prison

The Matsqui Institution, a medium-security federal men’s prison, is seen in Abbotsford, B.C., Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. An architect of the legislation governing Canada’s prison system says while most want retribution on killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo, it was some time ago that the country “gave up torture.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Canadians want revenge on Bernardo, but that’s not how prison works: ex-official

News of the transfer was confirmed by the lawyer for the families of two of his victims

 

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre speaks with reporters before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on Parliament Hill, Tuesday, June 6, 2023 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Poilievre calls on Liberals to make killers like Bernardo stay in max-security prison

Bernardo is serving a life sentence for the kidnapping, torture and murders of Kristen French, 15, and Leslie Mahaffy, 14

 

Paul Bernardo sits in the back of a police cruiser as he leaves a hearing in St. Catharines, Ont., April 5, 1994. The lawyer for the families of Paul Bernardo’s victims says the killer and serial rapist should be returned to his maximum-security prison and transparency be provided around what led to his transfer to a medium-security facility in the first place.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Prison service to review decision to transfer killer Bernardo to medium security

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says he raised concerns about the transfer directly to federal corrections commissioner Anne Kelly

 

Paul Bernardo sits in the back of a police cruiser as he leaves a hearing in St. Catharines, Ont., April 5, 1994. The federal public safety minister says reports of teen killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo being transferred to a medium-security prison are “shocking and incomprehensible.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Minister ‘shocked’ at reports of Paul Bernardo being moved to medium-security prison

He was initially incarcerated at Ontario’s Kingston Penitentiary and later spent about a decade at the Millhaven Institution

Paul Bernardo sits in the back of a police cruiser as he leaves a hearing in St. Catharines, Ont., April 5, 1994. The federal public safety minister says reports of teen killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo being transferred to a medium-security prison are “shocking and incomprehensible.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford. (Abbotsford News file photo)

Drugs and 3 weapons worth $32K found in inmate’s cell at Abbotsford prison

Contraband discovered April 19 during search by officers at Matsqui Institution

Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford. (Abbotsford News file photo)
Correctional officers came across a pigeon with a mini backpack on Feb. 27 at Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford. (Stock photo by Couleur from Pixabay)

Backpack-wearing pigeon caught ‘in training’ at Abbotsford prison

Officers’ union president says no drugs found, unlike previous incident in December

Correctional officers came across a pigeon with a mini backpack on Feb. 27 at Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford. (Stock photo by Couleur from Pixabay)
Gary Donald Johnston. (File photo)

Surrey murderer who stabbed man during burglary dies in prison

Gary Donald Johnston was serving a life sentence for the 1998 murder of Vic Fraser, a man he brutally stabbed to death in Bridgeview

Gary Donald Johnston. (File photo)
Stock photo

Court certifies class-action suit alleging rampant illegal strip searches in prisons

Suit seeks an end to unauthorized searches, seeks compensation for victims

Stock photo
An inmate at the North Slave Correctional Complex in Yellowknife skins a squirrel as he and others take part in a class that teaches inmates trapping and outdoor survival skills on Thursday, Feb.16, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Angela Gzowski

‘Helped me rejuvenate my soul:’ Inmates in Yellowknife learn trapping, outdoor skills

Program intended to empower inmates and reconnect them with their culture

An inmate at the North Slave Correctional Complex in Yellowknife skins a squirrel as he and others take part in a class that teaches inmates trapping and outdoor survival skills on Thursday, Feb.16, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Angela Gzowski
Witness box and Judges’s bench at the Edmonton Law Courts building, in Edmonton on Friday, June 28, 2019. A registry of wrongful conviction cases in Canada is launching for the first time, showing 83 cases where people had their convictions overturned. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Researchers hope wrongfully convicted database will lead to reforms, more releases

Database launching this week with 83 cases

Witness box and Judges’s bench at the Edmonton Law Courts building, in Edmonton on Friday, June 28, 2019. A registry of wrongful conviction cases in Canada is launching for the first time, showing 83 cases where people had their convictions overturned. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a keynote address on the Canada-Mexico relationship and North American competitiveness at the Centro University in Mexico City, Mexico, Wednesday Jan.11, 2023. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is looking “carefully” and “quickly” at a letter from Canada’s premiers calling for a fix to the country’s bail system. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Trudeau says Ottawa looking at bail reform after letter from premiers demands action

Poilievre says repeat offenders pose the biggest risk to public safety

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a keynote address on the Canada-Mexico relationship and North American competitiveness at the Centro University in Mexico City, Mexico, Wednesday Jan.11, 2023. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is looking “carefully” and “quickly” at a letter from Canada’s premiers calling for a fix to the country’s bail system. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The Pacific Institution is shown in this undated handout photo. A prison union spokesman says a pigeon carrying a miniature backpack filled with drugs was captured last week at the B.C. correctional facility. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Pacific Institution

Pigeon toting crystal meth in tiny backpack caught in Abbotsford prison yard

Officers’ union president says it’s another example of how creative drug smugglers have become

The Pacific Institution is shown in this undated handout photo. A prison union spokesman says a pigeon carrying a miniature backpack filled with drugs was captured last week at the B.C. correctional facility. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Pacific Institution
Kendal Campeau died in Pacific Institution in Abbotsford on Nov. 14, 2021.

More answers sought into death of Indigenous man in Abbotsford prison

Two organizations say Kendal Campeau was victim of ‘systemic issues’

Kendal Campeau died in Pacific Institution in Abbotsford on Nov. 14, 2021.
The body of Metchosin man Martin Payne was discovered July 12, 2019. Two escaped inmates from William Head Institution have been charged with his murder. (Martin Payne/Facebook)

Trial gets underway for B.C. prison escapees accused of murdering Metchosin man

Zachary Armitage and James Lee Busch are charged with killing 60-year-old Martin Payne

The body of Metchosin man Martin Payne was discovered July 12, 2019. Two escaped inmates from William Head Institution have been charged with his murder. (Martin Payne/Facebook)
Inmates at the William Head Institution show off their Royal Canadian Legion Branch 91 poppy box. Since at least 2016, inmates at the institution have been making donations to the West Shore Legion’s poppy campaign. (Courtesy of William Head Institution)

B.C. prisoners pitching in to keep memory of wartime sacrifices alive

Inmates at the William Head Institution on Vancouver Island make annual donations

Inmates at the William Head Institution show off their Royal Canadian Legion Branch 91 poppy box. Since at least 2016, inmates at the institution have been making donations to the West Shore Legion’s poppy campaign. (Courtesy of William Head Institution)
Pacific Institution in Abbotsford

Man dies while serving time in Abbotsford prison for double murder

Darcy Sidoruk, sentenced in 1982, was an inmate at Pacific Institution

Pacific Institution in Abbotsford
Correctional Investigator of Canada Dr. Ivan Zinger listens during a news conference to discuss the 2021-22 annual report, in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Canada failing Black, Indigenous prisoners as overrepresentation persists: report

Rampant racial discrimination, stereotyping and bias, are ‘as pervasive and persistent as before’

Correctional Investigator of Canada Dr. Ivan Zinger listens during a news conference to discuss the 2021-22 annual report, in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Barb Presseau, seen here on Oct. 21, 2022, is upset the man who killed her son Doug on July 7, 2017 downtown Chilliwack is set for statutory release on or near Nov. 19, 2022. Kirkland Russell was sentenced to eight years for the killing. (Paul Henderson/ Chilliwack Progress)

OPINION: Mother of B.C. man stabbed to death outraged over killer’s imminent release

Barbara Presseau wants public to know that offenders only serve two-thirds of sentences behind bars

Barb Presseau, seen here on Oct. 21, 2022, is upset the man who killed her son Doug on July 7, 2017 downtown Chilliwack is set for statutory release on or near Nov. 19, 2022. Kirkland Russell was sentenced to eight years for the killing. (Paul Henderson/ Chilliwack Progress)
A July 5, 2021 photo of Oleksii Kisilishin holding his dog Cherry. In the last, brief conversations Viktoria Skliar had with Oleksii Kisilishin, her detained boyfriend, the Ukrainian prisoner of war was making tentative plans for life after his release in an upcoming exchange with Russia. The next time Skliar saw Kisilishin, he was dead — one of several bodies in a photo of people local authorities said were killed when blasts ripped through a prison in a part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. (Viktoria Skliar via AP)

A Ukrainian woman’s quest to retrieve body of prisoner of war

Her boyfriend died when the prison he was being held captive in was blown up

A July 5, 2021 photo of Oleksii Kisilishin holding his dog Cherry. In the last, brief conversations Viktoria Skliar had with Oleksii Kisilishin, her detained boyfriend, the Ukrainian prisoner of war was making tentative plans for life after his release in an upcoming exchange with Russia. The next time Skliar saw Kisilishin, he was dead — one of several bodies in a photo of people local authorities said were killed when blasts ripped through a prison in a part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. (Viktoria Skliar via AP)
File Photo. Deputy Rick Bray watches surveillance monitors from the control room at the Clallam County Jail on Wednesday in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

B.C. sheriff points to staff shortages, guard apathy for drugs in prisons

Sheriff speaks on anonymity as to how drugs get into prisons

File Photo. Deputy Rick Bray watches surveillance monitors from the control room at the Clallam County Jail on Wednesday in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)