'An absolute disgrace, from top to bottom.' That was the verdict of Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, today on the revelation that HM Prison and Probation Service has locked itself into spending £4 million a year on the lease of Dartmoor Prison. The Grade II-listed institution, originally built for prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars, is remarkable in many ways. But what exercised Sir Geoffrey was the fact that it contains no prisoners - and is unlikely to do so in the future.
The problem, as in much of southwest England, is the radon gas emitted from HMP Dartmoor's locally mined granite walls. The prison was closed in 2024 after the government admitted that radon levels were 10 times the permitted limit; legal action is being taken on behalf of staff and prisoners who were exposed.
Like so many government fiascos, the scandal of the prison with no prisoners was foretold in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister. Older readers will recall that, in Episode 8, The Compassionate Society, the hapless Jim Hacker discovers that he is running a brand new 1,000-bed hospital with 342 administrative staff - but no doctors or nurses.
To the assurance 'it's one of the best run hospitals in the country', Hacker memorably replies: 'But there are no patients!’
‘No, but the essential work of the hospital still has to go on.’ For example, the fictional St Edward's Hospital was up for the Florence Nightingale Award for hygiene. Could Dartmoor be a contender for the prison with the fewest prisoners released in error?
Clifton-Brown had other ideas, describing Dartmoor as 'a perfect example of a department reaching for a solution, any solution, in a blind panic and under pressure'. Jim Hacker would know the feeling.
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