Corrections Canada commissioner insisted to Members of Parliament on Nov. 27 that infamous rapist and child killer Paul Bernardo can be held safely in a medium-security prison.
Earlier this year Bernardo was reclassified from maximum to medium security and transferred in June to medium-security prison La Macaza Institution in Quebec, in the Laurentians region northwest of Montreal.
Bernardo was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping, raping, torturing and murdering teenagers 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy between 1990 to 1992 near St. Catharines, Ont.
Bernardo, and his wife Karla Homolka, were known as the “Ken and Barbie Killers.”
Homolka has since been released from prison and lives in Quebec. She married the brother of her defence lawyer. She changed her name to Karla Leanne Teale and Leanne Bordelais. She only received 12 years in prison after a plea bargain that saw her testifying against Bernardo. The plea bargain was called a deal with the devil and outraged Canadians. After the plea bargain, videotapes surfaced showing Homolka sexually assaulting four female victims, having sex with a female prostitute in Atlantic City and drugging an unconscious victim. In February 1994, Homolka divorced Bernardo.
The six videotapes depicting the torture and rape of Bernardo’s and Homolka’s victims were destroyed. The disposition of the tapes of Homolka watching and commenting on the tapes remains sealed.
Anne Kelly told MP’s that the decision to transfer Bernardo was made after an extensive review. She said that previously, Bernardo had applied 14 times to move to medium security but was turned down because of concerns for his safety.
French and Mahaffy families weren’t told until the morning of his transfer and Kelly said Corrections Canada is looking at its procedures on how they notify victim’s families.
Kelly said Bernardo qualified for the transfer based on the correctional system’s rules.
Niagara Falls, Ont., Conservative MP Tony Baldinelli expressed outrage Bernardo qualified to be moved.
He asked Kelly: “My question to you then: if not Paul Bernardo, then which dangerous offender, rapist, serial killer needs to be in a maximum-security institution? If not Paul Bernardo, the worst of the worst, then who?”
Kelly said the medium-security facility that Bernardo was transferred to has the same high walls, guard towers, and cells, but allows Bernardo more time out of his cell with other prisoners and to participate in more programming.
She said Bernardo is still considered a high-risk to public safety because of his crimes and his lack of remorse. She claimed it’s unlikely there will be any further reduction in his security classification.
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