Convicted paedophiles could be electronically tagged to prevent them going near schools and other areas where children congregate.

Attorney General Kim Wilson told a press conference yesterday that Government was looking into the possibility of fitting certain sex offenders with electronic ankle bracelets to alert the authorities if they enter a "no-go zone".

Senator Wilson said GPS would enable the authorities to monitor the location of someone wearing the device.

"I think our best efforts would be to ensure that the no-go areas are areas heavily populated or frequented by schoolchildren," she said, adding that electronic tagging had been used in some jurisdictions primarily to track paroled sex offenders.

The Justice Minister said Bermuda would continue to follow the UK in not making public its sex offenders' register.

"There are some challenges with respect to having a public register," she said. "We have adopted the same provisions and conditions that are contained in the UK's legislation and policy concerning the revealing of sex offenders."

She added that individuals could apply to the Police Commissioner or herself to see if a name was on the list.

Sen. Wilson said the idea of electronically tagging paedophiles to track their whereabouts was under discussion but a wider tagging scheme for all types of offenders and defendants seeking bail would be fully operational by the end of next month.

"This initiative has been introduced to find alternatives to incarceration within Bermuda without compromising the safety of society and to keep track of offenders," the AG told the media.

"The system will allow for offenders to be electronically monitored as a condition of bail, parole and for probation orders so as to reduce the dependence on incarceration and thereby reduce the cost of incarceration."

She said it cost about $80,000 a year to house a single prisoner in Westgate and that large savings could be made by tagging defendants before trial, rather than keeping them on remand.

The electronic monitoring scheme was promised in the 2009 Throne Speech and Sen. Wilson personally wore a device for a week earlier this year to test its suitability.

The locked ankle bracelets to be worn by offenders contain a radio transmitter which emits a signal and allows the authorities to keep a geographical record of their whereabouts.

The AG said: "If the offender wanders a certain distance from the fixed device or removes the fixed portion of the device, a signal is transmitted to alert the monitoring authorities.

"The electronic monitoring system is also capable of storing various types of data, such as inclusion zones, which are areas that a bailee must be at specified times, and designated exclusion zones — those areas that a bailee will be prohibited from entering at specified times."

Sen. Wilson also gave an update on a planned videoconferencing system for the courts. She said the technology to allow vulnerable witnesses — such as children or those at risk of intimidation — to give evidence remotely was being installed in Supreme Courts One and Three, in one of the Magistrates' Courts and in the Island's witness care units.

It will also be installed at Westgate to remove the need for prisoners to attend court for remand hearings.

"The cabling is being completed," she said. "We are moving swiftly ahead. This initiative will lessen witness intimidation, increase witness participation in the court process and result in more successful prosecutions."