Two inmates have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the federal maximum-security prison in Quebec currently housing serial killer Robert Pickton.
Correctional Service of Canada did not confirm the identities of the two inmates in Port-Cartier Institution, but said in a statement on Monday (March 30) tha nine employees had tested positive for the virus prior to the inmates being diagnosed.
Pickton, who owned a pig farm in Port Coquitlam, was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years on Dec. 11, 2007, for the second-degree murders of six women between 1971 and 2001.
He was transferred to the Quebec facility in June 2018. Pickton is 70 years old.
Other high-profile killers currently serving sentences at the Port-Cartier Institution include Paul Bernardo and Luka Magnotta.
READ MORE: RCMP ask court about disposal of evidence in Robert Pickton case
A number of advocacy groups, including the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, has called on the federal government to release non-violent offenders in order to prevent a potential spread of COVID-19.
On Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair asked the federal prison service and the parole board to look at early release for some offenders.
READ MORE: Should non-violent offenders be released from prison to avoid COVID-19 spread?
The Correctional Service is working closely with the Parole Board “to examine all options with respect to the safe release of offenders into the community,” said Martine Rondeau, a spokeswoman for the prison service.
– with a file from The Canadian Press
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