Prison service is rapped over knuckles for ‘wasteful’ £40m choice to renew 10-year lease

THERE is renewed uncertainty about the future of Dartmoor Prison after a new report revealed the amount of money being spent on the jail.

- by STAFF REPORTERS

Built in 1805 and reconstructed in the 1850s, it has been shut since 2024 due to safety concerns about high levels of radioactive radon gas.

A new report, published by Government spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee last week, confirmed that His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) knew about the high levels of the potentially carcinogenic gas years before it signed a new 10-year lease with the Duchy of Cornwall, costing £4 million annually and with a no-break clause.

The damning report said the Prison Service “failed to negotiate a good deal” when renewing the lease in March 2022, even though it had been made aware of the radon problem as far back as 2020.

Now it could be spending more than £40m until 2033 on rent, rates and security for a prison that cannot be used.