Ongoing Works
- Land of Flowers
Projects
- - Dumnonia
- - Beneath Mercia
- other stories
- Philip Harris Wine
- Hugo Winder-Lind
- Goodbye Horses
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Land of Flowers
An ongoing research project on the radioactive isotope Radon-222, Princetown and HMP Dartmoor.
In 2007 The Ministry of Justice confirmed high levels of the radioactive cancer causing gas Radon-222 at HMP Dartmoor. Radon is part of the decay chain of Uranium-235, an element found in granite of which the geology of Dartmoor is primarily made up from.
Routine monitoring in March 2020 revealed radon levels up to 10 times the regulatory limit (reaching 2,988Bq/m3 in the kitchen) with further readings up to 3,123 Bq/m3 recorded in 2023. The information gathered in 2007 was not revealed until 2025 under a BBC investigation. A mass extraction of Prisoners began in December 2023, which saw more than 400 prisoners relocated. A small number of inmates were briefly returned to the site in early July 2024 as part of a failed reopening attempt, radon gas was detected again. The remaining 175 prisoners began evacuation on July 18th, following that the prison was temporarily closed in August 2024 and the health and safety executive issued a formal Crown Censure against the Prison Service in May 2026 over the radiation safety failings.
Around 500-750 former inmates, prison officers, nurses and other staff are in a major group legal case against the Ministry of Justice and His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.