What will happen to Paul Bernardo when the Kingston Penitentiary closes?

For the past 18 years, notorious schoolgirl killer Paul Bernardo has lived 23 hours a day in a 1.5-by-3-metre solitary confinement cell at the maximum security Kingston Penitentiary. He’s let out an hour a day to exercise or watch TV.

With the institution closing this fall, there are reports that Bernardo, now 48, has asked to transfer to a medium-security prison.

Don’t expect that to happen, Toronto lawyer Richard Shekter told Canada AM. There is zero public sympathy for Bernardo, who was sentenced to two
life terms in 1995 for the murders of students from St. Catharines, Ont., Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.

Moreover, he’d be a target in the general prison population.

“Baby killers or child molesters, people who are despised within the pecking order of these institutions, are not safe,” Shekter said.

Federal Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said he’s been assured a transfer is unlikely.

Meantime, Karla Homolka, his ex-wife and partner in crime, has three children and lives in Guadeloupe as Leanne Bordelais, after cutting a plea deal and serving a lighter sentence.