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News
Prisoners brew almost 2,000 litres of wine
A report into the state of HMP Wandsworth has discovered that inmates are brewing almost 2,000 litres of wine or ‘hooch’ each year.
The report from the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB), which was published after terrorist Daniel Khalife managed to escape from the prison underneath a truck, found that prisoners were brewing 1,900 litres of illegal alcohol behind bars, which is often described as ‘hooch’
It said: “The brewing of alcohol (hooch) remained a major problem with significant finds throughout the reporting period.”
The IMB reported that the alcohol was confiscated but factored into a wider contraband issue, with 330 mobile phones and 210 drug stashes also removed from inmates.
The IMB chair at HMP Wandsworth, Tim Aikens, said in a statement conditions at the prison had failed its inmates.
He said: “Recent events at Wandsworth have demonstrated the shortcomings of the prison system that the IMB has been highlighting repeatedly for many years.”
“Prisoners are being failed, and most have a severely reduced chance of rehabilitation upon release.
“We are told there is significant investment in the prison system, but we see little evidence of this in Wandsworth.”
It also found a litany of other failures including “little evidence” that the prison had improved in the June 2022 to May 2023 period, despite investment being provided by the HM Prison Service.
It also said that the prison was poorly attended by prison staff, which meant as a result that in-mates were able to successfully brew the large amount of alcohol unnoticed.
The news follows an in-mate revealing in 2021 the three key ingredients that make the ‘wine’, and which are readily available as commissary items in the US.
The inventive inmate in prison in the United States uses three readily available items for his prison-made wine: Mountain Dew, orange juice, and gummy bears.
All three ingredients are readily available to him as commissary items.
The man in question, who uses the handle calidago23 on TikTok to share his creative inventions – that include his versions of takeaway favourites and even a chocolate milkshake, revealed the process in a video uploaded to the social media platform.