Alcohol hand gel meant to combat swine flu has been banned from a prison after inmates started eating it and became embroiled in a drunken brawl.
Inmates have been drinking the liquid soap placed on their wing after realising it contained alcohol.
The detergent was meant to beat off the threat of swine flu in the Verne Prison on Portland, Dorset.
However, instead of rubbing it into their hands, inmates at the category C prison have been placing their mouths over the dispensers and consuming it.
Prison officers had expressed their concerns at suddenly having to deal with a number of drunken convicts before the brawl erupted.
It is thought one prisoner became aggressive after downing the gel and started a fist fight with another inmate.
Now the governor of the Verne has removed all of the dispensers from the prison.
A source at the Verne said: "The cleansers were put out on a wing to combat swine flu but as soon as they were put out, the prisoners started drinking the stuff straight out of them.
"There was a fight after one of the prisoners got violent after drinking the gel.
"The canisters have now all been removed from the wings but I couldn't quite believe it when they were put out in the first place."
Andy Fear, a member of the Verne's Prison Officer's Association committee, said: "These canisters were originally put out because of the swine flu threat.
"It was subsequently reported by some association members working here that the inmates had been incorrectly using them, for want of a better phrase.
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