Fresh on the heels of announcing tough new drug sentences, Attorney General Larry Mussenden is planning longer jail time for those wishing to qualify for probation.

He said laws would be put forward this summer increasing the maximum jail time to five years before offenders could qualify for three years' probation.

Currently offenders can be sentenced to just two years before getting three years' probation.

Mr. Mussenden said this was insufficient to complete rehabilitation courses in prison programmes before being released - particular as some offenders can be released after serving just a third of their sentence.

He told The Royal Gazette: "The new legislation will be five years followed by three years' probation. The judiciary had asked for that because two years was not effective enough for punishment or treatment.

"What the community can't afford is to have people in prison and then entering the community without supervision."

Last week Senator Mussenden announced a radical rewrite of the Misuse of Drugs Act which will see sentencing powers in Magistrates' Court doubled to ten years and fines increased to a maximum of $500,000 ($1 million in Supreme Court) or three times the value of the drugs.

Hard drugs will attract a mandatory 50 percent increase in prison time while drug trafficking sentences will have to be served consecutively to weapons and violence offences on the same indictment.

Asked if the longer sentences would put a strain on already cramped prisons Sen. Mussenden said Government had the Alternatives to Incarceration scheme in place which gave breaks for other offenders.

He admitted recidivism was high but could be reduced with rehabilitative jail time and monitored release with conditions such as drug testing and other courses.

Sen. Mussenden said a meeting was planned with defence lawyers this week to go over the Misuse of Drugs Act legislation and other matters but so far he had heard no criticism of the tough new drug sentences he planned. However Coalition for the Protection of Children chairwoman Sheelagh Cooper said social conditions needed to be tackled to counter the demand for drugs which had a high correlation with poverty.

She said: "There is a whole generation of young people who are medicating themselves.

"Children who grow up in cars or caves are not solid or safe. These are the sorts of conditions which lead to unstable personalities."

Asked about increased sentences for those wanting probation Ms Cooper, who is on the Parole Board, said account needed to be taken into the amount of time people spent on remand. She said it was common for suspects to spend a year waiting for a case to come up and programmes should be available.

"During that time they are getting no treatment whatsoever. It's a waste of time. But they are highly motivated at that point."

Defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher said higher sentences would not prove much of a deterrent as most drug couriers were foreign.

She said: "Heavy sentences of 15 or 20 years for importing heroin is not going to get back to the beaches of South Africa, the streets of New York or the farms of Jamaica."

Instead it would just push up the bill for the tax payer. With the average cost of incarceration working out at more than $62,000 an additional five years on a sentence would add on more than $300,000 for the tax payer.

Mr. Mussenden said the Court of Appeal had said the rewards of drug dealing were high so the punishments should match that - which is why huge fines and sentences were being brought in.

He said drug trafficking had devastating effects on the community while the dealers made fortunes with no regard to the effect of their trade.

"It brings untold death and destruction, wastage of human life in the form of addicts being unemployable, criminals who break and enter to support a habit, prostitution to support a habit.

"There are heartbreaking consequences such as babies being born addicted to drugs."

Young people, particularly, had the anti-drug message drilled into them, said Sen. Mussenden, and could not say they were unaware of the consequences so must be doing it out of their own greed.

Sen. Mussenden stressed he was working with all the branches of Bermuda's legal system as he draws up changes.

This year he has started chairing a quarterly committee comprising the prosecutors, Police, prison representatives and the judiciary.

This summer Government plans to bring in a Theft Act giving a simple definition of the offence to replace archaic laws detailing specific instances of theft, such as stealing hay to feed animals.

Sen. Mussenden has also suggested allowing judges to hear trials without a jury if there is witness or jury intimidation but he admitted the rights to jury trial were enshrined in the Constitution and would not easily be changed.

"This is at the consideration stage. We are having to look at all the options. We might not be able to get to that point but at least we have considered it."

Government is considering creating a new serious offence of witness intimidation throughout the investigation and court stage.

He said there might even be legislation covering punishing those who threaten witnesses after a trial. "We would have to build the law so it encapsulates all of these things."