The prison service is facing a rare Crown Censure – the maximum sanction possible against a government body – for exposing prisoners and staff to dangerous levels of cancer-causing gas. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) slammed the HMPPS for failing to manage radon exposure at HMP Dartmoor, in Devon, leaving hundreds exposed to radiation levels above the legal limit. The prison service finally decided to take action to evacuate people at the end of 2023 after repeated warnings and, by August 2024, had moved all inmates out of the Victorian-age prison. Hundreds of former inmates and staff have now joined a class action lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), with former prisoners and officers telling The Independent they were left in the dark about their exposure. The HSE announced on Wednesday that it intended to issue the prison service with a Crown Censure over the scandal. That is the maximum sanction available to the regulator and the equivalent of authorising criminal charges.…