Over a twelve-month period, nearly 300 gallons illicit booze was confiscated by inmates at a single prison.
Staff at HMP Coldingley, Woking, Surrey discovered 2,390 pints cell-brewed alcohol between May 2020 and April 2019. This works out to just less than six pints per prisoner.
Inmates can make ‘hooch’, which can be as strong as 14 per cent proof, by brewing fruit, water, sugar and bread in a plastic bag.
From May 2020 to April 2019, HMP Coldingley staff in Woking discovered 2,390 pints (file photograph) of cell-brewed liquor. This is just six pints for each prisoner.
According to Ministry of Justice statistics, alcohol in British prisons has increased by 6 percent in the last year.
Cody Lachey, a former inmate and prison commentator, said: ‘Prisoners can make a huge amount of money by brewing hooch, sometimes as much as £50 a bottle. Where you’ve got contraband, you’ve got debt. And when you have debt you’ve got fear, intimidation and violence.’
Inspectors said the volume of hooch had ‘increased significantly and has at times created major problems’ in the category C prison. Officials confiscated 219 phones from mobiles and conducted 192 drug busts. In May, an airport full-body scanner with scanning capabilities was added.
Inspectors said the volume of hooch had ‘increased significantly and has at times created major problems’ in the category C prison (file photo)
The prison’s annual report by the Independent Monitoring Board noted: ‘The volume of drugs and mobile phones that continue to be found in the prison are of great concern to the board. Large quantities of alcoholic liquid (“hooch”) are also frequently found. Inevitably, the availability of these illicit items gives rise to increased levels of violence and bullying.’
Last night, a Prison Service spokesman said: ‘Assaults have fallen in the last year and a new body scanner is helping to stem the flow of illicit items which can fuel violence – part of our £100 million investment to bolster security across the estate.’
Coldingley prison officers were jailed last year after being accused of smuggling contraband. Joshua BossmanBrandt, who was carrying a number of mobile phones and tobacco along with an Xbox, was arrested before his shift. In his car in prison’s parking lot, he was found with Class A drugs. In January 2020, he was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court to six-years and nine months.