KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – The Ministry of National Security has sought to highlight the benefits of the UK prison deal to the local prison population.

In a release on Saturday, the ministry said a new facility will provide relief for inmates who have endured overcrowded and unsatisfactory conditions at the centuries old Tower Street and St Catherine correctional centres.

According to the ministry, if negotiations are concluded between the Governments of Jamaica and the United Kingdom, it would provide a grant of £25 million towards the construction of a new prison.

British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled the proposal during his recent visit to Jamaica.

This is part of a Prison Transfer Agreement in which a maximum of 300 Jamaicans in British jails, and subject to deportation at the end of their sentence, would be transferred to Jamaica.

Commissioner of Corrections Ina Hunter Fairweather has also highlighted the benefits of the agreement, stating that the country will have a modern prison facility.

“Overtime we have not constructed new facilities, we have in fact retrofitted and so we have to build around infrastructure but if we can start ground up, we will look at the numbers and the profiles of the inmates …”

Hunter Fairweather, who was speaking during a tour of the Tower Street and St Catherine adult correctional centres, said efforts to build new prisons in Jamaica have not materialised because of the substantial costs involved and the inability to secure funds.

“We have been building on facilities, but we have not been successful in building a new facility, so the idea of a modern facility has been a long-standing matter, that has received attention, but I think this is the closest we are going to be coming to seeing the materialistion of those efforts,” she said.