A prisoner was today found dead in his cell a day after police and guards quelled an eight-hour riot at a jail.
The prisoner is thought to have died from a massive drugs overdose after inmates went on the rampage at Lincoln Prison and broke into a pharmacy.
More than 20 other prisoners were taken to hospital suffering from suspected drug overdoses after trouble broke out at the jail on Wednesday night.
The riot started just before 8pm on Wednesday when a small group of prisoners attacked a prison guard, beating him over the head with his own truncheon and locking him in a cell.
They stole his keys and unlocked more than 150 cells before setting fire to three parts of the jail and smashing windows.
A spokesman for the Prison Officers Association today estimated that more than £2 million worth of damage was caused to the Victorian jail, where Lord Archer was recently behind bars.
Three prison officers were injured in the riot, one sustaining a puncture wound, while 24 prisoners were taken to hospital, mainly suffering the effects of drugs.
The man was found dead in his bed at around 10am today after he was believed to have consumed a large amount of drugs.
A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police said: "We can confirm that a body was found there this morning.
"It was a man in his cell. He died overnight and was found this morning in his cell."
A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out later this afternoon by a Home Office pathologist.
Around 300 police officers from three forces helped 250 prison staff restore order at the jail at around 4am yesterday.
Lincolnshire Police were today assessing the damage and conducting numerous inquires at the prison to identify the main offenders behind the trouble.
A spokesman for the Prison Officers Association yesterday blamed overcrowding for the riot, which he said left the prison looking like a "war zone".
Duncan Keys said: "It is a scene of total devastation. It is the closest many of us will ever come to a war zone.
"Historically we would look to previous incidents such as Strangeways where chronic overcrowding contributed to a major riot there.
"We believe that we cannot put one single issue forward as the cause until it has been investigated.
"But there is a contributory factor, which is overcrowding due to efficiency savings."
Director General of the Prison Service, Martin Narey, disputed that staff shortages and the overcrowding of Lincoln Prison was to blame for the trouble.
He said: "I do not believe overcrowding is the cause and it is certainly not a justification for this.
"The Prison Service security record right now is better than it's ever been.
"Our escape record is 40 times better than in the mid-90s and there has only been three escapes this year from prisons.
"But we are trying to do more than that. We are trying to treat prisoners decently and educate them and make them more employable.
"There will be a full investigation to find out why this has happened."
Yesterday, more than 200 inmates were moved out of Lincoln Prison while police carry out their inquiries and damage to more than 200 cells is repaired.
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