Prisoners in Bermuda are starting for the first time to carry out terrifying punishment attacks on sex offenders, Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox revealed yesterday.

Attacks on sex offenders are an unknown phenomenon in Bermuda, but four have been beaten up in the past nine months.

Two were attacked at Westgate Correctional Facility and two at the Prison Farm, although it is not known if they required hospital treatment, said Commissioner of Prisons Edward Dyer.

But the numbers assaulted could be even higher because the victims are often too frightened to complain.

Mr. Dyer told The Royal Gazette yesterday he had no idea why inmates had started to turn on sex criminals.

It could be because they have seen it on television or were frustrated that sex offenders are not always named in the media, said Mr. Dyer.

Sex offenders are named after they are convicted by the media except when doing so will lead to the identification of the victim.

Catching the attackers is proving difficult because prison officers cannot be in all places at all times, but Mr. Dyer said his staff will not turn a blind eye to the beatings.

He said: "Sex offenders, particularly where young children are involved, normally get a very hard time when they come to prison.

"The normal prisoner seems to view the sex offender as the bottom of the list and they tend to get assaulted.

"This has never been the practice in Bermuda's prisons, but somehow the practice in other prisons has got to Bermuda as far as sex offenders are concerned, and what's caused it, I really don't know.

"They are not cut off from the media or television and that would give them information about the world, or maybe they've just decided that they've had enough.

"They (sex offenders) never get named in the media, but Bermuda, being the size it is, people know who's doing it, and they may have decided to do something.

"It is beginning to rear its head in Bermuda's prisons. These fellows are sufficiently terrified that they don't want to make much of a deal of it, and as a consequence, we don't know about it or who did it.

"It is not something we condone or turn a blind eye to, and if we find out who's doing it, we will take the severest disciplinary action.'' Ms Cox told MPs yesterday that there was no evidence of gang-related violence at the prisons, but one-on-one assaults, particularly against sex offenders, was on the increase.

"It is important to make the observation that while assaults on sex offenders has been common practice in prisons in other jurisdictions, only recently has it reared its ugly head in local prisons,'' she said.

"I wish to assure members of this honourable House and members of the community at large that the prison authorities remain vigilant in their efforts to curtail this kind of unacceptable behaviour.'' Shadow Minister Michael Dunkley, speaking later in the House of Assembly, repeated calls for Casemates Prison to be re-opened and hardcore offenders to be housed there, while lesser criminals continue to be placed at Westgate.

And he claimed that the fire system at the six-year-old prison was not working, putting prisoners and staff at risk.

"Government must stand up now and show leadership,'' Mr. Dunkley said. "We have gone soft and accepted violations of the law. Prison officers face diabolical conditions on the job. And we must do all that we can to protect prison officers.'' Mr. Dunkley said communications systems, intruder alarms, duress alarms and the lack of an emergency response team all put Prison Officers at risk.