How'd that happen?
How does a man whose criminal record included rape, sexual assualt with a weapon, kidnapping, and, my personal favourite, escaping custody, manage to walk out of jail? Probably because some idiot thought it was a good idea to place him in a minimum security facility.
His other more violent crimes aside, shouldn't someone who has previously proven they are an escape risk lose their chance of going on the lam again, by being locked away somewhere with slightly more rigourous controls? And shouldn't that be even more true when you do take into account a violent criminal history, such as Blane MacDougal's?
I do not understand why the Canadian justice system insists on erring on the side of the criminal, not on the side of the victims or potential future victims. Currently, the RCMP are appealing to MacDougal's conscience to turn himself in. They want a man who once sexually assaulted two young women in the space of 24 hours, one at knifepoint, to "do the right thing". Why should he start now?
MacDougal was labelled a dangerous offender back in the ewarly 90s, but since Canada currently has no legislation mandating that such offenders serve their time in maximum-security institutions, he was able to convince his keepers that he was being rehabilitated, and was given the opportunity to serve the remainder of his sentence in a minimum-security jail in the Fraser Valley...from which he escaped 6 days ago.
The last time he escaped custody, he fled to the US, found a partner in crime, and left the man they robbed to die of exposure in a field. I can only hope that history will have the mercy not to repeat itself.
Comments
Appeal to his "goodwill and concience"... oh my god, we really ARE that naive.
Posted by: heather at April 25, 2008 11:01 AM