The Prison Service has apologised to Muslim inmates after a kitchen worker put ham in food made for them. Prisoners at HMP Blakenhurst, near Redditch in Worcestershire who were affected received a written apology. 

A prisoner, working in the kitchen, was seen throwing tinned ham into curries which were intended for Muslim inmates. Islam demands that followers eat only meat which has been ritually slaughtered - halal - while pork in any form is forbidden. In a statement the Prison Service said: "The person responsible has now been disciplined.

"All of the prisoners who ate any of the food were sent a letter of apology and imams were on hand to deal with any other issues." One relative of a Muslim inmate, having visited the Category B prison, which holds 1,070 inmates, said: "He was very depressed and had lost a lot of weight because he has not been eating much since he found out what had happened with the curries.

He feels he can't trust anyone again after finding out such a disgusting problem with the food." The visitor's brother said "This has really messed up the heads of anyone who ate the Pork. Religion is central to any Muslims life and this shows total disrespect to our religion."