Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley reiterated that there were talks with Government House about transferring Bermudian prisoners to UK prisons.

Mr Dunkley said in an interview recently that discussions were underway with Government House about possibly sending Bermudian prisoners to the UK, but a spokesman for the UK’s Ministry of Justice, which oversees prisons in England and Wales, told The Telegraph they were unaware of any discussions with Bermuda.

Responding to the report yesterday, Mr Dunkley said: “It was a conversation between the Ministry and his excellence the Governor.

“I’m pleased to see that not only can local media be mischievous from time to time, but the UK media can get up to the same thing.”

Governor George Fergusson earlier this week criticised the article, which appeared in Sunday’s edition of The Telegraph, and said the discussions with the Bermuda Government surrounded the possible use of the Colonial Prisoners Removal Act 1884.

“There are now high thresholds for [its] use and Bermuda has not used the Act for many years, nor are any cases under discussion now,” Mr Fergusson said.

“A prisoner might present special challenges who could be better accommodated in a larger prison system with specialist facilities, but Bermuda’s prisons can cope with their current inmates.

“They are operating below full capacity — thanks partly to a steady drop in crime rates, now the lowest since 2000.”