Two inmates have died and multiple medical emergencies have been reported amid fears a bad batch of drugs has entered a men’s prison in Nottinghamshire, The Independent can reveal.

Prisoners at category C HMP Ranby, near Retford, are said to have been locked down as prison officers respond to the major incident .

Multiple sources described two days of chaos at the prison with two fatalities and reports of further medical incidents.

One insider claimed there had been up to 14 “code blues”, in which officers sound an alarm signalling a medical crisis such as a prisoner found unconscious, not breathing or experiencing a drug overdose.

Four ambulances were seen at the site on Tuesday, while an air ambulance and three more ambulance units were deployed to the prison on Wednesday morning, sources said.

“The prison is on complete lockdown,” the source said.…