Who decides where criminals like Paul Bernardo serve their sentences in Canada?
Revelations about who knew what about the transfer of serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison has many people wondering how the decision was made.
The subsequent public outcry and calls from the Conservative Party for the resignation of Federal Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino have also raised the question of who has the authority to make prison transfer decisions – and who has the authority to to undo it.
Here’s a look at that process, as well as what life would be like for Bernardo in a medium-security prison.
Who decides where prisoners serve their sentences?
There are generally three levels of prisons in Canada: maximum, medium and minimum security. According to the Corrections and Parole ActWhen an inmate enters the system, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) assigns them a security rating based on the severity of the crime, history, physical and mental state, and potential for violent behavior.
The process also takes into account the risk of escape, the need for surveillance and the risk to public safety. A review is required every two years, the CSC said in a statement.
Canada’s Prison Service is now reviewing its decision to move notorious serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo from a maximum-security prison to a medium-security prison. The transfer has sparked outrage across Canada’s political landscape. Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the murders of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s.
“We don’t have punishments that limit people to maximum safety for all their punishments,” said John Conroy, a British Columbia attorney who wrote the book. Canadian prison law. “And I would say that this type of punishment would be counterproductive. It makes people worse if you don’t give them any hope.”
Inmates look for opportunities to “cascade” through the system to access less restrictive environments and more programming, and to demonstrate their ability to reintegrate into society.
“The probation committee is very interested in your chances of success in the community,” said Howard Sapers, a counselor and former Canada detective.
“And your chances of success in the community are much higher if you’ve demonstrated your ability to move down the security ladder and live and survive and be safe in increasingly less restrictive forms of custody.”
Conroy said Bernardo, who was detained at Millhaven Institution near Kingston, Ontario, would have worked with a probation officer, manager of intervention and case management team to qualify for a transfer.
In addition to the reasons for the judgment and statements about the victim’s impact, his behavior in maximum safety and any record of disciplinary violations would have been considered. The directors of both institutions must also agree, he said.
How can a dangerous offender qualify for medium security?
Bernardo, 58, is serving a life sentence after being convicted in 1995 of kidnapping, aggravated assault and first-degree murder of two teenage girls. dangerous offender. He has been transferred to La Macaza Institution, a medium-security prison in the Laurentians region of Quebec.
Crown lawyers applying for the designation must prove that there is a high risk of the person in question committing more violence or sex crimes.
A special process regulates dangerous offenders who want to move to minimum security prisons, which are generally not surrounded by fences. The chances of Bernardo being approved for a transfer to a minimum security prison in the future are slim, Conroy said.
“In the case of a dangerous offender, there are additional hurdles that a person must pass before they can reach minimum security,” he said.
“So Mr. Bernardo isn’t going down to minimum security any time soon. It’s taken him about 30 years to get to medium security and considering the different levels he’ll have to go through to progress.”
But dangerous offenders can move between maximum and intermediate prisons without going through the special process, said Shane Martinez, a criminal defense attorney and adjunct professor of prison law at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto.
“The settings are largely the same,” he said. “They’re both prisons, and they’re both high-security prisons.”
Both maximum and medium security prisons in Canada are surrounded by high walls topped with barbed wire. They both have watchtowers, armed guards and dogs, Martinez said.
What is life like in medium security?
The main difference for inmates in maximum and medium-security prisons is changes in everyday life, Martinez said. In medium security, inmates generally have more freedom of movement, access to prison work and education programs.
But Bernardo’s situation is unique, Martinez said, and he will likely be kept in isolation in medium-security prison.
“It’s hard to imagine anyone’s profile being released to the general public. The potential consequences of that, the possibility of violence, I think is just too great,” he said.
“The likelihood that he will experience the kind of life an inmate would normally experience in a medium-security facility is unlikely. I think he will have a very unique, individual experience there.”
Can the decision to transfer Bernardo be reversed?
Correctional Service Canada has already established a three-person committee to review “the eligibility of [Bernardo’s] safety classification and transfer to a medium-level facility, review considerations and reports of casualties and whether the legislative and policy framework has been followed in this case.”
And while Public Security Secretary Marco Mendicino is under fire for failing to intervene to stop Bernardo’s transfer, both Sapers and Martinez agree that political interference would set a dangerous precedent.
A lawyer representing the families of Paul Bernardo’s victims says they have not been given enough notice of the serial killer’s transfer from a maximum-security prison to a medium-security prison. They have joined lawyers who say there is a loophole in the law that needs to be amended so that victims can be consulted in future transfer cases.
“Canada’s Correctional Service is quite rightly independent in exercising its authority under the law,” Sapers said.
“We’ve set up our system so that this independence actually protects us all, and it guarantees that we’re not just being harassed for political reasons. And I think most Canadians would accept that, at least that principle.”
The Bernardo case is still strong in some people’s memories, and it may shape their views on how he should be treated. But emotions and the law are two very different things, Martinez said.
“Without disregarding people’s emotions, we must understand that the law works on a different basis,” he said. “And we can’t make decisions about legal matters based on emotions because we risk making very big mistakes and taking directions that we might regret one day if we do.”
Even if Bernardo’s transfer to medium security holds up, it might not last forever. For example, if he commits a disciplinary violation, he could be sent back to a maximum security prison, Conroy said.
“I know some people who have been moved back because they slept in and didn’t get to their program on time,” he said.
The opposition is demanding the job of Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino after his agency failed to inform him of the transfer of serial killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison. Plus, what is the next step in the foreign interference investigation and will there be a public inquiry?
