Reports that notorious schoolgirl killer Paul Bernardo has applied for transfer to a medium-security prison have prompted Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney to reassure Canadians no such plans are afoot.
Steven Blaney issued a statement in reaction to reports of Bernardo’s request Thursday, saying he’s been assured the transfer is unlikely.
“Paul Bernardo was convicted of heinous and despicable crimes,” Blaney said.
“While I do not control the security classification of individual prisoners, I have received assurances that there are no plans to move this inmate to a medium security institution.”
The now 48-year-old Bernardo was sentenced to two life terms in 1995 for the murders of St. Catharines students Leslie Mahaffey and Kristen French.
He has spent the late 18 years in a segregation cell at the maximum-security Kingston Penitentiary. With the institution slated to be closed this fall, reports have surfaced that Bernardo is using the opportunity to apply for a transfer to a medium-security facility.
A transfer would afford Bernardo more freedom than his current living accommodations in a solitary confinement cell that measures about 1.5 metres wide by 3 metres long.
He’s allowed out for only one hour a day, when he can exercise or watch television. While he can talk with prisoners in adjoining cells, he can’t see them. A medium security would allow him more contact with other inmates.
Toronto lawyer Richard Shekter says it appears that Bernardo is using the closure of the Kingston Penitentiary as a chance to apply for a transfer.
“The odds, of course, are slim to none that he’ll ever succeed in it. But he’s trying nevertheless,” Shekter told CTV’s Canada AM Friday.
Shekter said that, while Bernardo may want out of solitary confinement -- or “administrative segregation,” as it’s called -- for his own protection, he needs to remain segregated.
“Prisoners who are – the euphemism is ‘rats’ -- baby killers, or child molesters – people who are generally despised within the pecking order of these institutions are not safe,” Shekter said, noting there was an attempt on Bernardo’s life several years ago.
Shekter explained the process for applying for a transfer requires Bernardo to make an application – with the help of his parole officer -- to the prison’s warden. The warden would then issue his decision based on a number of specified criteria.
“If the inmate doesn’t like the answer – which, in this case, is probably no – he has two routes: He can grieve it, first to a regional grievance committee and then to a national committee. Or he can go right to what’s called a ‘writ of habeas corpus’ to the Superior Court of Ontario that he was denied natural justice or that the decision was not meritorious,” Shekter said.
Under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, all prisoners are supposed to be released from segregation “at the earliest appropriate time.” Bernardo could try to argue that a failure to downgrade his security is an infringement on his liberty.
“So the reason that the warden presents to deny (Bernardo) a downgrade will form the basis of any appeal (of his security status),” Shekter said.
As for Blaney’s comments, Shekter points out that neither the federal government nor the minister of public safety play any role in decisions about the security status of prisoners.
“The minister doesn’t really have a say in where (Bernardo) goes, and he has to stay out of the fray. Otherwise, it could taint the process,” Shekter said. “You don’t do that; you don’t intervene.”
