Paul Bernardo is shown in this courtroom sketch during Ontario court proceedings via video link in Napanee, Ont., on October 5, 2018. The Correctional Service of Canada is set to unveil the results of a review into the controversial transfer of notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Greg Banning
OTTAWA – The Correctional Service of Canada is set to unveil the results of a review into the controversial decision to transfer notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison.
Commissioner Anne Kelly will be joined by other officials at a scheduled 1:45 p.m. news conference, where she is expected to lay out the review of Bernardo’s transfer and security classification.
Bernardo had spent nearly 30 years in a maximum-security prison – most recently the Millhaven Institution near Kingston, Ont. – before his late-May transfer to La Macaza Institution in Quebec, a medium-security prison offering treatment for sex offenders.
He is serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, assault and murders of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who has faced calls from the Conservatives to resign over the issue, has said the Correctional Service of Canada owes Canadians an explanation given the severity of Bernardo’s crimes.
Mendicino has said he would issue a directive instructing the Correctional Service to ensure the minister is formally and directly notified in advance of the transfer of high-profile or dangerous offenders.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2023.
