A prison has halved its number of prisoners testing positive for drugs.

The figures for Lewes prison were published in an official report today.

Last year, The Argus revealed the prison had the worst drugs record in the country, with a 31.6 per cent positive testing rate.

During the past 12 months, however, the number of prisoners caught with drugs in their bodies has been cut to 14.2 per cent.

The highest positive testing rate was 28.3 per cent at Leeds prison.

The jail had been confident of reducing the number of prisoners taking drugs following the conviction of its former prison officer Andrew Hubbard.

Hubbard was jailed last year for seven years for operating a "mini drugs supermarket" behind bars.

He smuggled heroin, cannabis and body-building drugs worth more than £1,500 into the prison, Hove Crown Court heard.

The drugs and syringes were found during a spot check on prison staff arriving for work.

Hubbard had hidden them in a kitbag belonging to a fellow prison officer.

The court heard there was enough cannabis to make 390 joints.

Hubbard, who lived in Worthing at the time and moved to Devon, had denied ten counts of possessing controlled drugs with intent to supply.

He claimed he had no idea how they had got into the bag and said they must have been put there by someone else.

The prison said the cut in drugs was largely due to Hubbard's conviction.

Now 20 of the 40 male local prisons in England and Wales have a worse record than Lewes.

The Prison Service report also revealed how 5.5 per cent of the prisoners who were sent to the jail between April 2002 and March this year suffered an assault by another inmate. The total number of attacks was 28.

This was down from an assault rate of 7.8 per cent last year. The worst record was at Rochester Prison, where 20.4 per cent reported an assault.

Other statistics published today include the average population during the year. This stood at 510, which is above the certified normal capacity of 485.

Nationally, many prisons are full, with the average population about 4,000 places higher than the certified normal accommodation.

The budget at Lewes last year was £10,262,873, up from £9,987,746 last year.