The prison service is facing a rare Crown Censure – the maximum sanction possible against a government body – for exposing prisoners and staff to dangerous levels of cancer-causing gas.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) slammed the HMPPS for failing to manage radon exposure at HMP Dartmoor, in Devon, leaving hundreds exposed to radiation levels above the legal limit.
The prison service finally decided to take action to evacuate people at the end of 2023 after repeated warnings and, by August 2024, had moved all inmates out of the Victorian-age prison. Hundreds of former inmates and staff have now joined a class action lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), with former prisoners and officers telling The Independent they were left in the dark about their exposure.
The HSE announced on Wednesday that it intended to issue the prison service with a Crown Censure over the scandal. That is the maximum sanction available to the regulator and the equivalent of authorising criminal charges.
The HSE investigation concluded that both prisoners and staff at Dartmoor had been exposed to radon significantly above the legal limit for a prolonged period of time
Following the decision to issue the Censure, a formal hearing will take place to confirm it. The last time the regulator issued such a severe warning was in 2022 after a Royal Marine recruit drowned while taking part in a training exercise at Tregantle Beach, Cornwall.
The HSE said it was first notified by the prison service of suspected overexposure to radon gas at Dartmoor in February 2023, despite measurements from 2020 showing the prison had unacceptably high levels of the toxic, naturally occurring gas.
The government is still paying around £4m a year for the unusable prison after officials signed a 25-year lease in 2022. This includes around £1.5m a year in rent to the Duchy of Cornwall, the estate that provides a private income for Prince William.
The fiasco has been condemned by the government’s public spending watchdog as a “catastrophic failure”, while civil servants desperate for prison space have been accused of acting in a “blind panic”.
Antonia Romeo, who is now the head of the civil service, was the most senior civil servant in the MoJ from 2021 to 2025.
The prison service was last issued with a Censure in 2020 after nine officers sustained injuries when they were petrol bombed during a training exercise.
Radon is a colourless, odourless natural gas, formed when small amounts of uranium in rocks and soils decay. It can build up in indoor areas and, while it can be controlled through ventilation, it is known to increase a person’s risk of lung cancer.
More than 1,100 lung cancer deaths are attributed to radon each year in the UK, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
The Independent revealed in March that the MoJ is investigating 42 prison and probation sites for high levels of the gas, including at least 16 prisons.
The law firm Kesar and Co have taken instructions from people who believe they have been affected by radon at six prisons so far: HMP Exeter, Channings Wood, Lindholme, Portland, The Verne and Dartmoor.
A private firm, Sentinel Group Security, has now taken over the prison security for the initial period of a year, although this could be extended.
While prisons minister James Timpson has told MPs that a decision on the future of Dartmoor is yet to be made, insiders said the site has been stripped, locks removed from cell doors and gas cut off to the empty wings.
