The Prince of Wales is receiving over one million pounds of taxpayers’ money from a vacant prison that may never reopen.
HMP Dartmoor, which is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, is leased to the Ministry of Justice for £1.5 million annually — and will be for the next 24 years.
But the category-C prison, which housed many sex offenders, was temporarily closed in July 2024 due to ‘dangerously high’ levels of radon gas being detected.
Some 682 inmates and members of staff were relocated to other prisons across the country, exacerbating existing issues in the prison system, such as overcrowding.
The Times reported that under the lease, the Duchy is not responsible for the upkeep of the prison and has a ‘dilapidations clause’ which requires the taxpayer to spend up to £68 million to repair the building.
A report made in subsequent visits to the prison has found that an area outside A Wing is ‘infested with rats,’ while birds, insects and bats have overrun some areas.
The report published by the independent monitoring board at HMP Dartmoor has called for an ‘urgent decision’ to be made on its future.
It suggests that the prison may never reopen, or at the earliest this could be 2026.
The 25-year lease was struck when the King was the head of the Duchy and was renewed by the Conservative government in March 2022.
Unsafe levels of radon had been detected in the prison in 2020 and 2023 — according to a response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request submitted by the BBC — before the lease was signed.
Radon is a radioactive gas that is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. It is produced by the decay of uranium, which is found in rocks and soils.
Long-term exposure to high levels of radon can increase the risk of lung cancer and is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking
The Duchy has increased the cost of the lease by more than double the amount originally paid in the 1980s.
According to The Times, a Tory source familiar with the details of the renewed lease said the MoJ felt it had no choice but to sign or risk losing vital prison spaces.
But the National Audit Office has raised concerns about the deal, describing it as ‘poor value for money’.
The Duchy has said both sides took expert advice when the deal was made, The Times reported.
The Duchy of Cornwall is a private estate that provides income for the heir to the British throne and is used to support himself, his family and his charitable work.
It was set up in 1337 by Prince Edward III in order to provide a pot of money for his son, Prince Edward.
The Duchy Files, published in November by The Times, showed that both the King and Prince William had made millions of pounds a year by charging the army, the navy, the NHS and schools to use their land.
Prince William has agreed to voluntarily pay income tax on his earnings, like his father, but has not publically revealed how much he has paid.
previously reported that annual accounts for the vast £1billion Duchy of Cornwall empire William inherited do not specify exactly how much he paid in tax.
King Charles, when he was heir to the throne, revealed that in his last full year in the role he voluntarily paid £5.9million in income taxes but William has opted not to declare how much he paid last year.
The Palace said the prince paid tax at a standard UK tax rate once official costs had been deducted.
But the amount he paid in his first full year of entitlement to the Duchy was not disclosed. He is not required to declare the tax.
Royal sources have insisted, however, that he paid more tax than his father because the estate brought in more income, offset by rising costs due to inflation.
Built in the early 19th century to hold French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars, HMP Dartmoor had been slated for closure in 2023, but that decision was reversed in 2019 in the face of rising prisoner numbers.
At the end of 2023, high levels of radon led to more than 400 inmates being removed from the jail.
Prisoners had begun returning to Dartmoor at the start of July, before this latest incident forced the complete closure of the prison.
Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), said conditions at Dartmoor had ‘deteriorated’ since the decision to return prisoners to the jail, but the closure was ‘the correct decision’.
He added: ‘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.’
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said at the time: ‘Our prisons are in crisis. 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.’