"Help me. They are going to kill me."
This was the chilling and desperate plea from prison officer-turned-hostage David "Bud" Flanagan after rioting inmates at Barlinnie jail swarmed B-Block and staged a rooftop protest in January 1987.
Flanagan was one of several officers being held at knifepoint at the notorious Glasgow prison where a band of around 20 convicts in makeshift balaclavas made from blackened pillow cases and armed with truncheons, shields, and other weaponry, had seized control.
READ MORE: Barlinnie to be replaced by HMP Glasgow in 2026 as contract awarded for new prison
A major incident was declared on January 5, with inmates causing massive damage throughout the main hall, trapping prison staff in cells, and starting fires to coax out warders who had sought refuge. Several officers sustained injuries on day one from being pelted with glass bottles and other debris.
Fifteen officers were initially taken hostage as the rioters used violence to take control of the rooftop of B hall and tossed slates into the yard far below.
Sign up to our Glasgow Live nostalgia newsletters for more local history and heritage content straight to your inbox
According to the prisoners, the riots were a result of "brutal" and inhumane treatment by the prison officers.
Bedsheets became banners and were hung from the rooftop. They carried messages aimed at their jailers and Barlinnie governor Andrew Gallagher.
"Slasher Gallagher," read one. "Gallagher is brutality," declared another.
One banner made specific reference to an inmate, Sammy Ralston, claiming that he had been "tortured".
Ralston, nicknamed "The Bear", was said to have been a known troublemaker for the prison authorities, after being sentenced to six years for robbery. He had previously staged a solo rooftop protest in November 1986 while on remand on the robbery charge.
The Barlinnie rioters claimed wardens had beaten Ralston with sticks and had gagged him to muffle his screams.
These claims were dismissed by MP Hugh Brown, who, after visiting the jail, said it was clear that an alleged assault on Ralston had not sparked the riots. Brown said that from the jail's 300 long-term inmates, fewer than 20 were on the roof and that "no specific demands" had been made by the group.
This view was backed up by a prison "insider", who said: "The riots were not caused by brutality from warders or the harsh regime. They were caused by men who live by violence in or out of prison."
By day four of the siege, which was by now the longest in Scottish penal history, one of the two remaining officers being held hostage was released by the rioters, with the final officer freed shortly afterwards.
The 110-hour siege was declared over on the morning of Sunday, January 11. The rioters were apprehended and the clean-up operation of B-Block commenced.
Fortunately, there had been no deaths during the siege, and none of the officers or prisoners sustaining serious injuries.
Nine men would eventually stand trial for their part in the riot and three - Allan McLeish, William Marshall and Hugh Twigg - were found guilty and sentenced to a total of 22 years.
The riot at Barlinnie was just one of several to hit Scottish prisons in the late '80s. Months earlier there had been a riot at Edinburgh's Saughton jail, while later in 1987, there were riots at HMP Shotts, Perth and Peterhead. The latter siege was brought to an end when a crack SAS unit stormed the building.
In the aftermath of these incidents, calls were made for the Scottish Prison Service to review its facilities and sort out overcrowding and understaffing.
Two years ago it was announced that Barlinnie is to be replaced by a new "fit-for-purpose" prison, HMP Glasgow, by 2026.
The 1,200-capacity jail will be built on a 54-acre site in Provanmill to the south of Royston Road, near Provan Gas Works, with the Victorian-era Barlinnie to be razed.
READ NEXT:
Hanged at Barlinnie - criminals who met their maker at the end of a noose
When Ross Kemp came to Glasgow to visit ‘notorious’ Barlinnie
Mind-blowing Glasgow snaps from the swinging sixties show a changing city
Resurfaced Glasgow documentary recalls 1960s street gangs that terrorised city
Glasgow's very own Peaky Blinders that dominated the city in the 1930s
