Serial killer won't be transferred
Published Wednesday July 23rd, 2008
Decision | Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says Allan Legere will remain in special handling unit
OTTAWA - Convicted serial killer Allan Legere will not be transferred from a special handling unit housing Canada's most dangerous offenders to a less secure prison, says Canada's public safety minister.
"Allan Legere is incarcerated at the special handling unit in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines in Quebec and will remain there," said Stockwell Day on Tuesday.
A source close to the decision told Canadaeast News Service late last week that Legere was scheduled to be transferred today from the super-maximum security special handling unit at Ste.-Anne-des-Plaines near Montreal to a regular maximum security prison in Port-Cartier, 70 kilometres west of Sept-Iles, Que.
"Common sense has prevailed," said retired RCMP officer Mason Johnston, who helped capture Legere.
Word of the transfer sparked a series of calls and letters to Ottawa from Miramichi Mayor Gerry Cormier, Miramichi Liberal MP Charles Hubbard and New Brunswick Public Safety Minister John Foran.
Foran, who worked with the Chatham police force during Legere's murder spree, said he's satisfied that the notorious serial killer will remain confined at the country's highest security prison.
"I lived that terror," Foran said Tuesday. "I know what it was like to have to lock your doors every night; I know why we had to double the size of our small police force and stretch our resources to the limit.
"I remember being worried that people were going to end up hurting somebody because they were scared out of their mind."
Foran said Day assured him during a telephone conversation Tuesday that, "Legere will not be returned to New Brunswick, his status will not be downgraded, and he is not being transferred."
Known as the Monster of the Miramichi, Legere is serving a life sentence for the grisly murders of five people in the region.
He was sentenced to life in prison for the 1986 murder of John Glendenning, a shopkeeper in Black River Bridge, before escaping custody in 1989.
A five-month manhunt by police ensued in which Legere managed to rape, beat and kill three women and murder an elderly Catholic priest.
"He's conniving, devious and manipulative," said Foran.
"His purpose for trying to get transferred from the special handling unit to a new unit gives him a window of opportunity - however small - to try to escape.
"He's vengeful. He holds grudges and he would have a hit list."
Day said inmates being held at the special handling unit have their cases reviewed every four months to determine whether they will remain at the facility.
He said the government is reviewing that policy.
"As part of the Corrections (Correctional Service of Canada) transformation process, the government is examining changes to the way in which serious offenders are handled by the corrections system," said Day.
"This includes a review of this four-month review policy."
The Corrections and Conditional Release Act requires that the Correctional Service of Canada house offenders in the least restrictive environment.
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