Image caption The move could save the Iowa state prison system up to $100,000 (£64,292) a year

Prisoners in the US state of Iowa could soon be making their own toilet paper, in what officials describe as a bid to save taxpayers money.

Under a plan, state prisons would buy one-tonne rolls of paper from a mill, then process it into single rolls.

Prison official Al Reiter told the Des Moines Register the toilet paper was "not nice and fluffy", but acceptable.

Iowa prisoners already make and sell everything from furniture and clothing to carved wooden toys.

'High-consumption item'

The plan could save up to $100,000 (£64,292) a year, officials told the Des Moines Register.

The director of Iowa Prison Industries, the prisoner work arm of the Iowa correction system, said the state legislature would need to approve the idea when it convenes next month.

"Our challenge is to seek out new things that we can do, and, well, toilet tissue is a high-consumption item," Roger Baysden said.

Mr Reiter, an associate warden at Anamosa Prison, said: "If you looked at this stuff and compared it to the toilet paper that you buy in the store, you would say, 'Boy, this doesn't look very good.'

"It's not nice and fluffy, but the state is saying that this is an acceptable roll of toilet paper."