Immigration centre planned
HMP The Verne on Portland will close and be converted into an immigration removal centre.
Full report: Changes to West Country prisons
It's been confirmed that Dorchester Prison is to close and discussions are underway to end the lease at Dartmoor Prison.
Elsewhere, Portland's Verne Prison will be turned into an immigration detention centre.
The former Victorian military barracks, transformed into a jail more than 60 years ago, will become a Home Office immigration unit housing people waiting to be removed from the UK.
Duncan Sleightholme reports:
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