Nottinghamshire prisoners have been found to be making hooch behind bars, a report found.
A report on HMP Lowdham Grange by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) said hooch was discovered “in cells and other hiding places” during planned and ad hoc searches.
The board, which monitors fairness and respect for prisoners in custody, found there has been an increase of more than 30% in hooch finds over the year at the men’s prison.
Hooch, otherwise known as ‘prison wine’, can be made from fermented fruits and sugar.
The report, published for 2019-20, said: “The Board has found that there was an average of 33 hooch finds per month, with a spike in December (55 finds).
“The volume of hooch discovered over the 12-month period was almost 1,900 litres.”
The report added that there is a “cause for concern” over the use of drugs, particularly illegal psychoactive substances (PS) and ‘spice’.
The report also found that there were three deaths in custody during the year. Almost 900 inmates in total are based at the prison.
Mark Hanson, Serco Prison Director at HMP Lowdham Grange, said: “Fortunately, there are very few incidents involving prisoners who are under the influence of alcohol. However, we take the illegal making of hooch, which is manufactured using widely available foodstuffs in all prisons, very seriously.
“We have a proactive approach to combatting it and have had great success in doing so, by using intelligence, regular searches and specially trained detection dogs.”
