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 radon gas. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) criticised His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) for failing to manage radon exposure at HMP Dartmoor in Devon, leaving hundreds of individuals exposed to radiation levels exceeding legal limits.
Delayed Action and Legal Consequences
Despite repeated warnings, the prison service did not take action until the end of 2023. By August 2024, all inmates had been relocated from the Victorian-era facility. Hundreds of former inmates and staff have now initiated a class action lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), with many claiming they were kept unaware of the risks. The HSE announced on Wednesday its intention to issue a Crown Censure, the regulator's most severe penalty, equivalent to authorising criminal charges.
Previous Instances and Ongoing Costs
The last such Censure occurred in 2022 after a Royal Marine recruit drowned during a training exercise at Tregantle Beach, Cornwall. The HSE reported that it was first notified of suspected overexposure at Dartmoor in February 2023, despite measurements from 2020 already indicating unacceptably high radon levels. The government continues to pay approximately £4 million annually for the unusable prison, following a £100 million, 25-year lease signed in 2022. The public spending watchdog has condemned the situation as a "catastrophic failure," accusing civil servants of acting in a "blind panic" due to prison space shortages.
Antonia Romeo, now head of the civil service, served as the most senior MoJ civil servant from 2021 to 2025. This is a developing story, with further updates expected.
