Canada’s prison service is under fire by the Conservatives for its 2022 decision to move killer Luka Magnotta into medium security.
Magnotta was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2014 for the killing and dismemberment of 33-year-old university student Jun Lin two years earlier. He pleaded guilty to his crimes and was sentenced to life in a maximum security prison.
Magnotta was transferred to a medium security prison in 2022, news of which prompted an inquiry by members of Parliament last week.
Correctional Service Canada confirmed to Global News that it had informed the then-public safety minister Marco Mendicino’s office in May 2022, prior to the transfer, although it’s not known if Mendicino, who has since been removed from cabinet, was personally aware.
Conservative MPs on the public safety committee have called Correctional Service Canada Commissioner Anne Kelly to speak about the issue in the coming weeks, along with the warden of La Macaza, the medium security prison where Magnotta is now incarcerated.
Conservative MPs called for a motion to bring Kelly, the warden, and other officials before the committee to testify, including Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
Magnotta’s transfer from a maximum security prison in eastern Quebec took place a year before the transfer of serial rapist and murderer Paul Bernardo, who is now also serving his sentence at La Macaza.
Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the murders of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, who were teens at the time in the early 1990s, alongside his then-wife Karla Homolka. They also killed Homolka’s sister, Tammy.
Bernardo’s transfer stirred up a political feud as well over concerns of public safety.
Correctional Service Canada informed both Mendicino’s office and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the possibility of the transfer before it took place in March and then again in May once a date was cemented.
The two would later claim that they weren’t personally made aware of the transfer until it happened.
The families of Bernardo’s victims were not notified of the transfer beforehand either, which only added to the decision’s controversy.
Correctional Service Canada has told reporters that decisions regarding transfers are “very through” and are made only once the offender “can be safely managed in a medium-security facility.”
CSC assured the committee that La Macaza is equipped with a “well-defined perimeter with high fences, is strictly guarded 24/7 and is patrolled by armed officers.”
Conservative MP Frank Caputo expressed his dismay over the transfer, posting a video to X detailing a visit he recently made to La Macaza. Caputo argued the conditions of the medium security prison were too luxurious for someone who had committed such horrific crimes as the prison had an ice hockey rink in the winter and tennis courts in the summer, along with a billiards room.
“I think most Canadians were shocked at the transfer of Paul Bernardo, and I feel similarly Canadians are also shocked to find out that Luka Magnotta and others are not only in medium security, but also in the same penitentiary,” said Caputo.
