A choice by the MoJ to agree to a decade-long rental agreement for a prison where high levels of a radioactive gas had been identified is projected to cost more than £100 million, a government spending watchdog has determined.
A Deal Signed ''Rashly'
The 2022 deal to rent HMP Dartmoor was finalised "in a state of alarm" by senior officials who were looking to ensure prison beds, the panel said.
This medium-security prison, which housed many individuals convicted of sexual offences, was closed in 2024 after the radioactive gas levels as high as 10 times the safe limit were measured in certain locations. The government has since acknowledged it was aware that "elevated readings" of the gas were detected in 2020.
Radon, a colourless and odourless naturally occurring gas, is linked to about 1,100 lung cancer-related deaths in the UK annually, according to public health agencies.
Oversight to Negotiate a 'Good Deal'
A findings released by the committee concluded that representatives from the prison service did not manage to negotiate "a good deal" and executed the lease in 2022 prior to carrying out additional radon tests.
"Under the terms of the deal, the ministry cannot terminate the lease until at least December 2033. Overall, the prison service is currently paying around £4 million per year for an unusable prison. This encompasses rent, business rates and security costs," the report detailed.
"Furthermore, the taxpayer must pay additional costs – around £68 million – on structural works to the Dartmoor site over the duration of the lease," the report added.
An Absolute Disgrace 'From Top to Bottom'
The committee's Conservative chair described the Ministry of Justice's handling of HMP Dartmoor as "an absolute disgrace, from top to bottom".
He commented: "We heard arguments that the rental of this unusable building, known for years by the prison service to be choked with radon gas with all the health risks that entailed, was prudent, driven by the need for prison places."
"The panel rejects this justification entirely. Dartmoor seems to the committee [to be] a prime example of a government agency seeking a solution, any solution, under intense pressure," he said.
"The authorities must now answer to us on what it has learned from this catastrophic failure."
Closure and Relocation of Inmates
The decision to close the jail, leading to the relocation of 682 inmates, followed years of monitoring and measures to mitigate the radon levels. Staff at the prison began monitoring levels in 2010, but the remaining inmates and staff were not moved out until July 2024.
Inquiries have since been asked about whether the prison service could have responded more quickly.
In a written answer in July last year, the MoJ confirmed: "Elevated radon readings were first identified at Dartmoor in 2020." Other reports indicate that radon gas levels exceeding the safe limit were also found as far back as 2007.
Legal Claims and Ongoing Investigation
More than 500 ex- prisoners and prison officers are pursuing lawsuits against the state, claiming their safety was put at risk.
An inquiry into radon levels at the prison launched by the Health and Safety Executive in 2023 is still in progress.
The leader of the Prison Officers Association welcomed the committee's findings. "It is shocking that such a catastrophe has not yielded sanctions for the senior officials that not only put everyone within Dartmoor prison at danger but also wasted millions of pounds of public money," he said.
Defence of the Decision
Testifying to MPs in October, the MoJ's top civil servant supported the choice to sign the 10-year Dartmoor lease in 2022.
"Then, the prison system was at threat of running out of prison spaces, and Dartmoor offered over 600 places," she said. "A sensible and pragmatic decision was taken in March, when all the information that we have now was not available, that it was required, given the problems the government were facing, to sign the lease and keep Dartmoor open."
A Ministry of Justice representative stated: "This decision was made in 2022. This government inherited a crisis in our prisons system, where prisons were on the brink of collapse, risking a total collapse in public order."
