The first thing I noticed as I approached the Lilias Centre was the pretty gate at the entrance, embellished with leaves.

There were no bars on the windows, no barbed wire, no high walls.

This did not feel or look like any prison I had visited before.

Inside it felt warm and looked welcoming in pinky pastel colours.

The reception seemed so friendly that I did not even notice the body scanner.

The Lilias Centre, in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, is part of a multimillion-pound experiment to tackle reoffending through rehabilitation.

It is one of two community custody units – along with its sister unit, Bella in Dundee – which have been created in Scotland.

They give female inmates greater freedoms than traditional prisons and prepare them for life in the community after their sentence.

Kristie Clelland, who has 30 years’ experience in the prison service, is aware that some people see Lilias as a soft touch approach.

“There is no doubt the facilities here are very good,” she says.

“We could say that services should be good and equal for everybody.

“Our job in the prison service is not to punish, their punishment is their loss of liberty.

“If we can have an environment where they feel that they are supported and they are ready to go back into the workplace or go back to their homes as better citizens or people who are ready to integrate fully as citizens… that to me is a good thing.”

And is the approach working?

“Time will tell,” Kristie says.

“If we can have women that leave here feeling a sense of hope, feeling that they have achieved something and have maybe learned a new skill or feeling a little bit more confident in themselves, that is success for some people.”

Rona Mackenzie is serving a life sentence for murder.

The 62-year-old has spent more than 15 years in prison and is due to be considered for parole later this year.

She moved to Lilias just before Christmas in 2023.

“Fifteen years in closed conditions, that was hard,” she says.

“And you come to Lilias and it’s great.”

She says the unit is like running your own household.

“You cook your own food, you eat what you want, you buy what you want,” she says.

“You sit with an officer and you do your shopping and you choose what you want to eat, which is great.

“You do your own washing.”

Rona says you can’t pick your neighbours, but she’s been lucky and gets on with everyone.

“They look at me as the mother hen,” she says.

However, Rona – who was sentenced to life in prison for murdering a woman she ran over in her car – does not downplay the seriousness of her crime.

“I have remorse every day for what happened that day,” she says.

“It took me a long time. I punished myself every day for a long long time in prison.

“I took somebody’s life in a split 13 seconds, left three kids without a mother.”

She says finding a church fellowship has been great for her.

“I’ve opened up and I’ve been honest,” she says.

“I’ve spoken about my crime. I can’t change it. I wish I could, but I can’t.”

Lilias is helping Rona to prepare for life back in the community.

She has a work placement two days a week at a foodbank, which has allowed her to see how much life has changed while she has been in jail.

“I was quite shocked when I took my first bus journey and everybody’s on phones.

“Buses were busy, streets were busy – but that’s life, isn’t it.”

She says the experience has made her more confident about facing the world outside prison.

“It is years since I’ve done things like that,” she says.

“Everything is just different.”

She is looking forward to her release but admits to being frightened about what comes next.

“To say I’m not scared would be a lie, but I know God will make a way for me,” she says.

Amy McMullen is serving a 24-month sentence for assault and recently moved to Lilias after time in Stirling and Polmont jails.

The 26-year-old told me “I’ve been here for about four weeks now.

“Compared to the past two jails I have been in this is like a breath of fresh air.

“There is so much more to do and better ways to fill my time.”

Amy says that Lilias takes away “the greyness and the dullness” and helps tackle prisoners’ feeling that they don’t deserve anything good.

“We beat ourselves up enough and I think that’s another part of our problem, that we don’t think we deserve a good life.

“Things escalate and you do things that you probably shouldn’t do.

“I’ve seen how other girls have really strived and come into their selves and think: ‘Why could that not be me’?”

She says Lilias is helping her prepare for the future. She cooks her own food and is getting used to filling her time without having prison officers telling her what to do.

Amy has been learning DJ skills, is involved in a recovery school where she does something different every week, and has been able to see her family.

She says visits are Lilias are relaxed and comfortable compared to the “harsh environment” of prison.

“Here it’s laid-back. You can have a cup of tea,” she says.

“It’s easier to talk naturally with your family in an environment like this. “

One of the main aims of Lillias is for its residents not to return to prison after they leave the facility.

“I can safely say I am 100% sure that I will never be back in prison,” says Amy.

“It’s given me a kind of lust for life back. I am excited to live my life and I’m not going to come back – definitely not.”

Representatives of the UK’s Ministry of Justice will be visiting Scotland in the coming months to see whether English prisons can learn lessons from how women in custody are supported north of the border.

That will include looking at CCUs like Lillias to see if this model of rehabilitation can help tackle reoffending.