En suites, yoga and pastel shades: radical women’s prison to open in Scotland

The well-equipped kitchen and dining room of the Lilias Centre in Glasgow. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose/The Observer

With front doors freshly painted in mint green, lemon and mauve and young cherry trees planted around the quiet central courtyard, the Lilias Centre in Glasgow resembles an upmarket cul-de-sac rather than a prison.

At this pioneering women’s community custody unit, the architecture of incarceration is at a minimum. There are no bars on windows, high fences or reinforced locking systems. Instead, inmates access their individual rooms and communal spaces with a key card akin to one given to hotel guests. Only access to the street beyond is restricted.