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Sickening footage has emerged of prisoners being spun around INSIDE a tumble dryer while fellow inmates watch on and laugh hysterically.

The video, filmed in two separate clips on banned mobile phones , reveals what's claimed to be an increasingly popular pursuit in UK jails.

In the game, the prisoners order fellow cons into the machine before shutting the door and whirling them around inside at speed.

Critics claim it's part of the so-called "Spicehead Challenge" - in which inmates are offered the 'zombie drug' Spice in exchange for taking part in humiliating and dangerous rituals.

The video, uploaded to YouTube this week, is said to have been filmed in the laundry room at HMP Liverpool - there is no suggestion that the prisoner involved in the incident was 'doing it for drugs'.

It begins by showing an inmate standing nervously before the camera in a grey prison uniform.

(Image: Big Yaney/Youtube)

One con says: "Tell us your name and what you're gonna do."

The lanky inmate reveals his full name and replies: "I'm gonna get in the dryer for the spin dryer."

As he struggles to fit inside, another inmate grabs his foot and tries to force it in.

The prisoner cries out in pain and shouts: "Don't."

But an inmate tells him: "F*** your legs for the gym, lad. Just get in".

Another tells him to "keep your head on something" before slamming the door shut and activating the spin cycle.

The men burst into fits of laughter and shout "look at him go" as he flails around in the drum for nearly 20 seconds before being let out.

A second clip posted to Instagram last month titled "Spicehead in UK HMP goes in the washing machine for some spice" was apparently filmed at the same jail and has racked up more than 100,000 views.

(Image: Big Yaney/Youtube)

It shows a group of inmates surrounding a middle-aged prisoner in the dryer, who begs: "Don't lock the door."

The cons tell the man not to worry but as they trap him inside, one says: "Put it on the fast spin."

They laugh as he rotates in the machine for around 30 seconds, holding the door shut.

One says he has to stay in for "five minutes" while another scoffs: "He'll have shrank by the time he gets out."

Social media users were appalled by the scenes.

(Image: Big Yaney/Youtube)

Abusalahudeen16 wrote: "Could have easily died."

Barorae commented: "I don't know how this is funny??! Stop bullying people!"

Baracuda23 said: "All the same bullying c**** picking on vulnerable ones... Karma will catch up with yas."

Youngus30 added: "They do a lot worse n all. Seen people take hard punches to the face for one bucket of the s***."

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

The Ministry of Justice revealed in April that attacks on prison staff had nearly doubled in a year at HMP Liverpool, which houses more than 1,300 category B and C offenders.

In England and Wales, more than 26,000 assaults on staff and prisoners were recorded in 2016 - a yearly rise of nearly 6,000 and a new record high.

Mark Fairhurst, acting chairman of the Prison Officers Association - who is based at HMP Liverpool - said last week that forcing inmates to wear Guantanamo-style jumpsuits and shackles could reduce the explosion in violence.

He also suggested confining them to their cells for 23 hours a day and putting them behind glass screens for family visits if they broke the rules.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Around 3,000 mobile phones were seized in just 12 weeks at prisons across the UK last year.

They are smuggled in by visitors, corrupt guards and even dropped over prison walls by drones.

Inmates caught with phones can face extra time behind bars.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "This behaviour is completely unacceptable and we have already taken action against the prisoners involved.

"We have a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prisons and are taking unprecedented action to tackle them.

"Those who break the rules will be punished and can face extra time behind bars.

"We are committed to making prisons places of safety and reform and are stepping up measures to find and block illegal mobile phones."