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A decision by the MoJ to sign a 10-year lease for a prison where high levels of a radioactive gas had been found is estimated to cost the UK taxpayer in excess of £100 million, a parliamentary spending oversight committee has found.

An Agreement Signed 'In a Blind Panic'

The lease signed in 2022 to lease HMP Dartmoor was finalised "in a blind panic" by senior civil servants who were looking to guarantee prison places, the panel reported.

This category C prison, which accommodated many individuals convicted of sexual offences, was shut down in 2024 after the radioactive gas levels reaching 10 times the safe limit were measured in some areas. The authorities has since admitted it was informed that "raised readings" of the gas were detected in 2020.

Radon, a colourless and scentless radioactive gas, is responsible for about 1,100 lung cancer deaths in the UK annually, according to public health agencies.

Oversight to Negotiate a 'Favorable Agreement'

A report issued by the committee concluded that civil servants from the prison service were unable to negotiate "a good deal" and signed the lease in 2022 before carrying out subsequent radon tests.

"Under the lease agreement, the ministry cannot terminate the lease until at least December 2033. Overall, the prison service is currently spending around £4 million per year for an empty prison. This encompasses lease payments, business rates and security costs," the report detailed.

"On top of this, the government must pay extra costs – around £68 million – on structural works to the Dartmoor site over the period of the lease," the report stated.

An Absolute Disgrace 'From Top to Bottom'

The committee's Tory chair described the MoJ's handling of HMP Dartmoor as "a scandal, from top to bottom".

He stated: "We heard claims that the rental of this uninhabitable building, identified for years by the prison service to be contaminated by radon gas with all the health risks that carried, was reasonable, driven by the requirement for prison places."

"The panel outright rejects this rationale completely. Dartmoor seems to the committee [to be] a prime example of a department grasping at a solution, any solution, in a blind panic," he added.

"The authorities must now respond to us on what it has taken away from this catastrophic failure."

Closure and Transfer of Prisoners

The move to close the jail, forcing the relocation of 682 inmates, followed years of monitoring and efforts to lower the radon levels. Employees at the prison began measuring levels in 2010, but the last prisoners and staff were not evacuated 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 said: "High radon readings were first found at Dartmoor in 2020." Other records suggest that radon gas levels exceeding the safe limit were also found as far back as 2007.

Lawsuits and Ongoing Probe

More than 500 ex- prisoners and prison officers are bringing lawsuits against the state, arguing their wellbeing was put at risk.

An inquiry into radon levels at the prison initiated by the workplace safety regulator in 2023 remains in progress.

The leader of the Prison Officers Association supported the report. "It is abhorrent that such a debacle has not led to sanctions for the senior officials that not only placed everyone within Dartmoor prison at danger but also wasted millions of pounds of tax revenue," he commented.

Justification of the Decision

Testifying to MPs in October, the MoJ's top civil servant justified the decision to enter into the 10-year Dartmoor lease in 2022.

"At that time, the prison system was at threat of facing a shortage of prison places, and Dartmoor offered over 600 places," she explained. "A reasonable and practical decision was taken in March, when the complete data that we have now was not to hand, that it was necessary, given the problems the government were facing, to sign the lease and keep Dartmoor open."

A MoJ spokesperson said: "This action was taken in 2022. This government took over a crisis in our prisons system, where prisons were on the verge of failure, risking a total collapse in law and order."