When I watch these old documentarys it always strikes me how articulate people used to be. How times have changed. I can only assume the school system was alot better back in the day
"Carbisdale - where mountains grew, and flowers. the air was sensual with a miracle of feminine odours. pregnant shrubs watched and each pollinated hymen was matter's transformation to life, then i realised my body a temple undefiled and i was ten years old already. tingle toward puberty and fulfilment, the outpour of my heart to the naked forest; swift foot hushed fallen leaves and twigs; unafraid and unclad child, air-kissed skin laughing, brushed fern fronds' tingle" "Carbisdale", from "The Silent Scream" by Larry Winters. It's extraordinary to think that a man who gouged a prison officer's eye out with a chib was capable of writing of such sensitivity.
@soulbrothers62 - Good luck, let us know how you get on. I couldn't get any info on the first three except Breckenridge was sentenced in 1968, Edinburgh High Court for killing his girlfriend in West Kilbride, Ayrshire. Apparently the BBC did a documentary on him "Birdman" sometime ago. Winter's older brother & what happened to him might be worth following up, as he sounds worse than Lawrence.
you are sent to prison as a punishment. Restriction of liberty is the punishment. This should be the sum of it. To brutalise people alongside restricting their liberty will achieve a net negative result. This is demonstrable throughout the British prison estate. Scandinavian prisons have recidivism rates 50% lower than the U.K.
Most of us when people make us look silly we just shrug it off. Other people are unable to accept this violence starts. Please talk with you turn the other cheek.
Since I’ve found this ytube channel isa hooked the wife is watching Netflix and I’m back in the 70s80s it’s a bit depressing but something in me likes watching makes me glad i was a kid back then and not a adult….. great channel
I know what you mean. It can be easy to be nostalgic about the 70s when viewing the decade through the eyes of a young child. I was three when this was aired. I'm half Scottish on my Mum's side and a member of her family had a high ranking job at Barlinnie in the pre-war years. The 70s always look grimmer on film than I remember them. It was all Dr Who, space-hoppers and "For Mash get Smash" in my rose-tinted memories...
All of these old prison docs show inmates with a far higher eloquence and average IQ than current jailbirds and low income classes . The difference is so stark i have wonder if there's something perhaps in the modern diet that is reducing average IQ in the population.
Years of dumbing down the western world's public education systems. The focus gradually shifted from reading, writing and arithmetic to gender, sexuality, race and Leftist politics.
I noticed the same thing in the old Strangeways documentary's. Modern prisoners are far less articulate and some seem barely educated. What happened in the 80s and 90s?
Times change,generations change,and the fact social media and the world wide web has been about for about 30 year now has totally changed the world.Back then,you had books a but if education and some television if you were lucky to see it,so people back then had a different mi d set,and cons stuck together mist of the time.When televisions came into prison in the late 90s it changed the prison system,people didn't stick together as much because they didn't want to miss Coronation street,so would rather sit in their cell and watch it instead of backing bother cons up over corruption,brutality etc etc.Plus the late 80s going into the 90s saw the influx of numerous different drugs being avaliable especially ually class As like Heroin where it bit only killed people but took the heart of of certain people who would once fight the system or at least protest against the system,so Heroin was an escape where people got themselves habits and escaped the monotony of everyday prison life. These wherebsome of the reasons why prisons changed,and the fact time and places evolve. Now most of the modern cons want to be the next Pablo Escobar,and your worst enemy in prison is the guy wearing the same colour of jumper orbt-shirt as you,its not necessarily the screws.
My dad spent 30 days in Barlinnie in 1968, I was there doing three months in 1978 (met these guys), I eventually played a gig or two there in early 90s.
I grew up in the shadow of Barlinnie, my Dad being a prison officer there. As a kid I would often see Jimmy Boyle, in the RS McColl newsagents, in the morning buying his papers. Great documentary, I remember my Dad explaining to me what the Unit was all about. Great Documentary.
I find it really fascinating how well these men speak . I'm from Glasgow myself .... and if you done similar interviews now in the same prison ..... I think you'd be hard pressed to find any prisoner as articulate as some of these men .
My dad was a co.founder of the SU, in around 1972. Many of these guys in this film would've known him. He died a year before this was filmed. I believe the SU was closed around the late 80's.
It's amazing that all these guys are well-spoken and articulate, a sign of a decent education. Take their equivalents today, and I doubt any modern 'lifer' could express themselves anywhere near as well.
Larry Winters died of an overdose in there, drugs brought in to him by I think that JC guy who cooks the meals. There's a film about Larry's life called Silent Scream. Very violent but very highly intelligent man by all accounts.
I was just released from 1974 & they gave me the same clothes to wear that I went in with,must say I couldn’t find anybody else goin about with 8 inch silver platforms,a top hat covered in mirrors & a moth eaten Slade T-shirt!
@@markrichards1953 back in the day i was a slade fan trex bowie and many other bands the 70s was great time for music i remember when don powell had his car crash i was like oh no is that the end of slade but luckly don was ok after a while mama we are all crazy now
I initially prejudged Larry Winters when I first started watching, his appearance made me think he was a bit crazy. When started speaking, I started to realise he was very articulate. I read the comments and saw he had written poetry and there was a film about him. Shows that we need to think about the causes to crime more, Larry was a ticking bomb. Fascinating documentary.
Jimmy Boyle! Presuming that Larry is Larry Winters and Ben is Ben Conroy? Sorry to not put a face to the name with regards to Ben. Thanks for posting this historically significant documentary.
As someone who has spent years within the confines of the SPS,these projects fail as the Government does not want people to go out and not come back. Too many people depend on recidivism to keep them in a job.
JB's book ( A sense of freedom ) was one of the first books I ever read as a young man 30 years ago. I hadn't seen an interview with him until about a year ago, I'm still amazed at how well spoken he is. In the book he spoke a lot about that prison. One would wonder how a seemingly intelligent man went so far down the wrong road?
Exactly same for me. I found it in my school library 1983-4 and sat and read it from cover to cover in English class in forfar academy. I was fascinated by it. I then read many books after and still read to this day. Quite a few later became movies such as "the making of the atom bomb" which is the basis for the film oppenhiemer. I read that must be 30 years ago. Or the right stuff that chartered the race to space. I've read many of prison books such as brehdan behans borstal boy, midnight express, marching powder, and great fascination biographies about Howard Hughes, Andrew carnage and dozens of others. I've read a thousand sci-fi books and books on everything from Bill Gates creating Microsoft to the rock bios on pink Floyd. But for me it all started reading jimmy boyles book a sense of freedom.
I thought it was Jimmy Boyle, being a Kiwi there wasn't any info regarding JB so my first introduction to Jimmy was seeing the movie about him. Hearing him talk in this vid made me think 'This guy is quite eloquently spoken I wonder if it is JB but it dawned on me that this guys name in the credits was Jimmy and 90% chance it is he, JB. He really lived up to the potential he exhibited during his 'Porridge' years and good on him for that, best to you Jimmy should you fluke upon this comment, Ya did Good Kid.
Yes he is a success story and has done a lot. I wasn’t sure if it was him as I haven’t seen the end of this documentary obs the end credits but some folks from Scotland 🏴 have confirmed it’s jimmy Boyle. Great author 👍🏻
Boyle was a bully, I'm from Glasgow and from a much diffrent generation but I worked beside a guy who knew Boyle and his brothers and said they were out and out bullies. "A Sense of Freedom" gave him his fame but he was a bad bastard.
I hate the fetish for commenting how things were better in the past but in that vein I can't imagine a prisoner today describing their feelings about the length of their sentence with "It's deflated me somewhat".
Totally agree with you. Those today who keep saying “better in the past” were obviously not living then. Life did start to improve somewhat sometime in the 80’s, but the 50,60,70’s could be very hard and many people today would not like the way it was then at all.
Its got more comfortable for most but considering how may suicides, anti-depressants and anxiety cases there are now, the evidence would suggest life is worse now.@@Daniel-deMerrivale
Absolutely and amazing work helping people in recovery, I was just making a light hearted comment on my earlier comment, lots of love and respect for how jimmy turned his life around to help others and to set a good example 🙏
Boyle was a money lender who prayed on the weak of Glasgow. He turned his life around after jail . He is now a wine-connoiseur and writer, living part-time in France. He also makes large contributions to the British Labour Party.
I must say … I have often heard Glaswegians who have known fellow Glaswegians that are considered psychopaths….that they all have a nice soft pleasant way of speaking…..
It's human nature to feel empathy for our fellow man. However the devastation that the murder of a loved one causes on a family is immeasurable. The dead will never be able to have a bath or wear a uniform that is ill fitting or eat poor quality food.
Some more information on the Special Unit prisoners featured in the documentary, for those who are interested: J.C./James Connor Smith - sentenced to life at Aberdeen High Court in January 1965, aged 22, for stabbing James Millsom to death the previous year in a "motiveless" attack while drunk. Rab Wallace - sentenced to life in 1961, aged 16, for stabbing 17 year old William Davies to death in Paisley on Christmas Eve the previous year. He claimed self-defence, saying that Davies had tried to strangle him after an argument over a burst football (!). Ian Breckenridge - sentenced to life at Edinburgh High Court in 1967, aged 27, for strangling Helen Carson to death in what he claimed was a failed suicide pact. He immediately handed himself in to police after the murder. He was the only prisoner who returned to jail after leaving the Special Unit: in 1982 he was jailed in London for attempted rape. Larry Winters - sentenced to life aged 21 for shooting dead barman Paddy O'Keefe in the White Horse pub in Soho, London in June 1964, while AWOL from the British Army. He was serving as a paratrooper at the time. His prison psychiatric assessment measured his IQ as 164 (which puts him in the top 0.0001% of the population). Mostly wrote poetry and prose while in the unit, some of which was posthumously published as "The Silent Scream". Was on massive doses of barbiturates prescribed by prison authorities and accidentally overdosed on Tuinal in 1977, aged 34. A biopic of his life was made in 1990 starring Iain Glen, who is probably best known as cock-blocked travelling knight Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones. It's really good, you should watch it (the biopic, not Game of Thrones). Jimmy Boyle - you can Google him.
Cheers for that. I was scrolling through the comments specifically in the hope of finding out what became of Larry. I can't help but wonder, was the overdose *really* accidental..?
@@TheRowlandstone73 He had attempted suicide a few years previously, but an accident was the view of the FAI and his family. For one, there were still numerous unconsumed pills in the packet. Second, Larry had largely come off his prescribed barbiturates, so his tolerance was much lower than usual. When he was in Porterfield he was getting in excess of 20 Seconal a day. That is an insane dose. It was only about four pills which killed him. Barbiturates are absolutely deadly. He was doing a truckload of other drugs around this time though - heroin, cocaine, diconal, all injected.
Good greif , treatin people like people works ! Have we all not made mistakes ? Some people come from such hard childhoods , there is ptsd , multiple issues ! Y cannot we nit still look holistically at individuals ? ! These are smart guys x
When Larry speaks about assaulting guards at inverness in 1972 he got 15 years for it ((IN THE FILM SENSE OF FREEDOM 'THEYVE TAKEN HIS EYE OUT SIR'!)) Yes it was coz they hit Larry so he did what was right They knew not to push larry about so one lost their eye because of such....IN 1977 his life was taken from him.....
Larry Winters died. There doesn’t seem to be any information on the others, apart from Jimmy Boyle. They’d be well into their 70s now, if still alive. I don’t think any re-offended.
Only Ian was returned to prison in 1982 he committed either a rape or attempted rape in London. The others left the unit & did not reoffend. JB is successful property developer & lives in France. Larry Winters psychiatric assessment placed his intelligence IQ in the TOP 000 1% of the population ( genius). He was a poet who had a book of his work published after his death: Silent Scream.. Also a film. His poetry is amazing.
Is it Larry winters he was seemingly fearsome I've read a lot about all these guys I don't know why but I find them a lot more interesting than today's prisoners things back then were ruthless and it took a brave man to fight against the system
Although I agree with the forward thinking policies, it seems a little unfair that the most violent and disruptive prisoners get the cushiest life by far!! 😳
I've hadn't heard of Larry winters. Hopefully, find his film on TH-cam. Liked a sense of freedom 👌🏻 who's the bloke Ian? I Don't know the bald guy either
Read a "A Sense of Freedom" by Danny Boyle (?), it's about his insane journey of violence fighting screws in prison and his eventually being placed on THIS Special Unit! The brutality and violence in the Scottish prison system at this time was insane! The book is an incredible read! So well written by a prisoner who had been through hell and back! I'm surprised Danny Boyle wasn't in this video! It was about his time!? 😮
Jimmy Boyle became an profilic & successful sculptor & author. He opened a project in Glasgow like the SU to help ex offenders. He married his psychiatrist named Sarah but they later divorced. He now lives France & is married to his second wife a British actress. He is a successful property developer.
The Special Unit was definitely beneficial for Jimmy Boyle. The experiment should have been extended to all prisons in the UK. Not just 5 or 6 prisoners in each unit but something like 30. Treat people with dignity and encouragement for a change and it's amazing what they can be capable of.
![Glasgow Underworld Documentary [William Gage]](/img/n.gif)
When I watch these old documentarys it always strikes me how articulate people used to be. How times have changed. I can only assume the school system was alot better back in the day
It was
People didn't walk about head down burrowing into their phones. We chatted or read books, paper etc.
They didn’t take the fannying about that kids get upto these days that’s for sure
Might have been a better school system, but most of these guys didn’t stay in it very long
It was
I grew up with a view of this from the living room window. Thankfully didn’t pay a visit at her majesty’s pleasure 😂
Strange Boyle mentioned he wanted a deterrent for his son and youths. His son became a victim to crime.
Sad indeed.
"Carbisdale - where mountains grew, and flowers. the air was sensual with a miracle of feminine odours. pregnant shrubs watched and each pollinated hymen was matter's transformation to life, then i realised my body a temple undefiled and i was ten years old already. tingle toward puberty and fulfilment, the outpour of my heart to the naked forest; swift foot hushed fallen leaves and twigs; unafraid and unclad child, air-kissed skin laughing, brushed fern fronds' tingle"
"Carbisdale", from "The Silent Scream" by Larry Winters. It's extraordinary to think that a man who gouged a prison officer's eye out with a chib was capable of writing of such sensitivity.
It is crazy but apparently his psychiatrist said he had an IQ of 164 which is extremely rare
The man loves his budgies! 😂
He’s clearly autistic. Suppose they didn’t have a diagnosis for that back then.
J.C. Smith - Ian Breckenridge - Rab Wallace - Jimmy Boyle - Larry Winters.
I'll google these guys
@soulbrothers62 - Good luck, let us know how you get on. I couldn't get any info on the first three except Breckenridge was sentenced in 1968, Edinburgh High Court for killing his girlfriend in West Kilbride, Ayrshire. Apparently the BBC did a documentary on him "Birdman" sometime ago. Winter's older brother & what happened to him might be worth following up, as he sounds worse than Lawrence.
you are sent to prison as a punishment.
Restriction of liberty is the punishment. This should be the sum of it. To brutalise people alongside restricting their liberty will achieve a net negative result. This is demonstrable throughout the British prison estate.
Scandinavian prisons have recidivism rates 50% lower than the U.K.
rest in peace larry winters
I was in here a couple years ago,screws are Willy watchers.
Still got those peep-holes looking in the lavvies? 🙈
The Bar L in 1976... tough place... very tough
should do an up to date follow up
They all killed each other in the special unit the day after the filming
@@sparkeydmh nah only one killed himself the folowing year.
We must never hope in anything.
Hope is a terrible thing, invented by the parties to keep a members happy
I wonder what happened to these men. It is a very interesting documentary
Lar ry winters died of an overdose there's a film about him too from 70s
I’ll see you Jimmy
to all the people in the comments who have served time here. - stay out of trouble lad.
Most of us when people make us look silly we just shrug it off. Other people are unable to accept this violence starts. Please talk with you turn the other cheek.
you lags are costing us taxpayers a fortune with your childish attitude to life.@@thomasreed49
Is this the same unit jimmy boyle was in?
2:36 5:37 13:22 jimmy boyle
didn't watch it at all then? LOL
Irish natives.. just irish natives/british natives 💯
? No Irish people in this!
What are you on about
some of those hairstyles were worthy of a life sentence
your still in prison then i guess ha ha
no I'm jealous as I'm going bald@@paulmcdonough1093
😅
😂😂😂😂😂
they sure do. I bet there's film of someone's 21st party from back then and we'll think it's a retirement party@GeorgeThomson-ri3wd
Since I’ve found this ytube channel isa hooked the wife is watching Netflix and I’m back in the 70s80s it’s a bit depressing but something in me likes watching makes me glad i was a kid back then and not a adult….. great channel
I know what you mean. It can be easy to be nostalgic about the 70s when viewing the decade through the eyes of a young child. I was three when this was aired. I'm half Scottish on my Mum's side and a member of her family had a high ranking job at Barlinnie in the pre-war years. The 70s always look grimmer on film than I remember them. It was all Dr Who, space-hoppers and "For Mash get Smash" in my rose-tinted memories...
Netflix is leftist trash
@@WulfyrI was born 74 I remember the summers being longer and warmer and winters raining every day my wife’s dad is Scottish fun fact 😂😃👍♥️
All of these old prison docs show inmates with a far higher eloquence and average IQ than current jailbirds and low income classes . The difference is so stark i have wonder if there's something perhaps in the modern diet that is reducing average IQ in the population.
Years of dumbing down the western world's public education systems. The focus gradually shifted from reading, writing and arithmetic to gender, sexuality, race and Leftist politics.
I noticed the same thing in the old Strangeways documentary's.
Modern prisoners are far less articulate and some seem barely educated. What happened in the 80s and 90s?
Times change,generations change,and the fact social media and the world wide web has been about for about 30 year now has totally changed the world.Back then,you had books a but if education and some television if you were lucky to see it,so people back then had a different mi d set,and cons stuck together mist of the time.When televisions came into prison in the late 90s it changed the prison system,people didn't stick together as much because they didn't want to miss Coronation street,so would rather sit in their cell and watch it instead of backing bother cons up over corruption,brutality etc etc.Plus the late 80s going into the 90s saw the influx of numerous different drugs being avaliable especially ually class As like Heroin where it bit only killed people but took the heart of of certain people who would once fight the system or at least protest against the system,so Heroin was an escape where people got themselves habits and escaped the monotony of everyday prison life. These wherebsome of the reasons why prisons changed,and the fact time and places evolve. Now most of the modern cons want to be the next Pablo Escobar,and your worst enemy in prison is the guy wearing the same colour of jumper orbt-shirt as you,its not necessarily the screws.
Heroin happened
I suspect it has less to do with food than with the diet of idiocy the population are fed through schools , the television and social media.
The old suicide pact prank, she’ll be mortified with that
What was his name he was fucked up!
My dad spent 30 days in Barlinnie in 1968, I was there doing three months in 1978 (met these guys), I eventually played a gig or two there in early 90s.
You evil murderer.
remarkable documentary...Jimmy boyle a very hard man turned his life around..became an accomplished sculptor...wrote a book too...
Most of these guys wouldn't look out of place on an episode of Top Of The Pops from 1976.
🤣It's like the sensational Alex Harvey band were all locked up at the same time.
@@brendandunleavy1399😅
Heroin and coke wasn’t so prevalent back then 😅
Yes! The bloke at 11:45 is, I’m sure, related to Leo Sayer😊
1970s haircuts in 1976. Wow utterly amazing. Who would have believed that?
I grew up in the shadow of Barlinnie, my Dad being a prison officer there. As a kid I would often see Jimmy Boyle, in the RS McColl newsagents, in the morning buying his papers. Great documentary, I remember my Dad explaining to me what the Unit was all about. Great Documentary.
My dad was Ronnie Mora. He helped to co found the SU in around 1972. He died a year before this was filmed
@@jameslarkin8494 eh ?
@@Rutherglen1969 Ronnie Morran-ive heard the name friend.Sorry to see he passed away
@@weejoe-c4n Thanks. My dad died in 1975
Your dad was an animal @@Rutherglen1969
I find it really fascinating how well these men speak . I'm from Glasgow myself .... and if you done similar interviews now in the same prison ..... I think you'd be hard pressed to find any prisoner as articulate as some of these men .
Even violent and disruptive prisoners are well spoken here. These days prisons are full of errrrr, 'different people'.
innit
Per capita violent crime has fallen across the UK since 1976. So what if people are "different".
Well spoken psychopaths, just what we always wanted
@@zivkovicablehhmmm
@@zivkovicable
He means he'd rather be stabbed by a polite white man than even look at foreigners.
Just too cowardly to straight say it.
Just here to listen to the word "murder"
I miss Taggart!
Love Taggart!
"There's been a Murder" 😂🤣
Taggart is on Drama late on a Sunday night.
You mean moordoor
A murrrrder😂
My dad was a co.founder of the SU, in around 1972. Many of these guys in this film would've known him. He died a year before this was filmed. I believe the SU was closed around the late 80's.
Sorry for your. loss. ❤
It's amazing that all these guys are well-spoken and articulate, a sign of a decent education. Take their equivalents today, and I doubt any modern 'lifer' could express themselves anywhere near as well.
just thinking that these chaps are alot more eloquent than your contemporary thug - maybe the real maniacs weren't eligible for special unit ...
Larry Winters died of an overdose in there, drugs brought in to him by I think that JC guy who cooks the meals. There's a film about Larry's life called Silent Scream. Very violent but very highly intelligent man by all accounts.
barbiturates if I remember right so it said in the sense of freedom.
How many years did Larry serve ?
@@kevross8636about 13 years, till his death
Larry Winters was a prolific poet. He had a assessed IQ as Mensa entry level of genius level. His poetry is amazing
Who were the other prisoners in there and how long was it open.?
Never knew Bon Scott did porridge at Barlinnie.
Half these guys were in the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
He was from Scotland
@@DonnellOkafor-r2d Ha Ha Me Too. I knew Bon Moved from Scotland to OZ as a Child but i don't think he managed to do time in Barlinnie before he left.
Larry actually reminded more of Angus! 🤘😛
I was just released from 1974 & they gave me the same clothes to wear that I went in with,must say I couldn’t find anybody else goin about with 8 inch silver platforms,a top hat covered in mirrors & a moth eaten Slade T-shirt!
😂
You could've got someone to hand you in newer clothes right...
@@garybarr2023 where’s the fun in that? I’m still a Slade fan.
@@markrichards1953 back in the day i was a slade fan trex bowie and many other bands the 70s was great time for music i remember when don powell had his car crash i was like oh no is that the end of slade but luckly don was ok after a while mama we are all crazy now
You will be in nappy's now though eh big man
I initially prejudged Larry Winters when I first started watching, his appearance made me think he was a bit crazy. When started speaking, I started to realise he was very articulate. I read the comments and saw he had written poetry and there was a film about him.
Shows that we need to think about the causes to crime more, Larry was a ticking bomb. Fascinating documentary.
Shakey Steven's glad he never found out what was behind the green door
How the English language has been ruined. These guys can talk properly.
English?
@@peternagy-im4be yes, that's what they're talking, with a Glasgow or Scottish twist to it, or do you think that's Gaelic?
A couple a quid and hes coming back wae 10 slice 10 rolls , 2 tins a baked beans , 16 links feeding a full hall for £2 🥵😂 bring them days back eh
The Scottish accent is my favorite. Im from New Orleans Louisiana
Jimmy Boyle! Presuming that Larry is Larry Winters and Ben is Ben Conroy? Sorry to not put a face to the name with regards to Ben. Thanks for posting this historically significant documentary.
As someone who has spent years within the confines of the SPS,these projects fail as the Government does not want people to go out and not come back. Too many people depend on recidivism to keep them in a job.
The Bay City Rollers have let them self go.
This made me laugh way too hard!😂😂
Very funny you wouldn't have said that to Jimmy Boyke in his prime
JB's book ( A sense of freedom ) was one of the first books I ever read as a young man 30 years ago.
I hadn't seen an interview with him until about a year ago, I'm still amazed at how well spoken he is.
In the book he spoke a lot about that prison.
One would wonder how a seemingly intelligent man went so far down the wrong road?
He definitely self educated in prison, his early years were troubled and violent, with little to no education
Exactly same for me. I found it in my school library 1983-4 and sat and read it from cover to cover in English class in forfar academy. I was fascinated by it. I then read many books after and still read to this day. Quite a few later became movies such as "the making of the atom bomb" which is the basis for the film oppenhiemer. I read that must be 30 years ago. Or the right stuff that chartered the race to space. I've read many of prison books such as brehdan behans borstal boy, midnight express, marching powder, and great fascination biographies about Howard Hughes, Andrew carnage and dozens of others. I've read a thousand sci-fi books and books on everything from Bill Gates creating Microsoft to the rock bios on pink Floyd. But for me it all started reading jimmy boyles book a sense of freedom.
I thought it was Jimmy Boyle, being a Kiwi there wasn't any info regarding JB so my first introduction to Jimmy was seeing the movie about him. Hearing him talk in this vid made me think 'This guy is quite eloquently spoken I wonder if it is JB but it dawned on me that this guys name in the credits was Jimmy and 90% chance it is he, JB. He really lived up to the potential he exhibited during his 'Porridge' years and good on him for that, best to you Jimmy should you fluke upon this comment, Ya did Good Kid.
Yes he is a success story and has done a lot. I wasn’t sure if it was him as I haven’t seen the end of this documentary obs the end credits but some folks from Scotland 🏴 have confirmed it’s jimmy Boyle. Great author 👍🏻
Indeed Chris.@@chrishennessy294
Defo Jimmy Boyle
Aye its Jimmy 💯✌🏻@user-nr9pl4ir4o
Boyle was a bully, I'm from Glasgow and from a much diffrent generation but I worked beside a guy who knew Boyle and his brothers and said they were out and out bullies. "A Sense of Freedom" gave him his fame but he was a bad bastard.
I hate the fetish for commenting how things were better in the past but in that vein I can't imagine a prisoner today describing their feelings about the length of their sentence with "It's deflated me somewhat".
Totally agree with you. Those today who keep saying “better in the past” were obviously not living then. Life did start to improve somewhat sometime in the 80’s, but the 50,60,70’s could be very hard and many people today would not like the way it was then at all.
Its got more comfortable for most but considering how may suicides, anti-depressants and anxiety cases there are now, the evidence would suggest life is worse now.@@Daniel-deMerrivale
I was born in 78 and I'd definitely say the 80s and 90s were better times to live in than today despite all the mod cons and technology we have today
Life was better when you were a kid and had fewer, if any, responsibilities.@@MancstaSam
@@Daniel-deMerrivaleprison now days is a piece of cake ..i know .
When a murderer asks in prison if he can have have access to scrap metal to make sculptures.the answer should be .....NO😮
Absolutely and amazing work helping people in recovery, I was just making a light hearted comment on my earlier comment, lots of love and respect for how jimmy turned his life around to help others and to set a good example 🙏
The place was rife with drugs
Still the same
he believes he is buying budgies for his cell, they are zebra finches, can tell by their chirps. 😁
Boyle was a money lender who prayed on the weak of Glasgow. He turned his life around after jail . He is now a wine-connoiseur and writer, living part-time in France. He also makes large contributions to the British Labour Party.
These guys are all so interesting to listen to
Would you still say that if they’d killed one of yours? Nah, thought not.
Ask their victims if they think the same,..you're a fricking twat..
Prisons depressing value your freedom with the love of life outside the walls...
Jimmy Boyle helped that block work properly for serious prisoners like himself at the time
They employed all sorts in the special unit except dentists. 🤮
@2:24 - There's that bloody picture again ! - EVERYONE had a picture of that girl on their wall in the 1970s !
Yup, my mother had one as well, lol
My Mum had one, we called her Tina !
Us too, that and "the crying boy" they were in every house x
I must say … I have often heard Glaswegians who have known fellow Glaswegians that are considered psychopaths….that they all have a nice soft pleasant way of speaking…..
Loved it thanks very much
Larry winters died from drug I’d in the unit , brought in from days outside the unit .
🥬cabbage🤣 Excellent 70s Patter
It's human nature to feel empathy for our fellow man. However the devastation that the murder of a loved one causes on a family is immeasurable. The dead will never be able to have a bath or wear a uniform that is ill fitting or eat poor quality food.
Some more information on the Special Unit prisoners featured in the documentary, for those who are interested:
J.C./James Connor Smith - sentenced to life at Aberdeen High Court in January 1965, aged 22, for stabbing James Millsom to death the previous year in a "motiveless" attack while drunk.
Rab Wallace - sentenced to life in 1961, aged 16, for stabbing 17 year old William Davies to death in Paisley on Christmas Eve the previous year. He claimed self-defence, saying that Davies had tried to strangle him after an argument over a burst football (!).
Ian Breckenridge - sentenced to life at Edinburgh High Court in 1967, aged 27, for strangling Helen Carson to death in what he claimed was a failed suicide pact. He immediately handed himself in to police after the murder. He was the only prisoner who returned to jail after leaving the Special Unit: in 1982 he was jailed in London for attempted rape.
Larry Winters - sentenced to life aged 21 for shooting dead barman Paddy O'Keefe in the White Horse pub in Soho, London in June 1964, while AWOL from the British Army. He was serving as a paratrooper at the time. His prison psychiatric assessment measured his IQ as 164 (which puts him in the top 0.0001% of the population). Mostly wrote poetry and prose while in the unit, some of which was posthumously published as "The Silent Scream". Was on massive doses of barbiturates prescribed by prison authorities and accidentally overdosed on Tuinal in 1977, aged 34. A biopic of his life was made in 1990 starring Iain Glen, who is probably best known as cock-blocked travelling knight Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones. It's really good, you should watch it (the biopic, not Game of Thrones).
Jimmy Boyle - you can Google him.
Sense of freedom.
You'll see fck all without yer eyes
Cheers for that. I was scrolling through the comments specifically in the hope of finding out what became of Larry. I can't help but wonder, was the overdose *really* accidental..?
@@TheRowlandstone73 He had attempted suicide a few years previously, but an accident was the view of the FAI and his family. For one, there were still numerous unconsumed pills in the packet. Second, Larry had largely come off his prescribed barbiturates, so his tolerance was much lower than usual. When he was in Porterfield he was getting in excess of 20 Seconal a day. That is an insane dose. It was only about four pills which killed him. Barbiturates are absolutely deadly. He was doing a truckload of other drugs around this time though - heroin, cocaine, diconal, all injected.
Good greif , treatin people like people works ! Have we all not made mistakes ? Some people come from such hard childhoods , there is ptsd , multiple issues ! Y cannot we nit still look holistically at individuals ? ! These are smart guys x
When Larry speaks about assaulting guards at inverness in 1972 he got 15 years for it ((IN THE FILM SENSE OF FREEDOM 'THEYVE TAKEN HIS EYE OUT SIR'!)) Yes it was coz they hit Larry so he did what was right They knew not to push larry about so one lost their eye because of such....IN 1977 his life was taken from him.....
He died of an overdose of barbs
I’ve been at a children’s birthday party with Jimmy Boyle. Not sure what company he was like, I was one of the kids at the time.
Anyone get onto Jimmy Boyle's slip up😂😂😂"who's gonny open hem up who's gonny keep hem in ferr knife" 😂😂😂
Does anyone know what happened to the 4 apart from Jimmy Boyle?
Larry Winters died. There doesn’t seem to be any information on the others, apart from Jimmy Boyle. They’d be well into their 70s now, if still alive. I don’t think any re-offended.
Only Ian was returned to prison in 1982 he committed either a rape or attempted rape in London. The others left the unit & did not reoffend. JB is successful property developer & lives in France. Larry Winters psychiatric assessment placed his intelligence IQ in the TOP 000 1% of the population ( genius). He was a poet who had a book of his work published after his death: Silent Scream.. Also a film. His poetry is amazing.
Is it Larry winters he was seemingly fearsome I've read a lot about all these guys I don't know why but I find them a lot more interesting than today's prisoners things back then were ruthless and it took a brave man to fight against the system
Fabulous you can turn your life around Mick 😎 now living in Spain 🇧🇴
Although I agree with the forward thinking policies, it seems a little unfair that the most violent and disruptive prisoners get the cushiest life by far!! 😳
Is this a documentary on the Sensational Alex Harvey Band??
Bay City Rollers
What happened to ian he seemed abit of a nutter
The dude in the yellow shirt was played by Ford Kiernan 🤣
Larry winters film ,silent scream ..,good watch .
I've hadn't heard of Larry winters. Hopefully, find his film on TH-cam. Liked a sense of freedom 👌🏻 who's the bloke Ian? I Don't know the bald guy either
larry winters at 3.48,he had a very high iq,there is a film about him, made long ago,the unit was closed in 1994
It looks like an interview with a thin lizzy Guitarist. Larry seems like a Charactor.
THATS JIMMY BOYLE!
HE HAD A MOVIE MADE ABOUT HIS EXPLOITS CALLED "A SENSE OF FREEDOM"!
GOOD BOOK AS WELL!
He followed it up with a book called "the pain of confinement "about his time in prison another great book
Thxs for that sherlock holmes 😂😂😂
@@HughJohn-s1n YOUR WELCOME WATSON!
Did they have to go to work in this unit? Id be chilled out as well if I was able to just sit n twiddle my thumbs
Mr Jimmy Boyle still going strong through his art.
Yes,it's great how he turned his life around,.He acquired a whole new Philosophy to life!
They all have their telly voices on.
This is what happened after a sense of freedom
My friend is in there right now
Jimmy Boyle!
Very hard place,very rough.
Read a "A Sense of Freedom" by Danny Boyle (?), it's about his insane journey of violence fighting screws in prison and his eventually being placed on THIS Special Unit! The brutality and violence in the Scottish prison system at this time was insane! The book is an incredible read! So well written by a prisoner who had been through hell and back! I'm surprised Danny Boyle wasn't in this video! It was about his time!? 😮
It worked so thi gov shut it down
r.i.p Larry-W
Jimmy Boyle what a legend
so they handled the killers with kid gloves is what im getting from the first 10 min of this
These guys were battered assaulted before the unit came into use it was probally brutal
It would be so interesting to see where they are now 👌🏼
Nae doubt 8 feet deep dude 😅😂
Larry is dead Jimmy is still alive Rab was released in about 1977 and so was JC
Jimmy Boyle became an profilic & successful sculptor & author. He opened a project in Glasgow like the SU to help ex offenders. He married his psychiatrist named Sarah but they later divorced. He now lives France & is married to his second wife a British actress. He is a successful property developer.
Do u know all there full names@@Dogdayafternoon4325
The Special Unit was definitely beneficial for Jimmy Boyle. The experiment should have been extended to all prisons in the UK. Not just 5 or 6 prisoners in each unit but something like 30. Treat people with dignity and encouragement for a change and it's amazing what they can be capable of.
Thanks for all these uploads mate 😊
I remember Jimmy Boyle well from the early sixties and he was evil and bad, just evil and bad. He has conned the public in the modern era. But not me.
The BSU.. Barlinnie Special Unit ran for 21 years until it was closed after losing the confidence of the Prison Service leadership and the public.
It is good Jimmy Boyle turned his life around and is still living a long productive life in France. People do change if given the chance to reform.
I think I’ve just seen Bon and the rest of AC dc 😂
Great documentary
Look at jimmy
... JIMMY BOYLE??? @ 2:44. Been Put Through the Mill before This Going on His Movie "A Sense Of Freedom"... 🏴✌️👍
The BAr L ….a step,up fae the Easter hose
I cant believe Jimmy page was once called Larry before Led Zeppelin.🏴☠️
Jimmy Boyle is an inspirational Tale and illuminating about how we judge and label people
"The CIA done it"my guess is they were talking about the assassination of JFK
Larry died by taking a mixture of Amytal and Nembutal barbiturates which were prescribed to him....