Decision to transfer Paul Bernardo 'sound' and followed protocol ...

OTTAWA -

The highly contentious decision by the Correctional Service of Canada to transfer notorious serial rapist and convicted killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison was "sound" and followed all applicable laws and policies, a review has found.

According to a report released Thursday by Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) Commissioner Anne Kelly, the decision to relocate Bernardo from the maximum-security Millhaven Institution in Ontario to the medium-security La Macaza Institution in Quebec in late May will stand.

The move was based in part on what CSC says was an effective offender integration plan and Bernardo's "generally conformist" behaviour, after Bernardo's security classification was reviewed 14 times between 1999 and 2022, approximately every two years, as required.

The review also found that while CSC "went above policy in this case to notify victims," additional steps should have been taken to provide more information.

This finding has prompted the panel to recommend CSC share the review and recommendations with the registered victims prior to being released publicly, which has happened.

The panel also recommended the strengthening of victim notifications and engagement by striking a committee dedicated to this work, which, CSC said Thursday, will be done.

"I recognize that some may not support this outcome. While this case has opened up a larger and important debate about the role of corrections in our society, it is important for us to look at the larger context. I have been with CSC for close to 40 years, and I know that, our feelings towards an offender must not guide our decisions," the commissioner said in a statement accompanying the report.

Kelly and officials are holding a press conference in Ottawa to speak to their findings regarding the much-maligned transfer. While expressing "regret" for the pain this entire ordeal has caused Canadians, Kelly defended the system as one "fundamentally based on the rehabilitation of offenders," even if, as in Bernardo's case, they will remain incarcerated for the rest of their lives.

WHY WAS BERNARDO TRANSFERRED?

Bernado, 58, is serving an indeterminate life sentence and has been designated as a dangerous offender. He was convicted in 1995 for the kidnap, rape, torture and murder of two teenagers – 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy – in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont. He was also convicted of manslaughter in the death of Tammy Homolka.

In Thursday's report, considerable detail is offered about Bernardo's time behind bars, his behaviour and his past requests for transfers.

For example, while Bernardo had for some time been deemed to meet the criteria to move to medium security, these results were overridden to keep him at maximum security each time until the most recent review in November 2022, in part because of the heightened safety risk he faced, given his high-profile offender status.

And, while Bernardo applied and was rejected for a move to medium-security Bath Institution in June 2022 because of his failure to integrate with other inmates, after working with senior officials at Millhaven Institution, he was able to fully integrate by July 2022 and then successfully applied for his move to La Macaza Instituion, where he remains.

"The offender’s Case Management Team (CMT) has worked for many years to facilitate the offender’s integration within the inmate population," reads the 85-page review.

CSC noted Thursday that La Macaza has comparable security protocols to the maximum security facility he came from, including a well-defined perimeter, high fences, 24/7 strict guarding, and inmate movement monitoring.

The release of this specific personal information about an offender is rare, the review notes, but has been shared in this case because of "the public’s interest and desire to understand why Paul Bernardo was reclassified."

"I want to be clear that, at any point, an inmate can be returned to a higher security level, if deemed necessary, to ensure the safety of the public or our institutions," Kelly said Thursday, noting Bernardo is still assessed as a high risk to the safety of the public.

This decision does not mean Bernardo will continue to cascade down through the system, CSC said Thursday.

NEW MINISTERIAL DIRECTIVE ISSUED

Bernardo's transfer was largely kept under wraps within the government until it occurred, sparking a fury of political controversy centred around Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.

Amid this uproar, in June CSC confirmed a three-person committee would review the "appropriateness" of Bernardo's security classification and subsequent transfer, and to ensure victims' rights and federal policies were upheld, promising the to release of findings within a few weeks.

This review was struck after the minister spoke with Kelly to express "in very clear terms" the concerns of the families of Bernardo's victims and all Canadians of the "incomprehensible" transfer, a decision that the minister does not have a role in making. 

After it was revealed that the minister's office and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office knew about plans to transfer Bernardo months before it happened, Mendicino "dealt with" the "breakdown in information flow" within his office and said he would issue a "ministerial directive" requiring Canada's corrections agency to reform how it handles high-profile prison transfers.

Thursday's release indicates that ministerial directive has now been drafted and will be implemented. 

The directive states that going forward, anytime CSC is considering supporting an offender transfer, the agency has to:

Gather and consider victim information and input at the outset; Require all staff to always consider whether any victims live near the institution that the offender may be transferred to; And, in cases of high-profile offenders being transferred to any reduced security level, the commissioner has to notify the minister of public safety "formally and directly."

Mendicino has also asked that CSC implement the recommendations of this report—titled "Review into the Transfer of an Inmate from Millhaven Institution to La Macaza Institution on May 29, 2023"—and report back to him within 30 days on the implementation of the directive in its entirety.

"Canadians rightly expect our criminal justice system to treat victims of crime and their families with dignity and respect. As a government we will ensure that victims are given the care they deserve, that the Victims Bill of Rights be followed and that the safety of our communities is placed above all," said the minister in a statement accompanying the release of the directive. 

Throughout the uproar over his transfer, Mendicino has said that he was awaiting the outcomes of this review before considering next steps.

Speaking to reporters in Kingston, Ont., ahead of the report's release, Trudeau wouldn’t say whether he thinks his minister properly handled the Bernardo file, but said he was keeping the French and Mahaffy families in mind.

"I think the entire country is still reeling from the anguish of these terrible, terrible acts. And that's the lens with which we have to go through all these processes," Trudeau said. "We have a justice system that operates independently, but we need to continue to make sure that it's doing so in a way that is putting victims and families first, that is reassuring people that it is rigorous in the way it goes forward… And there is of course, going to be ongoing work."

More coming…