A disastrous decision by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to lease a prison contaminated with high levels of a toxic radioactive gas is projected to cost the British public in excess of £100 million, a scathing report from Parliament's spending watchdog has revealed.
A Deal Struck in 'Blind Panic'
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) concluded that senior civil servants signed a 10-year lease for HMP Dartmoor in 2022 "in a blind panic", desperately seeking to secure prison places. The committee lambasted the deal as "catastrophic" and an "absolute disgrace, from top to bottom".
The Category C facility in Princetown, Devon, which housed numerous sex offenders, was finally shuttered in 2024. This came after monitoring found concentrations of radon gas—a colourless, odourless radioactive substance linked to lung cancer—up to ten times higher than safe limits in parts of the prison. Officials from HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) committed to the long-term lease with the Duchy of Cornwall before conducting necessary follow-up radon tests.
Staggering Costs for an Unusable Jail
Taxpayers are now left footing a colossal bill for a building that cannot be used. The MoJ is locked into the lease until at least December 2033, with no early termination option. According to the PAC report, the department is paying approximately £4 million annually in rent, business rates, and security for the empty prison.
On top of this, the government must pay an estimated £68 million for "fabric improvements" to the Dartmoor site over the lease period. This brings the total expected cost to well over £100 million. The Duchy of Cornwall, the estate which provides a private income for the Prince of Wales, continues to receive the rent.
Health Risks Known for Years
The report highlights a shocking failure to act on known dangers. While the MoJ stated that "elevated radon readings were first found at Dartmoor in 2020", evidence suggests the problem was detected even earlier; the BBC reported that high levels were identified as far back as 2007. Prison staff began monitoring in 2010.
Despite this, the last of 640 inmates and 159 staff were not moved out until July 2024. The closure forced the relocation of 682 prisoners. More than 500 former inmates and officers are now pursuing legal claims against the government, alleging their health was endangered. The Health and Safety Executive launched an investigation in 2023, which remains ongoing.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative chair of the PAC, rejected the MoJ's defence that the lease was a "sensible and pragmatic" response to a prison places crisis. He stated: "Dartmoor appears to the committee [to be] a perfect example of a department reaching for a solution, any solution, in a blind panic and under pressure."
Mark Fairhurst, National Chair of the Prison Officers' Association, welcomed the damning findings, calling it "abhorrent that such a failure has not yielded consequences for the high-ranking decision makers". The committee has demanded the government explain what lessons have been learned from this expensive and dangerous debacle.
