KITCHENER — A local judge wasn't amused Thursday when a departing prisoner almost left his baggy pants behind.

"The next time I get mooned by a prisoner I'm going to let him go," Justice Elliott Allen warned the security officer in his Kitchener courtroom. "I'm serious. That's got to stop."

Jeffrey Fowlie, 39, had just been sentenced to two weeks in jail for breaching probation and shoplifting $26 worth of goods from a Cambridge grocery store.

As the stocky man was taken into custody wearing handcuffs, his beltless jean shorts slipped dangerously low, exposing his underwear, and fell all the way to the ground just outside the courtroom door.

Allen called a hasty recess, then had more to say when he returned in a few minutes for an explanation from Staff Sgt. Frank Sinko of Waterloo Regional Police.

"In getting on to 24 years on the bench, I've never had to look at somebody's buttocks before as part of the sentencing process," Allen told him.

Sinko tried to put it down to sloppy dress standards in society in general, but the judge was having none of that.

"I appreciate it's a style, but it wasn't a style for this man," Allen said of the low-slung shorts. "It was the lack of a belt."

Sinko thanked him for bringing the issue to his attention and said the Salvation Army might be able to provide suitable garb for prisoners when required.

"Track pants, whatever," Allen concluded.