside the museum would bring us up to lunchtime and there was a café on site. Entry was via a heavy steel security door and we were issued with audio headsets before beginning the self-guided tour in the prison courtyard. Concrete exercise pens were the first listening points and the walls were topped with rolls of fearsome looking razor wire. We entered the main block and the numbered route proceeds from one end of the ground floor to the other. You can gaze upwards and see the safety netting, installed to prevent prisoners falling from the upper balconies (either by accident or design). The furnishings of the cells are increasingly modernised (although I use the term loosely) as you progress along the historical timeline. Victorian inmates slept in hammocks but proper beds were in place by the 1920s. The audio clips featured voices of warders who had worked in the prison and this added to the authenticity. One thing I had been warned about in advance was the "dirty protest" cell. Not only were the walls smeared chocolatey brown, but the olfactory glands were tickled by a pungent scent. No doubt entirely synthetic, but it was - as Glaswegians might say - pure dead bowfin. (I don't know the equivalent Doric expression). One interesting display was the cell belonging to famed safe blower Johnny Ramensky, who served time at Peterhead in the 1930s, even launching a successful escape attempt. Upon his return, he earned the distinction of being the last Scottish prisoner to be placed in shackles, the practice being abolished shortly thereafter. Released in 1942, he attracted the attention of the armed forces, who were seeking people with the relevant skills to perform daring commando raids. Ramensky had kept himself incredibly fit during his sentence and was also of sound temperament, being known as "Gentle Johnny" due to his unflappable nature whenever he was apprehended by the police. Ramensky put his safe-cracking abilities to good use and performed sabotage missions, being parachuted behind enemy lines to retrieve documents from Axis headquarters. He was also employed as a translator (being of Lithuanian parentage) before being demobbed in 1946.

Ramensky's efforts to go straight didn't run to plan and he spent time in various jails. In 1972, he died from a stroke while serving a 12-month sentence at Perth Prison. His occupation was listed as a labourer on his death certificate. I hadn't previously been aware of Ramensky and I found the tale very interesting, as did my mum who vividly recalled reading about Gentle Johnny's exploits in the papers. Peterhead was the scene of a major riot in 1987 and this event naturally received a lot of coverage in the museum. Prisoners seized control and took warder Jackie Stewart hostage. The man himself told part of the story on the audio guide and he was paraded on the rafters and threatened with serious harm. When negotiations with the authorities broke down, Home Secretary Douglas Hurd dispatched the SAS to quell the mob. The operation was successful and Stewart released unharmed. As the 21st century rolled around, prisoners were still slopping out on a daily basis. Inconvenient as the process may be, I never used to think this would create any particular hygiene issues. You pee in a pot and empty it down the toilet the next morning. Was it any different to being caught short on a long car journey and sneakily relieving yourself in a plastic bottle? What I hadn't considered was the fact that dozens of men were performing this ritual, not just one or two. The prison officers related via the headphones that the stench built up and clung to your clothes for the next few hours.

The only real criticism I had of the tour was the massive kitchen not having a dedicated spot on the sound recordings. It was mentioned in passing elsewhere but surely the place must have been a hive of activity every single day, not to mention the logistical challenges of feeding everyone on site. An opportunity missed. The tour progressed to the special unit created in the 90s for sex offenders. They were obviously hated by regular inmates and were housed in completely separate quarters for their own protection. A treatment programme was devised but whether such moves can ever bear fruit is up for debate. Is this behaviour hardwired? Still, you have to at least try. Shouting "cut his balls off" isn't going to gain much political traction. Other areas of interest were the bathroom facilities and the governor's office. We noticed the chiefs didn't tend to stay long and there was a long list of previous incumbents. High pressure environment I surmise. The trail concluded at the café from where we caught a glimpse of the new HMP Grampian through the windows - the first Scottish prison to jointly house youths, men and women. A limited menu was on offer due to staffing problems but I was happy to fetch a sandwich out the fridge and wash it down with a mug of hot chocolate. Afterwards it was the usual exit via the gift shop and mum bought me a copy of Johnny Ramensky's life story. There was also a railway carriage exhibit within the grounds. The jail supplied the labour force to work in Stirlinghill Quarry and in the admiralty yard attached to the prison. The arrangement ceased in 1956 and the line was dismantled. Prior to WW2, it had been the only state-run passenger service in operation. I guess bums on seats were pretty much guaranteed by the captive nature of the audience!