The public accounts committee is quite right to be critical of the Ministry of Justice’s “catastrophic” decision to carry on leasing a prison site that was harmful to the health of prisoners and staff who look after them (‘Catastrophic’ MoJ leasing of jail with toxic gas set to cost more than £100m, 7 January).
However, it is both unsurprising and disappointing that they didn’t go on to be critical of the Duchy of Cornwall for being happy to keep on taking rent money from the public purse, for the private income of an already wealthy man. And it’s not only the prison that is closed – the national park visitor centre half a mile from the prison gates closed its doors to the public two months ago as a result of financial pressures facing Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA).
Maybe Prince William would like to use the rent money to bail out DNPA, demonstrating a commitment to public service rather than private gain?
Les Bright
Exeter, Devon
• Can the Duchy of Cornwall not be prevailed upon by parliament, the Treasury or Prince William to act in the public interest and release the Ministry of Justice from its “catastrophic” 10-year lease of the unusable Dartmoor prison?
The duchy, a vast private estate providing personal income for the heir to the throne, holds ownership of the land that the prison is built on. Surely the prince would agree that £100m could be better spent paying the salaries of about 2,500 nurses or nearly 3,000 new teachers in the UK for one year?
Giselle Dye
Edinburgh
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