Coming Clean On Jail Hooch

Sanitised Hands? We’ll Drink To That

Prison chiefs are wondering whether to switch back to old fashioned soap after inmates have worked out that hand sanitiser makes pretty good jail hooch. According to Metro.co.uk, one inmate of Maryland prison, in America, was described as ``loony, red-eyed and combative’’ after allegedly downing a gallon (that's about four litres, for those of us who think metric) of the stuff. Fellow inmates clocked that the ``normally calm’’ individual was drunk when he began ``lecturing everybody about life’’.
Suzanne Doyon, medical director of the Maryland Poison Center pointed out that the non-alcohol ingredients in hand sanitiser do not pose a risk to health. She said: ``From an infection control perspective, they are excellent. But there is this risk involved. 'Someone who drinks it will behave like your pretty typical garden-variety drunk.’’
The inmate's blood alcohol level was found to be more than four times Maryland's intoxication standard. Since the first incident the Maryland Poison Center has received reports of six other adults in the state who consumed hand sanitiser, which is 70 per cent alcohol, because ``they were looking for a buzz’’.