Prison to temporarily close after radioactive gas found in cells

A prison is being temporarily shut and its inmates moved out after a radioactive gas was discovered in the cells.

Over the next two weeks around 175 inmates will be evacuated from HMP Dartmoor, a category C men’s prison in Devon, after high levels of radon were detected.

The Ministry of Justice believes there is enough capacity to cope with the temporary closure of the jail but the relocation will place further tension on an already beleaguered prison system.

“Our prisons are in crisis,” a department spokesperson said.

“This is the most recent illustration of why this government was forced, in its first week, to take urgent action to release pressure on the estate.

“It is also why we are committed to building new prison places to lock up the most dangerous offenders and protect the public.”

It comes on the same day the government laid regulations in parliament to reduce the amount of time prisoners must spend in jail before they are automatically released – reducing the release point from half of their sentence to 40%.

The change would not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences.

By Mollie Malone, news correspondent

When you have an overcrowding crisis in prisons, the last thing you want to do is to have to close one of them down. Even if “temporary” – space really is everything right now.

So this will be yet another prisons headache for the service itself and for the government too.

At the end of last week, the new justice secretary laid out fresh emergency measures to free up space, coming into force in September.

But even since then, we’ve seen a prison watchdog report warning a youth offenders institution is the most violent prison in England following a “dramatic” increase in disorder.

And today the news that hundreds of inmates will need to relocate from HMP Dartmoor to other prisons. It feels like there’s a new headline every day.

Bear in mind that a large majority of prisons across England and Wales are struggling with overcrowding. So where will they go? Will Dartmoor reopen, or will that cost too much?

Everything right now feels short term and immediate.

The government knows it needs long-term solutions at some point. But right now it has very few options or margins for manoeuvring.

HMP Dartmoor was built in the early 19th century to hold French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars.

It was set to close in 2023 but the decision was reversed in 2019 amid rising prisoner numbers.

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Conditions at jail have ‘deteriorated’

At the end of last year more than 400 inmates were removed due to high levels of radon – a colourless, odourless radioactive gas.

Prisoners had been returning at the start of July before the latest incident meant the prison had to close completely.

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HMP Dartmoor was closed “because of high readings of radon not just in cell accommodation but on the wings themselves,” said Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA).

He said conditions at the prison had “deteriorated” since the decision to return prisoners to the jail, but the closure was “the correct decision”.

“The POA know this has come at the worst possible time with overcrowding and this could make matters worse, but there is no other option,” he added.

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