A MAJOR new prison reform programme announced this week has caused speculation over the future of Dartmoor Prison.

Government ministers have announced plans to replace the country’s ‘outdated’ Victorian prisons and build nine new, modern prisons as well as extending two existing prisons in Stocken and Rye Hill.

The radical reforms are hoped to ensure Britain’s prison system is fit for purpose in the 21st century and the new prisons will allow the Government to close old Victorian prisons in city centres and sell the sites for housing.

Around 10,000 prison places will move from outdated sites to the new prisons, improving rehabilitation and saving around £80-million per year due to the reduced costs of modern facilities.

Chancellor George Osborne said the spending review was about ‘reform’ as much as it was about making savings.

Justice secretary Michael Gove said: ‘This investment will mean we can replace ageing and ineffective Victorian prisons with new facilities fit for the modern world. We will be able to design out the dark corners which too often facilitate violence and drug taking. We will be able to build a prison estate which allows prisoners to be rehabilitated, so they turn away from crime’

Dartmoor Prison is a category C training prison with a capacity to hold up to 659 inmates. Its future has been uncertain since the Government announced in 2014 that it was entering negotiations with the Duchy of Cornwall to terminate the prison’s lease, but a date was not specified.

When asked whether Dartmoor Prison would be one of the prisons set to close, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice told the Times: ‘No details have been confirmed as yet as to what prisons will close and no date has been set for any decisions to be made.’