Westgate prisoners are watching steamy hard-core porn movies -- brought in by prison officers.

The shock claim came from an ex-inmate at the $40 million showcase prison, who said behind bars blue movies are used to keep prisoners quiet in the evenings.

And last night a spokeswoman for the Women's Resource Centre said the claims, if true, were an insult to women.

The former prisoner -- who asked not to be named -- said: "It means the officers don't have much to worry about.

"You've got 25 or 30 prisoners out of 40 in the TV room so the duty is easy.

"Those who didn't want to watch usually went to their rooms or played cards.

Either way, the officers didn't have to do much work.'' The ex-prisoner contacted The Royal Gazette , shocked at the hard-core content of the movies.

And he added: "Not all of them were dirty movies - some were very violent, people getting beaten up -- they loved those, too.'' The ex-prisoner said: "If they put on something with no lurid sex or violence they wouldn't get anybody to watch the movies.'' The importation and publication of hard-core porn is illegal under the terms of the Obscene Publications Act 1973.

The Women's Resource Centre spokeswoman said: "It's disturbing to me as a person and it's not good for women in general.

"And it certainly wouldn't be good for people who were sex offenders.

"It shows a lack of respect for women at the very least -- it's certainly something which should be looked into by prison authorities.'' Prison Commissioner Edward Dyer said he was not aware of the claims -- but said he would be investigating.

Mr. Dyer said: "This is not permitted and I wish the individual would speak to me. I will look into this now, but he may have a bit more information which could speed things up.'' He was backed by Health and Social Services Minister Harry Soares, who guaranteed anonimity for anyone approaching him with information on porn in prisons.

Mr. Soares said: "Anything which is not working in the prisons is of concern and porn is not acceptable.

"Porn is not acceptable full stop and it's particularly not acceptable in prisons.

"If I get proof, I will take action appropriate to what I find. I will not tolerate this sort of thing.

"As far as I am aware, it's not taking place -- but that doesn't mean it isn't taking place.'' The Progressive Labour Party's health and social services spokeswoman Renee Webb is understood to be off the Island.

It is not the first time the Prison Service has been in hot water over allegations of steamy sex shows.

Two prison officers were fined a total of $900 in 1992 after being convicted of putting on a show by an all-girl strip show called the Luscious Lollipops at the Prison Officers' Club in Dockyard.

A magistrate got hot under the collar and fined the two men $500 and $400 for the offence.

But the two -- who had been suspended for nine months -- won an appeal against the sentence.

They were both given an absolute discharge and the fines were returned to them.