Claudia Sturt joined the prison service 11 years ago

Claudia Sturt is to become governor of Dartmoor prison, variously described as "the prison that time forgot" and "the dustbin of the prison system" by jail chiefs in the past.

Anne Owers, the current chief inspector of prisons, wrote a damning report on the jail in January last year, with her inspectors likening the punishment block to a Victorian dungeon.

But the most recent report, published earlier this week, welcomed positive changes at the jail but said it was still struggling to get to grips with its role as a category C facility.

Accelerated promotion

Now Ms Sturt, who has worked on a sheep farm in Australia, is set to become head after just 11 years rising up the ranks, the Prison Service confirmed.

The modern history graduate from Somerville College, Oxford, joined the service on the accelerated promotion scheme.

The 36-year old is married to an Army captain, who is a chaplain in northern Germany.

She told The Times newspaper: "Dartmoor has always had a problem shaking off that granite fortress image and so this is one of the challenges for me."

Ms Sturt had been governor of Erlestoke Prison, Wiltshire, for 11 months.

The 604-inmate jail is synonymous with its bleak moorland location, being at the centre of a 365-square mile Devon wilderness.

Built in 1809, Dartmoor took French prisoners from the Napoleonic wars and US captives from the 1812 conflict.