Luka Magnotta transfer was flagged twice to then-minister’s office: CSC | 24CA News
A yr earlier than the switch of serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo to a medium-security jail in Quebec ignited a political firestorm, then-public security minister Marco Mendicino’s workplace had been knowledgeable about plans for the same transfer of one other high-profile killer — Luka Magnotta — to the identical establishment.
“Advanced notification was provided to the Minister of Public Safety’s office once the offender had been approved for the transfer and again when the transfer date had been determined,” Correctional Service Canada (CSC) spokesperson Esther Mailhot mentioned in a press release to Global News Tuesday when requested about Magnotta.
The CSC says the earlier public security minister’s workplace was knowledgeable Magnotta can be transferring to a medium-security jail in May 2022 with a switch date of August of that yr.
But the switch solely turned public in latest days, after the Toronto Sun reported on his transfer from the maximum-security jail Port-Cartier in jap Quebec to the medium-security facility La Macaza, northwest of Montreal.
Bernardo was additionally moved to La Macaza 9 months later.
The correctional service revealed it had first informed Mendicino’s workplace about the potential of a switch in early March after which once more in late May after a date for the transfer had been set. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was briefed on May 29, the day the switch occurred, whereas Mendicino has mentioned he discovered the subsequent day.
It’s not clear right now when or if Mendicino was notified about Magnotta’s switch to La Macaza.
Magnotta – whose beginning title is Eric Newman – is serving an indeterminate life sentence after he was discovered responsible in 2014 of murdering worldwide scholar Jun Lin.
Magnotta admitted to killing Lin, dismembering him and mailing his physique elements to political events and faculties.
Opposition events are questioning the CSC’s determination to maneuver one other reviled killer and are urging the federal government to take a better have a look at the switch course of.
“Victims continue to come second,” Conservative justice critic Frank Caputo mentioned in a press release Tuesday. He slammed the switch because the “intent and result of Trudeau’s C-83 law.”
Under C-83, inmates have to be held within the “least restrictive measures consistent with the protection of society.” But the Conservatives say the regulation has facilitated the transfers of the “worst of the worst,” like Magnotta and Bernardo.
The New Democrats name the news “deeply concerning.”
“We’re urging the government to look into this transfer, especially to consult with the victim’s loved ones and correctional officers who are familiar with the case,” NDP public security critic Peter Julian mentioned in a press release.
When requested by Global News if the Li household was knowledgeable of Magnotta’s switch, Corrections Canada mentioned victims “receive timely notification on matters such as transfers.”
The CSC provides that selections associated to reclassifications are “very thorough” and are solely made when an offender “can be safely managed in a medium-security facility.”
The facility the place Magnotta is now serving time has a “well-defined perimeter with high fences, is strictly guarded 24/7 and is patrolled by armed officers,” Corrections Canada mentioned.
Shane Martinez, a prison lawyer and adjunct professor of jail regulation at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, says the CSC makes its selections “carefully” and considers components akin to “escape risk” and hazard to public security.
“Some people might look at this move to medium security and say … ‘The next step is that (Magnotta is) going to be released on parole. He’s going to be back in the community.’ Well, that’s simply not going to happen,” Martinez mentioned.
He added that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to everybody, even the “worst of the worst,” like Magnotta.
“He’s an appropriate recipient of public anger and that’s understandably justified. But what’s difficult here is when politicians seize on this political opportunity to not explain how the system works,” Martinez mentioned.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
