Hand gel removed after prisoners make hooch

Hand gel was banned from a prison after inmates got high and started a fight, it was revealed today.

Inmates at HMP The Verne on the Isle of Portland in Dorset were drinking the gel for its alcohol content after it was put on a wing to stop the spread of swine flu.

Peter McParlin, area representative for the Prison Officers Association (POA), said they were making "hooch" from it.

He criticised senior management at the prison for giving inmates access to the alcoholic gel.

"They would have been advised to listen to the local POA committee in the first place who raised concerns as to whether it was wise to put this gel with an alcoholic content within access to the inmates," he said.

"It was most unwise. The local committee at The Verne raised this specific point with senior management at The Verne, including the Governor.

"We raised concerns whether prisoners would be able to adulterate it and add fruit and water and sugar to make it into what is known in prison parlance as "hooch".

"The local committee were assured senior management had looked into this and that could not happen but clearly their advice was wrong.

"Hooch, in the experience of staff, is just as bad if not worse than drugs.

"Prisoners with drinks which have extreme alcoholic content become extremely violent with consequences on health and security."

Prisoners desperate for a fix also make "hooch" by adding fruit and water to cleaning fluids.

Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester removed the gels from the entrance after vagrants were caught drinking from dispensers.

The claims follow reports of bare-knuckle boxing for money at The Verne.