Inmates at New Zealand's Mount Eden Correctional Facility (MECF) have been filmed beating the shit out of each other in organized fights that somehow ended up on YouTube. Mobile phones are prohibited at the 120-year-old prison, as is fighting, so there's an understandable amount of confusion and embarrassment surrounding the release of the videos.The prison was identified from inmates' clothes bearing the words "SERCO MECF." Serco is the global outsourcing giant that, in 2011, signed a ten-year $300 million NZD [$196 million USD] contract to manage Mount Eden. In the three years that followed, Mount Eden recorded more prisoner assaults than any other prison in New Zealand prison.
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Corrections northern regional commissioner, Jeanette Burns, told stuff.co.nz they're currently working with prison management to find out how the footage made it to YouTube. In this year alone, 27 mobile phones and 22 SIM cards have already been found after being smuggled into the facility.In response to the situation, Mount Eden Corrections Facility has announced it will increase the frequency of contraband searches. Any inmate found in possession of a cellphone could face internal or police charges.The leaked footage came only days after convicted murderer Nikki Roper was hospitalized following a severe beating in the Mount Eden prison yard. Corrections has reiterated its zero tolerance policy for assaults on staff, prisoners, or guards, commenting: "No assault is acceptable; however, it is an unfortunate reality that from time to time this will occur."Read: These Stunning Photos of New Zealand's Largest Gang Will Give You Sleepless Nights