Dog teams are to be brought in to crack down on Westgate Correctional Facility's drugs problem which Public Safety Minister Terry Lister admitted is "bad".

He said there were so many drugs floating around at the prison that inmates who didn't use them were complaining about it. And he warned mandatory drug testing would be seriously looked at as an option to curb the illicit activity.

Mr. Lister warned inmates caught with illegal narcotics wouldn't just lose remission - they would find themselves in court facing new charges and a new sentence to run after their original one finished.

In the House of Assembly on Friday, Mr. Lister said: "From April 1 canine units will go around the perimeter on a constant basis, through the grounds and prison cells.

"That will be a regular feature of prison life. We are going to look at the human rights aspect to see what they say about the mandatory drugs testing. Can we do that? If the law says yes then rest assured...

"The time prisoners felt they had the run of the prison and could do what they wanted is over," he continued. "We are putting our foot down."

He said the problem of drugs in Bermuda's prisons had been long standing.

But he told The Royal Gazette: "Right now it's bad, there's no question about it.

Prisoners who do not want to be involved are complaining about it, so it has got to be bad.

"Any one identified with drugs will find themselves in court. There will be a new charge and a new penalty."

He said drugs were being passed over in prison visits and they were coming in when prisoners returned from working in the community.

"They are bringing it back with them. Sometimes they throw it over the wall."

Asked about whether sniffer dogs should also be used to check out prison officers after rumours that they were to blame for some of the drug supply, Mr. Lister said: "I don't want to add fuel to the accusations but we obviously have to be vigilant."

But he said: "We will be assessing over time the performance of prison officers as well as prisoners."

Mr. Lister said most of the drugs in prison were soft drugs for personal use and he denied narcotics were used as currency among inmates.

He said prisoners would no longer view Westgate as a hotel they could check in and out of.

"When they come there will be programmes," promised Mr. Lister. "We'll do our best to get them out serving the country productively. We are too small a country to have people laying off in prison."

Many prisoners lacked the reading skills to find work said Mr. Lister who said more money would be set aside to continue to educate prisoners in Bermuda College-run courses while inmates would also be put in programmes instead of idling their time away.

Mr. Lister's get tough stand drew murmurs of support from the Opposition benches while PLP backbencher Derrick Burgess called for the gym to be removed from the prison.