Electronic ankle bracelets for offenders will be introduced before the end of next month, the Attorney General told a press conference this morning.

Kim Wilson said the devices would cut the cost of keeping defendants awaiting trial on remand in prison and would also be used to monitor those on parole or subject to probation orders.

“This initiative has been introduced to find alternatives to incarceration within Bermuda without compromising the safety of society and to keep track of offenders,” said Sen. Wilson.

“Technological innovation to monitor offenders electronically has been devised since the 1960s and has since been introduced for correctional use in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and in other nations worldwide in an effort to reduce the prison populations.”

The Justice Minister said a judicial videoconferencing system was also being installed “with a view to early implementation”.

It will be used in some Supreme Court and Magistrates’ Court trials involving vulnerable witnesses, such as children, as well as for prisoners’ remand hearings.

* See tomorrow’s edition of The Royal Gazette for the full story.