A Kent prison has been named the booziest in the country.

In an article by The Mirror, it was disclosed more inmates at HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey had hooch confiscated from their cells than anywhere else in 2021/22.

The Category B prison was found to have 80 alcohol distilling kits and 391 booze stashes.

Hooch is an alcoholic beverage made from fruit, water, sugar and bread.

It is usually mixed up in a plastic bag or bottle and can range from 2% up to 14% in strength – similar to strong wine.

The drink can be sold to other prisoners and has led to riots and altercations within jail cells.

A senior officer at the jail was stabbed after investigating inmates intoxicated on hooch.

Last Thursday, Canterbury Crown Court heard how 29-year-old Ahmed Jama knifed officer Ricky Stupple.

Mr Stupple was alerted to a wing inside the prison following reports multiple prisoners were drunk on hooch inside a cell.

When Mr Stupple arrived Jama repeatedly asked “What are you going to do?”

After becoming agitated and pacing on the wing he shouted: “What is going to happen now?”

Following a brief struggle Jama “produced an improvised knife and stabbed officer Stupple in the abdomen,” prosecutor Tom Dunn told the court.

Judge Simon James handed Jama a further 44 months custody after he admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm to Mr Stupple, alongside the unauthorised possession of a knife.

The article adds that wardens across the country have confiscated 522 illegal home brew set-ups in 2021/22.

A Prison Service spokesman commented: “We are finding more contraband and have stopped over 20,000 smuggling attempts thanks to our recent £100 million security investment into specialist sniffer dogs, airport style security and increased cell searching.

"This government also introduced the first nationwide roll-out of X-ray body scanners to prevent illicit substances entering prisons.

“Thanks to our new laws, these dangerous offenders are being kept in jail for longer.”