Nearly five years after Britain’s Cameron administration offered to part-finance a new penal facility in Jamaica, the Holness Government has announced that it will fund the construction of a state-of-the-art prison out of pocket.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness revealed during a press briefing last Friday that a proposal for a new prison was currently on the table, but he declined to go into details.

Chang’s reference to culture might telegraph the unease caused by the controversial offer by UK Prime Minister David Cameron to part-fund construction of a prison here.

Chang told The Gleaner that one of the challenges the new maximum-security facility would have to address was the failure of the security architecture to blunt the influence of criminal dons who, he said, continue to wield outsize power beyond prison walls.

We are taking steps to correct that now, but the new prison will have to have that kind of facility,” said Chang.