Drake Hall inmates turn health-kick fruit into hooch

Inmates at a Staffordshire prison have been brewing illegal hooch from fruit and vegetables distributed to improve their diets.

Three stashes of the drink were found at Drake Hall, with quantities usually large and of high alcohol content, the Independent Monitoring Board said.

It is produced by fermenting fruit and vegetables with natural yeast.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said hooch finds had significantly decreased since its £100m security crackdown.

They added that on each of the thee occasions the hooch was found, none of the inmates had consumed the alcohol.

The discoveries were made between November 2021 and October 2022 and revealed in the Independent Monitoring Board's (IMB) annual report into Drake Hall, which houses up to 340 women.

The report said quantities tended to be large at Drake Hall.

"This is because the women are given fruit as part of their healthy diet, and it is difficult to monitor the leftovers and the fruit and vegetable waste," it said.

Inmates eat in individual houses as opposed to the dining hall and use the graze boxes to customise their meals, the report said.

The drive to improve diets had been prompted by the pandemic the MoJ said.

The IMB report also identified that the onset of Covid-19 had also had another unintended consequence, with some of the inmates drinking the alcohol-based hand sanitizer, although this has since been removed.

While there was also some criticism of the provision of education and employment for women, and staffing levels, the report went on to describe Drake Hall as a "safe and secure environment for women" who were treated decently and with humanity.

It also commended staff for their "commitment and flexibility" since March 2020.

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