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March 06, 2024 - 7:00 PM
Kamloops-area MP Frank Caputo is calling out Canada's corrections boss after he was fact-checked for his claims about jail conditions for one of the country's most notorious killers.
He visited the medium-security prison that holds serial rapist and convicted murderer Paul Bernardo and posted a video this week claiming the Quebec facility hosts "taxpayer-funded serial killer pickup hockey."
The Correctional Service of Canada said the hockey rink at La Macaza Institution hasn't had ice for two winters and that Bernardo and Caputo didn't communicate, despite the MP's claims.
He sent a letter today, March 6, to the federal agency's commissioner Anne Kelly calling on her to make time for a radio show interview for the pair to discuss the jail conditions. Caputo said the agency has not been clear in its attempts to refute his claims.
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"It is clear to me that Correctional Service Canada is attempting to discredit me with vague statements questioning things that I neither said nor implied," the letter posted to social media reads.
The Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP's nearly seven-minute long video details his February visit to the facility, which he arranged some time after news broke of Bernardo's transfer from a maximum security facility last year.
Caputo said he toured La Macaza and scanned Bernardo's cell in February.
He said he turned around to see Bernardo, who appeared to inquire about why they were looking into his cell. The correctional service said didn't interact, instead only perhaps seeing each other from across a hallway.
Speaking with iNFOnews.ca, Caputo reaffirmed that Bernardo came up to the cell while the MP was inspecting it.
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While the hockey rink is not functional at the moment, it's not uncommon for prisons to offer recreation to inmates, like at La Macaza, which Caputo said also has a weight room. Caputo said that while he isn't aware of whether or not Bernardo is allowed to use recreational facilities, he did see the killer's name on a list for workshop privileges.
"It should also be noted that opportunities to participate in recreational activities is not unique to La Macaza, and can be found in other institutions," a Correctional Service spokesperson told The Canadian Press.
The rink may have been used at the facility for at least the past decade, dating back to the Harper years. Caputo said he does not question whether recreation should be allowed at all. He questions what type of inmates should be allowed in anything less then a maximum security prison.
"The fundamental question is this: should people who have committed the most serious of serious offences have ordinary amenities that other inmates have?" Caputo said while speaking with iNFOnews.ca. "There is a place for minimum security, there is a place for medium security and there is a place for maximum security. The question then becomes where do the likes of Paul Bernardo and Luka Magnotta go?"
Caputo also had an op-ed published in the Toronto Sun, in which he appeals to keep "vile killers" like Bernardo in maximum security prisons. He also goes on to blame a legislative change from nearly five years ago for allowing Bernardo's transfer.
He points to Bill C 83, which requires the correctional service to put inmates in the "least restrictive" facilities necessary to protect the public.
In his letter, Caputo asked Kelly to join him on either the Bill Carroll or Alex Pierson shows within 10 days.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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