STAFF sickness levels at a Lancashire prison are so high that drugs have became rife and inmates are locked in their cells for 21 hours a day, the official watchdog has found.

On a visit to HMP Wymott, near Leyland, HM Inspectorate of Prisons found that staff sickness was leaving too few officers available for operational duties, including searches for illicit drugs.

Inspectors said there had been more than 10,000 intelligence reports submitted relating to drugs at the prison, but a lack of operational officers meant staff completed less than a third of searches.