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A decision by the MoJ to agree to a 10-year rental agreement for a prison where dangerous levels of a radioactive gas had been found is estimated to cost over £100 million, a parliamentary spending watchdog has determined.

A Deal Signed ''Rashly'

The lease signed in 2022 to lease HMP Dartmoor was finalised "under severe pressure" by high-ranking officials who were looking to ensure prison capacity, the panel said.

This category C prison, which housed many sex offenders, was evacuated in 2024 after the radioactive gas levels up to 10 times the acceptable limit were recorded in certain locations. The government has since admitted it was informed that "raised readings" of the gas were found in 2020.

Radon, a invisible and odourless radioactive gas, is causes about 1,100 lung cancer deaths in the UK every year, according to public health agencies.

Oversight to Negotiate a 'Favorable Agreement'

A analysis released by the committee said that officials from the prison service did not manage to negotiate "a good deal" and executed the lease in 2022 prior to conducting subsequent radon surveys.

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

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

A Complete Failure 'From Top to Bottom'

The committee's Tory chair said the MoJ's management of HMP Dartmoor as "an absolute disgrace, from top to bottom".

He remarked: "We heard claims that the leasing of this unusable building, known 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."

"Our committee dismisses this rationale entirely. Dartmoor seems to the committee [to be] a prime example of a department reaching for a fix, any solution, in a blind panic," he continued.

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

Evacuation and Transfer of Prisoners

The move to shutter the jail, necessitating the movement of 682 inmates, followed years of testing and attempts to mitigate the radon levels. Employees at the prison began measuring levels in 2010, but the last prisoners and staff were not relocated until July 2024.

Inquiries have since been asked about whether the prison service could have acted sooner.

In a written answer in July last year, the MoJ said: "High radon readings were first identified at Dartmoor in 2020." Other records show that radon gas levels higher than the recommended limit were also detected as far back as 2007.

Lawsuits and Continuing Investigation

Over 500 former inmates and prison officers are bringing legal claims against the government, claiming their wellbeing was endangered.

An inquiry into radon levels at the prison initiated by the Health and Safety Executive in 2023 is still ongoing.

The national chair of the Prison Officers Association applauded the report. "It is shocking that such a debacle has not yielded consequences for the high-ranking decision makers that not only put everyone within Dartmoor prison at risk but also squandered millions of pounds of taxpayer funds," he commented.

Justification of the Lease Agreement

Speaking to MPs in October, the MoJ's senior official supported the choice to sign the 10-year Dartmoor lease in 2022.

"Then, the prison system was at threat of running out of prison places, and Dartmoor supplied over 600 places," she said. "A sensible and pragmatic judgement 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 MoJ representative commented: "This decision was taken in 2022. This government inherited a crisis in our prisons system, where prisons were on the verge of collapse, risking a total collapse in public order."