A PRISON is spending Ł20,000 of taxpayers' cash building an "outdoor gym" for lags, The Sun can reveal.

Cons will enjoy open-air workouts with weights and cardio machines after jail bosses gave the scheme the green light.

But staff at the Category C HMP Verne in Portland, Dorset, are fuming.

A prison source said: "It's amazing that this can happen when the economy is as bad as it is. It's the type of thing you'd expect a holiday camp to install, not a prison."

The outdoor fitness centre is expected to include exercise bikes and weight machines.

The source added: "The equipment is hi-tech - they're certainly not skimping on cost. It's like an adventure playground for adults."

Prison Service officials confirmed the gym was being built - but insisted it would end up SAVING public money.

A spokesman said: "Exercise provides constructive activity for prisoners, gets them fit and healthy and helps maintain order and control. It will save Ł130,000 over five years."

Earlier this month The Sun revealed how convicted drug dealer Mohamed Jalloh, 28, grew cannabis in his cell at Verne - telling officials he was tending tomato plants.

thesun.co.uk