Chief Constable Richard Childs said the £150,000 bill should not come out of his budget.

. Part of the bill includes the cost of paying police officers from neighbouring areas who were drafted in to help with the riots.

At a meeting of the county's Police Authority, Mr Childs said the Prison Service is responsible for keeping order within the jail and either it, or the Home Office, should pay up.

Drug overdose

He said the bill does not include the ongoing costs of investigating criminal acts inside the prison during the riot, which left one inmate dead and dozens of others in hospital.

Mr Childs has written to the director general of the Prison Service, Martin Narey, about his concerns.

Lincolnshire Police Authority has agreed to put pressure on MPs and ministers if the request for a refund is declined.

After the riot on 23 October a spokesman for the Prison Officers' Association said the damage to the Victorian jail was likely to reach £2m.

Three prison officers were injured in the riot and 24 prisoners were taken to hospital, mainly suffering the effects of drugs.

One prisoner, Lee Blake, 37, of Scunthorpe, later died from a drugs overdose.