Luka Magnotta transfer was flagged twice to then-minister’s office: CSC

globalnews.ca:

A year before the transfer of serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison in Quebec ignited a political firestorm, then-public safety minister Marco Mendicino’s office had been informed about plans for a similar move of another high-profile killer — Luka Magnotta — to the same institution.

“Advanced notification was provided to the Minister of Public Safety’s office once the offender had been approved for the transfer and again when the transfer date had been determined,” Correctional Service Canada (CSC) spokesperson Esther Mailhot said in a statement to Global News Tuesday when asked about Magnotta.

The CSC says the previous public safety minister’s office was informed Magnotta would be moving to a medium-security prison in May 2022 with a transfer date of August of that year.

But the transfer only became public in recent days, after the Toronto Sun reported on his move from the maximum-security prison Port-Cartier in eastern Quebec to the medium-security facility La Macaza, northwest of Montreal.

Bernardo was also moved to La Macaza nine months later.

The correctional service revealed it had first told Mendicino’s office about the possibility of a transfer in early March and then again in late May after a date for the move had been set. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was briefed on May 29, the day the transfer took place, while Mendicino has said he found out the next day.

It’s not clear at this time when or if Mendicino was notified about Magnotta’s transfer to La Macaza.

Magnotta – whose birth name is Eric Newman – is serving an indeterminate life sentence after he was found guilty in 2014 of murdering international student Jun Lin.

Magnotta admitted to killing Lin, dismembering him and mailing