Bernardo's prison transfer report offers rare insights into killer's life behind bars

A report from the the Correctional Service of Canada offers new details of Paul Bernardo's life behind bars — and what led to the controversial decision to transfer one of Canada's most infamous killers to a medium security prison.

Anne Kelly, head of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), released a review committee's report this week detailing the prison transfer that sparked widespread public outrage.

The review concluded that CSC followed the rules in transferring Bernardo but said more could have been done for the victims' families, who felt shocked and betrayed by the move. A lawyer for the families continues to call for Bernardo to be sent back to maximum security.

Bernardo, a designated dangerous offender, is serving a life sentence for kidnapping, torturing and killing Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s. He was also found guilty of the manslaughter and sexual assault of his 15-year-old sister-in-law Tammy Homolka.

Canada's privacy commissioner weighed the public's interest against Bernardo's privacy rights and, in a rare move, allowed the release of new personal information about his case.

Here's what the 85-page report reveals about Bernardo's 28 years in prison.

Bernardo's security level was assessed 14 times between 1999 and 2022. One of the tools the corrections system uses to determine if an inmate is in the right prison is the "security reclassification scale."

Since 1999, that scale produced a score that recommended Bernardo be classified as medium security. That recommendation was overridden 13 times over 23 years, keeping Bernardo in a maximum security prison. 

The reason given for maintaining Bernardo at maximum security was his own personal safety. Bernardo needed "significant security measures and restrictions on movement," the review committee's report said. 

WATCH | Outrage over Paul Bernardo's transfer to medium security prison

The report said Bernardo was considered an "inmate in danger" when he was first sent to the Kingston Penitentiary in 1995 and he was involuntarily segregated for 18 years until the prison closed.

A heavily redacted annex of Bernardo's institutional chronology suggests he was the "victim" in a dozen incidents between 1995-2019.

He was classified in prison as a "conformist." That means he's "been the victim of attempted and actual assaults but has not engaged in violence against other offenders or staff," the report said.

Unauthorized items or contraband have been found in Bernardo's cells three times over the decades.