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Reading Prison: Empty jail has cost £1.6m to maintain

Getty Images/Morley von Sternberg Oscar Wilde (1881) and his cell at Reading PrisonGetty Images/Morley von Sternberg
The prison was immortalised by Oscar Wilde's poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol, written after he served a two-year sentence there for gross indecency

A derelict jail famous for holding Oscar Wilde has cost the taxpayer almost £1.6m to maintain since it closed six years ago, the BBC has learned.

A Freedom Of Information request has revealed the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is still paying for electricity, gas and security at HMP Reading.

The MoJ has said the prison will be put up for sale later this year.

Campaigners want the site to be turned into a theatre and arts centre.

The empty building costs up to £250,000 a year to maintain, and in the past three years alone, the MoJ revealed it has spent nearly £700,000 on security and another £200,000 on gas and electricity.

The MoJ has said it is working with the council to look at alternative uses for the site, including housing, but the government wanted to "get value for money for taxpayers".

Getty Images Reading PrisonGetty Images
The empty prison costs the Ministry of Justice more than £250,000 a year to maintain

The jail was immortalised by Wilde's poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol which was written following his release from the prison in 1897 after he had served a two-year sentence for gross indecency.

Reading Borough Council has said the prison is a "Mecca" for LGBT people worldwide.