Homemade jail hooch sounds really gross

Here's a new one on me: Inmates in the Brazoria County Jail, reports The Facts, use rudimentary materials to make their own homemade alcohol. In an article (10/28) about jail contraband, The Facts reports that:

Cell phones aren’t a problem at the Brazoria County jail, but rudimentary alcohol is, jail Capt. Rex McCall said.

“We haven’t had a cell phone in here for about five years. The trustys assigned outside are searched every time they come back into the facility,” McCall said.

To make alcohol, inmates use bread, any kind of fruit, water and a plastic soda bottle, placing the fruit and bread — for a yeast culture — in the bottle with water. They sometimes strain the chunky mixture through a second slice of bread in about 2 weeks, making what McCall said is a “pretty nasty brew.”

Inmates also dry banana peels and roll them to smoke. There is no mood-altering effect, “just something to smoke,” McCall said. Texas jail facilities are tobacco-free.

Contraband is less of a problem in county jail than in Texas Department of Criminal Justice buildings because local inmates have more to lose. Prisoners serve between two days and two years in county if they can’t make bond before facing a judge.

Smoking banana peels, making alcohol from fruit, water and bread - I don't know whether to admire the ingenuity or to be really grossed out by behavior that sounds like some damnable cross between the TV shows MacGyver and Prison Break.