In the days leading up to murderer Luka Magnotta’s transfer to a medium-security prison, Correctional Services Canada told staff not to notify the public of the move.
Despite Magnotta being one of Canada’s most notorious murderers, newly released documents reveal that three days before his transfer from a maximum security prison to a medium one, CSC instructed staff to keep the decision private on the basis that it wasn’t of public interest.
Internal communications cited the Privacy Act for withholding the decision to transfer Magnotta from the public, which occurred in the summer of 2022. However, the act allows exceptions for high-profile offenders of public interest.
Magnotta was found guilty of murdering and dismembering international student Jun Lin and then mailing his body parts to political parties on Dec. 23, 2014.
He was transferred from maximum security prison Port-Cartier to La Macaza, a medium-security prison on Aug. 11, 2022, where he continues to serve an indeterminate life sentence.
Internal emails, obtained via access to information laws reveal that CSC informed staff to keep quiet about the transfer in the days leading up to it.
“We do not announce transfers, as we don’t disclose the location of offenders. If asked, we would advise media that the Privacy Act doesn’t allow us to speak about specific offenders’ cases. We can; however, provide information about security classification and transfers,” reads an email sent by a member of the CSC communications team dated Aug. 8, 2022.
A separate email sent three months earlier addressed a bilateral meeting between the CSC and then-public safety minister Marco Mendicino’s office which discussed the potential for the transfer to be an issue of public concern.
The transfer remained quiet until March of this year after the Toronto Sun obtained Magnotta’s transfer warrant.
Controversy over the transfer comes nine months after Paul Bernardo, arguably Canada’s highest-profile serial killer and rapist was also transferred from a maximum security prison to La Macaza.
Government officials cited privacy laws for withholding information from the public in both cases.
However, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada confirmed that exceptions are made for high-profile offenders on Monday.
“The Privacy Act allows federal government institutions to disclose some personal information in the public interest,” OPC spokesperson Vito Pilieci told Global News.
U.S. inmates’ records and locations are publicly accessible to be searched from a database but in Canada correctional service documents are defaulted to secrecy.
“The OPC was not contacted about the transfer,” said Pilieci.
While “incarcerated persons have privacy rights … decisions related to the disclosure of personal information in the public interest must be made by heads of institutions on a case-by-case basis,” he added.
The CSC said that Mendicino’s office was provided with advanced notice of Magnotta’s transfer but Mendicino would later claim he was not made aware of the transfer until after it occurred.
“The Privacy Act and other legislation currently puts significant limits on what can be discussed publicly, including information surrounding specific inmate transfers,” Mendicino said in a statement at the time.
The CSC said, “our correctional system is fundamentally based on the rehabilitation of offenders, even if some remain incarcerated for the rest of their lives.”
A CSC spokesperson described the security of La Macaza as having a “well-defined perimeter with high fences,” that “is strictly guarded 24/7 and is monitored at all times by armed control posts.”
