NATIONAL Security Minister Peter Bunting believes a new modern prison could address the problem of convicts using mobile phones to access the Internet from behind bars, and that this would be yet another benefit of the UK prison deal that the Government is pursuing.

Recent media reports have shown videos and images of inmates who have found their way onto the social media website Facebook, posting ‘selfies’ from jail and exposing the inner workings of Jamaican prison life to the world wide web.

Bunting, speaking to journalists following Wednesday’s Jamaica House press briefing, Bunting said: “As soon as cell searches confiscate phones, phones seem to find a way back into the system and, of course, as they become smaller they are harder to detect, which is why one of the benefits I pointed to is a design to shield against cellphone signals. That would be another security benefit of a new prison.”

He said cell phone blockers set up at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in the past did not have the desired results because mobile phones in the surrounding community were affected as well.

“We continue to use technology. We have recently acquired cellphone detectors that we are deploying and which we hope will go a far way towards addressing the problem,” the minister said.

The smuggling of cellphones and other prohibited items into prisons has been a long-standing issue. Among the images which sparked the latest concern is a video clip of two underwear-clad inmates engaged in a fist fight, being goaded on by fellow inmates and broken up only after when there were explosions sounding like gunshots.

The British Government is offering £25 million towards the construction of a new prison. However, there has been a raging debate over the offer because of the request for the new facility to house prison incarcerated in the United Kingdom to complete their sentences.