BC Serial Killer Robert Pickton Hospitalized Following ‘Major Assault’ in Quebec Prison

Robert William Pickton is shown in this undated image from a television screen. (Getty Images/Staff)

B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton was the victim of a life-threatening assault at Quebec’s maximum-security Port-Cartier Institution over the weekend and is currently being treated in hospital.

“We can confirm that inmate Robert Pickton was involved in a major assault on May 19,” a spokesperson from the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) told The Epoch Times in an email.

The assault did not involve any CSC staff, the email said, adding that the agency was not able to disclose any further details, including Mr. Pickton’s medical information.

Although details of the notorious serial killer’s current condition could not be confirmed prior to publication, Quebec provincial police said Pickton, 74, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said a 51-year-old man is in custody in connection with the assault. CSC said the assailant had been identified and “the appropriate actions have been taken.”

CSC also said it will be reviewing the incident to prevent similar situations in the future at Port-Cartier, which can hold up to 237 prisoners and is located more than 600 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.

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“The safety and security of institutions, their staff, and the public remains the highest priority in the operations of the federal correctional system,” the release said.

Mr. Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2007, with the maximum parole ineligibility period of 25 years, after being charged with the murders of 26 women.

The remains or DNA of 33 women, many who were taken from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, were found on his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, and he once bragged to an undercover police officer that he killed a total of 49. His confirmed victims were Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Papin, and Marnie Frey.

At the time of Mr. Pickton’s sentencing, B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams said it was a “rare case that properly warrants the maximum period of parole ineligibility available to the court.”

However, in 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a law that allowed consecutive sentences with stacked parole ineligibility periods, calling it unconstitutional.

Mr. Pickton became eligible for day parole in February, which sparked outrage from advocates, politicians and victims’ family members who criticized Canada’s justice system, saying he should never be released from prison. It’s not known if he ever made an application.

Delta Mayor George Harvie and 11 other municipal leaders, in an April 24 letter sent to federal Justice Minister Arif Virani, said allowing Mr. Pickton to apply for parole would “undermine the integrity of our justice system.”

They wrote that Mr. Pickton’s lack of remorse and the depravity of his crimes make him “irredeemable.”  They also said that allowing him parole would send a “chilling message” to victims of crime.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.