Poor decisions behind signing Dartmoor prison’s lease, MPs say

A £4 million-a-year lease on a prison that has been vacant for 18 months was an “unnecessary waste of taxpayers’ money”, according to a report by MPs.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the lease for HMP Dartmoor was signed by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) in March 2022, despite it being known two years ago that there were high levels of radon gas in the area.

prison in Princetown, Devon, Closed in July 2024 After the government found that levels of radioactive gas were 10 times above the safe limit.

The PAC said it did not accept HMPPS’ excuse that the lease had to be signed because of the prison capacity crisis.

The PAC report stated that the lease, which cannot be terminated until at least 2033, was signed without more comprehensive radon testing.

The report said reductions in annual rent or measures to mitigate financial risks from increased radon levels were not discussed and “poor business decisions” were made when the lease was signed.

The PAC said remediation costs would cost £68 million by the time the lease expired and neither the Ministry of Justice nor HMPPS had clear plans for the prison’s future.

He added that the MoJ and HMPPS were no longer confident that reopening the site would represent the best value for money.

PAC chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said the issue was “an absolute disgrace from top to bottom”.

“Dartmoor appears to the Committee to be a perfect example of a department reaching a solution, any solution, under blind panic and pressure,” he added.

“Frankly, this is not how the policy should be implemented.”

The PAC said once a plan for the prison had been agreed, MoJ and HMPPS officials should consider whether they were continuing to spend money on vacant space or consider negotiating an early exit from the lease.

He also asked HMPPS to set out what it had learned for the future from “failures in decision-making and contract management”.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “This government has inherited a crisis in our prison system, where prisons are on the verge of collapse and law and order is in danger of a complete collapse.

“This government is tackling the prison crisis by building 14,000 new prison places and through the Sentencing Bill that will deliver sentences that work.”

The Ministry of Justice previously said the closure was temporary and the area had been made safe, adding that it was working with expert radon gas experts to “investigate whether we can safely reopen the prison.”