A Prison Service spokesperson said the shifting of inmates was a 'temporary measure' amid work to 'permanently reduce' radon levels in the Category C establishment to ensure no safety issues to staff and prisoners on site.
HMP Dartmoor has been forced to close off dozens of cells and transfer nearly 200 inmates after radioactive gas was detected in the prison. An elevated presence of radon - an odourless and colourless gas - was recently identified in the men's prison in Devon. The relocation numbers have now come to light. Between November and February, 184 cells were shut, with official figures suggesting its total safe capacity is 640.
Labour, which revealed the figures in a series of questions to ministers, said it was 'shocking that the government's mismanagement of the prison estate means they are having to reduce the number of prison places during a capacity crisis'. Ruth Cadbury, shadow prisons minister, pointed to radon being detected in 2020 but the Ministry of Justice said measures 'weren't put in place until 2022'.
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