BURST
A convicted killer is taking two prisons in B.C. to court, alleging he was moved to a higher-security penitentiary after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
Treyvonne Willis, convicted in 2015 of a contracted murder in Winnipeg, filed the petition Friday against Mountain and William Head institutions, operated by Correctional Service Canada.
Willis is asking to be returned to minimum security William Head on Vancouver Island where he was accused of hugging and kissing a prison manager.
The petition says Willis was transferred involuntarily to the medium-security Mountain prison on an emergency basis after a correctional officer reported seeing Willis inside a locked building in an intimate embrace with the manager.
“The rationale for the emergency transfer was CSC’s belief that Mr. Willis was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a senior CSC staff member,” the court filing said.
“The warden of William Head eventually authorized the involuntary transfer and increased Mr. Willis’ security classification from ‘minimum’ to ‘medium.’ This petition asserts that the warden’s decision in this respect was procedurally unfair, unreasonable, and therefore unlawful.”
Willis is being represented by Max McQuaig, of Prisoners’ Legal Services. He did not respond to a request for comment Monday. CSC said it wouldn’t be able to respond until Tuesday.
The CSC manager is only identified in the petition as CM. A source told Postmedia that she was escorted from the property after the incident with Willis.
Willis was convicted of first-degree murder after admitting to police that he stabbed Kaila Tran, 26, outside her St. Vital apartment on June 20, 2012. He confessed he had been hired to kill her but refused to implicate anyone else. Police had alleged Tran’s ex-boyfriend was behind the slaying, but a first-degree murder charge against him was later stayed.
Willis lost his appeal in Manitoba’s highest court and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his case.
In his B.C. Supreme Court petition, Willis denied having an inappropriate relationship with the CSC manager, but said the woman had hugged him inside the locked building where they had been seen.
The petition includes details Willis told CSC officials at an internal hearing about the allegation.
“Mr. Willis testified that the two did hug on the evening in question after the CM revealed a personal problem to him. Mr. Willis also gave evidence about how the hug was not romantic, and about how the CM had hugged other people incarcerated at William Head in similar fashion,” the court document said.
“He nevertheless described feeling uncomfortable with the CM’s behaviour towards him and felt that he had ‘no choice but to do what she asked since she was in a position of authority.’”
Willis’s petition says he was not given all the information the warden had about the encounter, so could not fully respond.
The single paragraph provided said in part that “a staff member observed Mr. Willis and the female staff member kissing in a room. … It was first observed that Mr. Willis leaned in and kissed the staff member on the lips and then what appeared to be a second quick kiss. This room is located in a part of the institution that is not accessible by everyone and it is only accessible by staff that hold a key. It was also noted that the lights were off in the room and it was nighttime.”
The petition said that even if a decision had to be made to move Willis, he should have gone to another minimum security prison.
“The warden did not point to evidence or provide an explanation as to why an involuntary transfer to higher security was actually required,” the court document said.
CSC has not filed a response in court.
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