IT was once the world's most famous prison - now Dartmoor is an empty shell. Murderers, serial killers, gangsters, spies – and even the president of Ireland – have done time there. But the jail closed last summer after a health scare and its future now hangs in the balance.
![[HM Prison Dartmoor, a Category C men's prison in Princetown, Devon.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/m16bhk-hm-prison-dartmoor-category-965806930_17111a.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Which could mean a multi-million headache for Prince William. The sprawling stone complex which holds 650 inmates is owned by the prince's Duchy of Cornwall estate, and the Home Office now looks likely to cancel its lease and hand the keys back to William.
![[Interior of Dartmoor prison.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/screen-grab-taken-getty-video-932609560.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
As heir to the throne, William is owner of 135,000 acres of land and property which provide him with a whopping income - accounts for 2023-4 show he trousered £23.6 million from the estate. But Dartmoor – immortalised in the Sherlock Holmes mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles – is a whopping white elephant.
![[Welcome to HM Prison Dartmoor sign.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NINTCHDBPICT000814071080.jpg?strip=all&w=720)
Nobody wants it. Back in 2019, the government announced plans to close Dartmoor in 2023. It was considered old, ramshackle and colossally expensive to run. But as jails across the country continued to be full to bursting, the decision was reversed. However, last year high levels of radon, a radioactive gas, were discovered in the rocks surrounding the prison. Over 600 inmates were quickly shipped out to other locations.
![[HMP Dartmoor prison being evacuated due to high radon levels.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/175-inmates-hmp-dartmoor-starts-965210916.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Ironically, breaking up those same Dartmoor rocks was part of the 'hard labour' punishment handed down by judges up till 1948, when the practice – along with flogging – was abolished. No doubt the few lags and lifers who've been detained in the Moor at the sovereign's pleasure would be surprised that nitpicky health rules should shut down the toughest slammer in Britain.
![[Aerial view of HM Prison Dartmoor.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1809-category-c-prison-located-965208667.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
