Radical ways to force debtors to work off what they owe are being considered by Government to avoid the ?Victorian? practice of jailing people for defaulting.

Attorney General Phil Perinchief said TCD might be given powers to impound cars of those with longstanding liabilities.

Senator Perinchief said he agreed with recent comments by campaigner Sheelagh Cooper that it was wrong to jail people for civil debt.

?We will be looking at alternative ways of not incarcerating people for civil debt ? for being poor.?

Work programmes might be used to allow debtors to work off their obligations.

?There might be an attachment of earnings, a garnishing of wages. It is early days but we are certainly working towards abolishing what is a Victorian approach.?

Jail would be a last resort for hardcore non-payers, said Sen. Perichief, who added the law will be changed to make it easier to seize assets from non-payers.

?We will empower the authorities generally, not just the courts.?

One idea would be to allow TCD to withdraw the licence of a person.

?Or withdraw the plates of the car so that car can?t be used. Or issue a seizure order to impound it. It might bring a few of those who can pay to their senses.?

Sen. Perinchief, who campaigned in the 1990s on establishing an official poverty line, said Bermuda?s high prices played a big part in forcing people into the red.

?It?s my belief that if someone isn?t making, as a rule of thumb, $800 a week they may well be below the poverty line.

?When you threaten people with incarceration because they can?t pay certain debts this only increases some of the psychological trauma that may manifest itself in other ways ? violence or robbery.

?Establishing a poverty line permits us to look at that segment of the population that may be in need of state assistance.?

Asked if the poverty line was setting the scene for a minimum wage, he said: ?It would have my support. That?s always been my position.

?A lot of poverty is hidden. Bermudians are very proud people, but it becomes damaging in other ways. It?s not just the poverty line in isolation.?

Legislation to allow the electronic tagging of paroled prisoners will be introduced in the new year, said Sen. Perinchief.

He said the technology was a boon for the taxpayer as well as the convict trying to mend his ways.

He told ?It?s an advantage for the person being tagged in that they get a chance to reintegrate into society. It?s the beginning of an element of trust ? despite the tag. And it frees up the prison.?

It costs more than $68,000 a year to keep an inmate in Bermuda?s prison system.

Sen. Perinchief said: ?It?s early days but any offence of violence or drugs may have to go through a far more stringent test before they would be released and tagged.?

Already widely used in the UK and America, the tamper-proof tags are usually attached to the leg of the offender.

They can contain a global positioning satellite to check exact locations. And, if the criminal breaks a curfew or strays too close to potential victims, a tiny transmitter sends a signal warning the Police.

Earlier Government said the device could be used to enforce curfews.

One form of device used in the UK, sees a base station connected to a telephone line at the offender?s home, before a tag is attached to their ankle.

If the tag is not responding and within range of the base during curfew hours, or if the base is disconnected from the phone line, then Police are alerted.

Sen. Perinchief said Government will introduce DNA testing for serious offenders in the new year.

The vital genetic information will be stored on a database to match it against other evidence if they are suspected of further crimes.