Conservative MPs react to Luka Magnotta's prison transfer

Conservative MPs are criticizing the federal government amid the news that convicted killer Luka Magnotta was transferred to a medium-security facility two years ago, while prisoner advocates warn the scrutiny is purely political.

Conservative MPs are criticizing the federal government amid the news that convicted killer Luka Magnotta was transferred to a medium-security facility two years ago, while prisoner advocates warn the scrutiny is purely political.

Forty-one-year-old Magnotta is serving a life sentence for the 2012 murder of Chinese international student Jun Lin in Montreal. The grisly killing made international headlines, particularly because acts of necrophilia and cannibalism were recorded on video and posted online.

On Monday, B.C. Conservative MP Frank Caputo posted a video to X, formerly Twitter, detailing a visit he made to La Macaza — a medium-security prison 190 kilometres northwest of Montreal — to see the living conditions of notorious serial rapist and convicted killer Paul Bernardo.

While touring the institution, Caputo said, "one of the guards commented that Luka Magnotta walked right by (him)."

Caputo's video, with the caption "Canada's most horrific murderers are living better than most Canadians," has since racked up nearly half a million views, with several Conservative MPs weighing in.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre laid the blame for Magnotta's transfer on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Bill C-83, a law that passed in 2019 with the aim of making changes to the correctional system, in part to "ensure that the penitentiary in which (inmates) are confined is one that provides them with the least restrictive environment for that person."

And Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer pointed to the Liberals' recent bail reform bill, which his party has called a "catch and release" policy.