Boozed up! 4,575 pints are brewed behind bars

Most of it in our top-security jail,

IRISH inmates have brewed up an astonishing 4,575 illegal pints in the past three years, under the noses of the prison authorities.

That’s how much of the hooch – made from water, sugar, fruit and bread and left in plastic bottles to ferment – that was discovered by guards before partying prisoners could knock it back.

This year alone, 1,055 pints were discovered.

Documents released under Freedom of Information reveal that the 4,575 pints of illegal homebrew were confiscated from inmates in the State’s 14 detention centres since 2013.

The biggest offenders last year were at the State’s only maximum-security prison in Portlaoise, where a total of 357 pints of the illicit booze were confiscated from prisoners, while the more sober inmates were seen to be in the Dóchas Centre in Dublin, where female offenders are jailed. No hooch was found there.

Inmates serving long-term sentences in Portlaoise include three of the Dundon brothers, Wayne, 38, John, 33, and Dessie, 32, who were convicted of three separate murders.

However, one more serious cause for concern will be the 36 pints found at St Patrick’s Institution, which accommodates young offenders.

Some 232 pints were found last year at Cork Prison, and 202 at the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise, where twisted killer Graham Dwyer is detained.

Meanwhile, the latest data shows that

Some UK prisons ban fruit to clamp down on hooch

drugs, phones and weapons were all seized – along with the 1,055 illegal pints – in jail cells last year, according to the Irish Prison Service.

Some 600 mobile phones, 500 weapons and 800 batches of drugs were also found during searches. The highest number of phones were seized in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, while drugs and weapons seizures were most common at Wheatfield Prison.

In Britain, some jails have taken

drastic measures-such as banning healthy foods like fruit, especially apples and pears, for fear they might be-used in the-brewing process. This followed demands by the Ministry of Justice there for changes in the prison regime after it -admitted ‘urgent-reform’ was needed-- to tackle the crisis of alcohol in jail.

This followed disturbing figures that- showed as many as 1,090 finds of contraband alcohol were made there in 2014. That was equivalent to nearly three a day; and it compared to just 386 in 2010. An Irish Prison Service spokesman - said extensive effort shad been made to reduce the flow of contraband in recent years including setting up a-dedicated group of staff in May 2008 and a number of other measures. Hooch or ‘prison wine’ can be made from a variety of ingredients-including apples, oranges, potatoes and bread – which provides yeast to play a role in the fermentation process.A sock can be used to separate the pulp from the liquid and the - finished product can be extremely potent, depending on the amount of sugar used and the length of time it is left to ferment.-But it can be dangerous and has been known to cause outbreaks of botulism, which is a disease caused by a bacteria produced in the fermentation process. Its symptoms can include muscle weakness, paralysis and blindness.