GUILTY Canada - Johnny Altinger, 38, lured to his death, Edmonton, AB, 10 Oct 2008

[Fabled Automatic]

Just saw the story of how the sicko psychopath murdered John Altinger. This creep could get out of prison in 2036- he will only be 57 years old- I believe he will always be a danger - Do they have life in prison in Canada?

I realize this is old, but I'm following up because I just watched the Dateline episode about this.

Canada doesn't have life without parole, as it has been deemed "cruel and unusual punishment" by the Supreme Court. If a case is particularly notorious, for example Paul Bernardo, parole is likely to never be granted. Technically his sentence has been legally served, but he is continually denied release.

That said, his dangerous status was recently reduced, simply as a formality by the system because he has demonstrated idealic prisoner behaviour since his arrest in 93'. This allowed him to be transferred to a medium security prison, which allows him more social privileges, however security is exactly the same as maximum security.

I hope this will be the case for Twitchell. As far as I'm concerned, his motives and personality are incapable of rehabilitation. In Twitchell's case however, he killed one person, not multiple, which makes him eligible to file for parole eligibility after 15 years instead of 25 via the faint hope clause.