More transparency needed after high-profile prison transfers: ex-watchdog

Canadians deserve to know more about why corrections officials make decisions on things like high-profile prison transfers, a former watchdog says.

But Howard Sapers, a corrections policy consultant and former Correctional Investigator of Canada, says that transparency should still be limited to prevent the sharing of personal information about prisoners and anything else that’s not in the public interest.

“I think that correctional services across the country, including the Correctional Service of Canada, could do a much better job of explaining how they do their business, educating Canadians so that they have a better sense of why decisions are made and the way that they’re made,” he told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.

However, he added, “There are legitimate privacy rights engaged here, just like we don’t share people’s private health care information.

“As unsatisfying as this may sound, there’s a big difference between what’s in the public interest — let’s say, for their safety — and what would be something they’re just curious about.”

Global News reported last week that in 2022, three days before convicted murderer Luka Magnotta was transferred from a maximum to medium security prison, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) instructed staff not to tell the public about the move. The decision would not come to light for nearly two years.

That report marked the latest example, after Paul Bernardo, of a high-profile Canadian killer being transferred to a lower-security prison without public knowledge. Global News has reported CSC told staff to keep Bernardo’s transfer to a medium security facility “low profile.”

News of Bernardo’s transfer last year ignited a political firestorm and shocked Canadians, particularly after the lawyer for the families of Bernardo’s victims said they weren’t informed until after the transfer took place.

People close to a particular case, such as family members of victims and surviving victims, have a different right to information about whether a prisoner has been selected for a transfer or change in security classification, Sapers said.

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Those people can register with CSC to get access to “far more information than the general public would have,” including notifications of transfers, he said.

Ultimately, Sapers noted Canadian law requires regular assessments of prisoners to determine their security classification and ensure they are not being unduly restricted.

“The most well-known principle (under the law) is that the state only has the right to limit a citizen’s independence — regardless of who they are — to the extent absolutely necessary to meet a legal reason,” he said. “So we have to always be focused on this sort of least restrictive or least intrusive measure in administering the law.”

Both Bernardo and Magnotta are serving life sentences for their crimes.

Sapers pointed out that a life sentence still applies if someone is moved to a different facility or even if they are eventually released on parole, noting that parolees would still be under the constant supervision of a parole officer.

“Canadians need to know that if you’re sentenced to life … the sentence doesn’t expire because you’ve walked out the back door in prison,” he said. “The sentence expires upon your death. That’s what a life sentence is.”

Concern has risen in Canada over the laws surrounding bail and parole amid a flurry of reports about repeat offenders, many of whom have committed new crimes while out on bail for previous cases.

Myles Sanderson, the man accused of fatally stabbing 11 people in the James Creek First Nation in Saskatchewan in 2022, was out on statutory release despite a lengthy criminal record and had a warrant out for his arrest at the time of the killings. He died in police custody after a days-long manhunt.

The incident prompted an investigation into both CSC and the Parole Board of Canada that recommended, among other things, improved risk assessments for domestic violence and offender suicide.

Sapers said parole success in Canada is typically “pretty high,” but it depends on the level of supervision.

He acknowledged statutory release, which happens after an inmate completes two-thirds of their sentence, can create problems “because those are the people that were considered to be too risky to release,” and have “the least amount of time under supervision in the community.”

Despite warnings of a “revolving door” criminal justice system where offenders are quickly released on bail, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said in a February report that by 2021-2022, the proportion of people in provincial and territorial jails who were awaiting bail or trial reached a record level of more than 70 per cent – and nearly 79 per cent in Ontario.

“We use pretrial custody … at an extreme rate,” Sapers said. “It’s about as high as I’ve ever seen anywhere.

“When situations in custody are crowded, that’s not safe for anybody. It’s not a good place to work. It’s not a good place to be spending your time as a prisoner, either. So there’s lots of problems that come with overcrowding.”

Federal prisons are not seeing the same overcrowding problem, with thousands of empty cells across the country, according to Sapers and current corrections officials.

But those facilities are seeing a rising rate of assaults on prison staff and inmates, according to data reported by the Globe and Mail last week. Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger warned the violence is a “red flag” that could be a precursor to “major disturbances or even riots.”

Sapers said he’s similarly concerned about the trend, which may be driven by frustrations over a lack of prison programs and jobs to increased lockdowns due to staff shortages.

“There could be a flashpoint coming,” he said. “And one of the early indicators of that flashpoint are some reported increases in some prison violence.”