Frank Caputo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

CAPUTO DOUBLES DOWN

‘I stand by my comments’; MP Caputo’s claims about Quebec prison backed up by union president

Mar 5, 2024 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — On Saturday (March 2), Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo posted a video to social media addressing a recent tour he took at the Quebec medium security prison currently home to serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo.

“I came face to face with Paul Bernardo. You will not believe how this guy is living,” began Caputo’s video posted to social media.

On Tuesday, the Correctional Service of Canada refuted some of the key claims made by the Conservative MP in an article written by the Canadian Press.

“I walked outside and I had a look and I said, ‘What’s that? It looks like a hockey rink.’ And it was,” said Caputo in his video.

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In its response, the Correctional Service of Canada has stated that the rink has not had ice for the past two winters and the rink and tennis court are not functioning.

Rink at La Macaza Institution (Image Credit: Contributed)

“It’s a carefully worded statement about no functioning hockey rink,” Caputo told CFJC on Tuesday. “You got boards, you got a surface. If you even look at the aerial photograph that has been provided, that looks like a tennis court to me. I don’t know about you, but it certainly looks like a tennis court to me and that is certainly how it was represented. I stand by my comments.”

“The face was unmistakable, it was him. But just seeing him, coming eye to eye with him,” added Caputo in his video.

That was the second Caputo statement that the correction service addressed, stating, “It is our understanding that participants did not interact with Paul Bernardo during their visit.”

“I was there at his cell. He approached. I did not want to deal with him because I saw him coming and his face was just completely unmistakable. [I] had a physical reaction, literally, and I wanted to get out of there,” said Caputo. “We essentially passed and I did not want to shake hands. I didn’t want to talk with him. Again, you can call it no interactions — if you pass me on the street, I don’t know how you would term that.”

Joining Caputo on the tour was Mike Bolduc, Quebec’s Regional President of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, who confirmed to CFJC Today that Bernardo and Caputo passed one another, meeting eyes, and that during their tour, Bolduc and Caputo were told inmates can take out skates and are responsible for maintaining the ice surface, should they choose to do so.

“One of the things we have to look at in the response from corrections is that they essentially confirmed everything we said. They talked about there being boards, they don’t refute that there are hockey nets present or the surface,” said Caputo.

While the message that Caputo had hoped to share with Canadians has undoubtably become muddied, he hopes constituents will still ask the right questions.

“Why is Paul Bernardo in medium security? Those are the questions they have to ask and I think Canadians will ultimately ask those very questions,” said Caputo. “We can’t pay attention all the time to the noise. That question still remains. And I ask you, has that question been answered?”