Dan Walton, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
John Brittain’s good behaviour earned him a prison upgrade.
The man who murdered four Penticton residents in April 2019 is now spending his days in a medium security prison. He was in maximum security since his sentencing.
Since Corrections Canada is under the direction of Parliament, it’s up to the ruling party — the Liberals — to enact legislation that will prevent notorious criminals from softening their punishment, said Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo, the Opposition’s critic of Justice and the Attorney General.
Considering the level of public backlash after serial rapist Paul Bernardo was transferred to a medium security prison earlier in 2023, Caputo doesn’t understand why the Liberals didn’t enact legislation that would have prevented Brittain’s transfer.
He said the difference between maximum and medium security in mostly within the walls, whereas the security of the perimeter is similar.
“Maximum is much more controlled with interior movements,” Caputo said in an interview with The Herald, Tuesday. “Very little freedom to roam around.”
But regardless as to whether Brittain, now 72, can be trusted in a lower-security prison, Caputo says it’s a symbolic issue, just like with Bernardo. Corrections Canada should be basing its decisions upon what’s “just and appropriate,” he said, adding that a Conservative government would make that the case.
He encourages anybody who disagrees with Corrections Canada’s decision to transfer Brittain to write their local MP.
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