The lawyer for the families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, two of serial killer Paul Bernardo’s victims, is calling on the government to completely re-evaluate the need for transparency in the corrections and parole systems.
Tim Danson, the lawyer representing the families, said in a statement Thursday that the families do not accept that Bernardo’s transfer was “sound” or lawful, as a review into his contentious transfer to a medium-security prison asserted.
He said they are calling for legislative changes that would address confinement standards for the most dangerous offenders, and that transfer decisions should fully factor in the original sentences, citing the judge’s comments at Bernardo’s 1995 sentencing that his chance at rehabilitation “is remote in the extreme.”
“There cannot be a one fits all criteria,” Danson wrote in a preliminary statement sent to the media, noting he and the families had not yet reviewed the full review report in detail.
“As the government has already said publicly, the decision to transfer Paul Bernardo from maximum security to medium security, was ‘shocking’ and ‘incomprehensible’. The families accept this government’s position to be genuine and sincere.
“No law that is ‘shocking’ and ‘incomprehensible’ can stand and must be changed to address the specific challenges faced when dealing with Canada’s most dangerous offenders.”
Danson said he had “constructive” conversations with Correctional Service Canada Commissioner Anne Kelly and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino on Wednesday about the report into the review and agreed to stay in further contact.
Danson’s statement did not mention the report’s findings about victim notification, which called for better notification for families. But he did suggest the Privacy Act allowed the CSC to protect itself from accountability by not sharing information about notable inmates like Bernardo with Canadians “under the pretext of protecting the offender’s privacy rights.”
His comments come after Danson previously issued an open letter on behalf of the French and Mahaffy families, adding he was not notified of the transfer prior to it happening on May 29.
A CSC news release from June 5 states: “Throughout Paul Bernardo’s sentence, we have continued to provide information and updates to all registered victims through our National Victim Services Program, and will continue to do so moving forward.”
Danson writes that he received two “non-descript” voicemails from CSC that day, one at 9:06 a.m. and another at 1:48 p.m. According to Danson, the voicemails just said “that CSC had some information for me.”
He described returning the afternoon call shortly thereafter, only to find out Bernardo had already been transferred to the medium-security prison. Danson said he then contacted the families to see if they had been notified that morning.
“To be credible, the advanced notice would had to have occurred days before or at the latest the day prior. Yet apparently, the Frenches were advised on the morning of Mr. Bernardo’s transfer without any explanation,” Danson wrote.
“Ms. Mahaffy was left with the distinct impression that the transfer had already taken place, or at best was imminent.”
At the July 20 press conference on the transfer review, Kelly said that La Macaza specializes in managing “this type of offender,” and any inmate can be transferred to a higher security level facility if deemed necessary.
Referencing Bernardo’s last parole hearing in 2021, Danson writes that the parole board found Bernardo showed no remorse, insight or empathy. He wrote that a psychiatrist at that hearing said Bernardo still met the criteria for sexual sadism, narcissistic personality disorder and displayed psychopathic traits; and said that these conditions were not treatable.
“No one can suggest that in the last two years, Bernardo has been able to affect a miraculous rehabilitation within a maximum-security federal penitentiary, which he could not achieve in the first 28 years,” Danson wrote.
“Despite the fact that he is at a medium-security institution, does not negate the fact that he is a psychopath,” Kelly said at the July 20 press conference.
Despite being classed as medium-security, La Macaza has similar perimeter control as a maximum-security facility. This includes high walls and armed guards on patrol.
In both the review’s open letter and response to the findings, Danson notes that a hallmark of psychopathy is manipulative behaviour and argues normal evaluation criteria should not have been applied to Bernardo.