Warden told to justify killer's prison transfer for drug dealing
CBC
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has given the warden of B.C.'s Mission Institution, 50 kilometres east of Vancouver, three weeks to justify the transfer of a so-called "high-profile" killer from medium to maximum security after he was accused of being a major player in the prison's drug subculture.
Jeffrey Leinen was subject to an emergency involuntary transfer to Kent Institution, about 35 kilometres away, last November when prison informants fingered him as a drug dealer and a search of his cell turned up "debt-sheets" that authorities claimed he used to keep track of the sale of drugs behind bars.
Leinen — who is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder — claimed he was innocent, suggesting someone set him up and arguing he couldn't properly defend himself at the hearing which resulted in his transfer, because he wasn't allowed to see the debt sheets himself.
In a decision handed down last week, Justice Geoffrey Gomery agreed, setting aside the transfer decision — but giving the warden 21 days to convene a new hearing on the evidence.
"I conclude that the law required that the debt sheets ... be made available to him in advance of the warden's board hearing," Gomery wrote.
"In the result, the hearing was unlawful and the Warden's decisions are unjustified."
According to documents filed in the case, Leinen was labelled a "high-profile offender" because of media interest in the 38-year-old's 2010 crime, which occurred in Olds, Alta., about 100 kilometres north of Calgary, when he plowed his truck into a crowd of people outside a bar.
Leinen had been ejected from the bar after an altercation moments before. He struck four people, killing Nicholas Baier, 18, and seriously injuring another person.
If upheld, the transfer to Kent could have serious implications for Leinen, who is eligible for full parole this October.
The legal filings adhere to what Gomery called the "ancient legal remedy" of habaes corpus — Latin for "you should have the body" — through which the court can review the state's detention of a prisoner.
The documents filed with the court provide a window into both the drug subculture inside Canadian prisons and attempts by those tasked with maintaining order behind bars to gather intelligence through a network of informants.
Correctional Service Canada security intelligence officer Andrew Austin provided an affidavit containing information from sources who claim Leinen sold fentanyl, controlled drug runners and was "heavily involved in the institutional drug subculture."
The judge ordered the affidavit sealed and Leinen's lawyer was not allowed to see it. In a public portion of the document, Austin explained why.
"If ever the identity of a confidential informant were to be revealed, he may be labelled a 'rat' by other inmates and would face grave danger from those seeking revenge," Austin wrote.
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