Convicted murdered Gregory Despres will remain in the mental health unit at Dorchester Penitentiary until at least mid-June.
The Shepody Healing Centre is being downsized by the federal government and inmates were supposed to be moved on Wednesday but that process will now be delayed until at least June.
Mary Kennedy-Fulton is the daughter-in-law of Despres’ victims, Fred Fulton and Verna Decarie and she says her family lives in fear that he may one day escape.
“He’s a horrible person who’s very sick,” she says. “He should not be in the community and anything less than secure custody in our mind is not safe.”
Despres was convicted of the 2005 murders of Kennedy-Fulton’s father and his common-law wife.
Fulton and Decarie were found in their Minto home. Both had been stabbed repeatedly and Fulton was decapitated.
Despres was found not criminally responsible and has been incarcerated at Shepody ever since.
Now, Ottawa is downgrading the facility and transferring inmates and patients.
Health Minister Victor Boudreau says the province in working with the federal government to accommodate the change.
“We’re looking at options of cooperation with other provinces for example,” says Boudreau.
Boudreau adds that some facilities in the province may be upgraded or converted to accommodate some inmates as well.
Kennedy-Fulton says the province appears to be doing the best it can with a difficult situation.
A decision on what happens to Gregory Despres and other Shepody inmates isn’t expected until mid-June at the earliest.
