Jimmy Boyle is an acclaimed sculptor, a prize-winning writer, a drugs counsellor and a wine expert. But, born in 1944 and raised in Glasgow's notorious Gorbals area, his early years were spent in the grip of the Gorbals culture. He followed in his father's footsteps and embarked on a life of crime, eventually being sentenced to life in prison at the age of 23 for a murder he did not commit.
At the Special Unit at Barlinnie Prison, he discovered both sculpture and the futility of life behind bars - the brutality of which is graphically described in his two autobiographies, A Sense of Freedom, later made into a film, and The Pain of Confinement.
His novel, Hero of the Underworld, also draws upon his intimate knowledge of incarceration.
Jimmy Boyle founded and works at Gateway Exchange, a centre in Edinburgh to help young people at risk of offending. As a sculptor, he has had exhibitions in Australia, Moscow and Romania.
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