A new Public Safety disclosure has confirmed that 654 federal offenders who were previously rated as maximum-security were instead classified as medium security in just one fiscal year, even as some of Canada’s most notorious killers — Paul Bernardo, Luka Magnotta and Dellen Millard — now reside in medium-security institutions.

The figures were released Nov. 21 in response to a written question from Conservative MP Larry Brock.

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According to the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), the 654 cases represent “security level decisions” made in 2024–25 that resulted in a downgrade from maximum to medium security. Among them are:

• 70 first-degree murderers
• 180 second-degree murderers
• 338 violent offenders (Schedule I: sexual offences and major violent crimes)
• 45 serious drug offenders (Schedule II)
• 21 others

Even more alarming: 286 of the cases involved offenders serving indeterminate — effectively life — sentences.

CSC also confirmed that none of the 654 offenders were transferred from men’s institutions to women’s institutions.

That means that despite reports that Luka Magnotta has recently begun identifying as female, he has not been transferred to a women’s prison — because no murderers were placed in women’s facilities this year. Thank God.

However, Paul Bernardo, a serial rapist and schoolgirl killer, was quietly moved from maximum-security Millhaven Institution to the medium-security La Macaza Institution in Quebec — causing national outrage.

Bernardo’s crimes include:

• Serial rapes of at least 13 women
• The abduction, torture, rape and murder of Leslie Mahaffy
• The abduction, torture, rape and murder of Kristen French
• The drugging and sexual assault of Tammy Homolka, who died

Bernardo spent decades in solitary confinement due to the danger he posed. CSC’s claim that he is now “low risk to other inmates” was met with disbelief from victims’ families and police.

Luka Magnotta, convicted of killing and dismembering Chinese student Jun Lin, filming the act, and mailing body parts to political offices, has also been housed at the medium-security La Macaza facility.

After committing his horrendous act, he fled the country, sparking an international manhunt, and was later apprehended in Berlin. He has a long history of violent fantasies and staged “snuff” hoaxes.

Recent reporting suggests Magnotta has begun identifying as female. Given what the public has seen happen in Canadian prisons in recent years, the fact that Magnotta has not been transferred to a women's prison is a bullet dodged.

The transfer of Dellen Millard is the newest flashpoint. Millard was convicted of:

• The murder of Tim Bosma, whose body was burned in an animal incinerator
• The murder of Laura Babcock, whose remains were likewise incinerated
• The murder of his father, Wayne Millard

Millard is serving three consecutive life sentences, totalling 75 years before parole, one of the longest non-parole periods in Canadian history.

This week, the CBC confirmed he was moved from maximum-security Millhaven to a medium-security institution in Muskoka. Victims’ families said they were “disgusted,” questioning whether victims’ voices carry any weight in the system.

CSC responded with bureaucratic boilerplate: medium-security prisons have “a similar exterior perimeter” to maximum security.

Nobody is comforted by that.

When MP Brock asked how long the 654 offenders spent in maximum security before their downgrade, CSC admitted it doesn’t track that information and would need to do a manual search, which it claims is too difficult to perform.

In other words, the public has no idea how quickly the most dangerous offenders in Canada are being stepped down to less restrictive prisons.

The combination of 654 downgraded maximum-security offenders, the transfer of Bernardo, the transfer of Magnotta, and now the transfer of Millard makes it impossible to argue this is an isolated oversight.

It looks like a systemic shift — one that the government can’t or won’t explain.

The question from victims’ families now echoes across the country: If Bernardo, Magnotta, and Millard no longer “qualify” for maximum security, who on earth does?