A furious lawyer yesterday threatened legal action against the Prison Service unless a ban on telephone calls to clients is lifted immediately.

Said Mark Pettingill: "I'm going through the roof -- this is completely unconstitutional.

"It undermines the entire Constitution, the right to a fair trial and the right of a person to communicate with their lawyer.'' Mr. Pettingill called foul after he contacted Westgate Prison yesterday to speak to a client. But he was told telephone policy had changed and he would now have to make an appointment to see his clients in person.

He added he had been told prison authorities made the policy change because members of the public were abusing the system by claiming to be lawyers in order to get access to inmates.

But Mr. Pettingill said: "Someone has not thought this through -- if they are saying people are abusing the system, they should apply themselves and think of a way around it.

"If there is a problem, there is a simple answer -- call me back at my office.'' Mr. Pettingill added that lawyers could also be given code numbers to identify themselves -- and pointed out that caller ID systems were also available in Bermuda, so Prison officers could see the numbers people were calling from.

He said: "The answer is not a blanket ban on lawyers calling their clients.'' Mr. Pettingill added that the policy change would also mean bigger Legal Aid bills, with lawyers now having to charge for trips to the prison.

He said that there was a difference between taking lengthy instructions from a client -- which needed a personal interview -- and getting simple answers to matters which might come up in the course of preparing a case.

Mr. Pettingill explained: "Sometimes all you need is a yes or no answer to a very important question -- but the way the Prison Service wants to do it, you have to book a day to go down.'' He added that a lawyer handling a case in court would be unable to fit in visits to the Prison to see other clients.

And he said: "One has to remember there are time limits on everything you do in this system -- time limits on appeals, filing motions and filing affidavits, as well as time limits on preparing a case. Something like this can place clients in grave jeopardy.'' Prisons Commissioner Ed Dyer said that the new policy was the one which had been in force at the old Casemates Prison and had been reintroduced to clamp down on phone cheats. Now only designated phones in some Westgate offices would be able to be used for outgoing calls.

He added: "There has been a serious abuse of the phones in Westgate. They're being totally abused for all kinds of reasons.'' But he said that the system was under constant review and might be altered if needed.

Mr. Dyer said: "What we are looking at doing, perhaps -- which we do with other agencies -- is if a lawyer calls and if a prisoner is available we can get the prisoner to call back at a convenient time.'' Lawyer slams phone ban Health and Social Services Minister Clarence Terceira said: "I know there was abuse of the system and I had asked them to clean up that abuse.

"I don't think access of a lawyer to a client is being denied in any way. But there is a new policy to limit abuse of the system.'' But Bermuda Bar Association chairman Narinder Hargun said he hoped a solution short of a phone ban could be worked out.

Mr. Hargun added: "I am not sure what the problem is -- if the problem is people saying they are attorneys when they're not, this problem could be easily overcome. It sounds like a problem which could be resolved and should be resolved.

"It's obviously impractical to go to prison every time you want to speak to your client -- and expensive too, either for the client or the Legal Aid fund.''