No fence for Li’s outings

There will be no fence built around the Selkirk Mental Health Centre before notorious Greyhound bus killer Vince Li is allowed to take walks outside his secure ward.

The province announced Friday the hospital’s plan to boost security to address concerns about public safety that arose when a review board accepted a doctor’s recommendation that Li be allowed escorted walks for up to two hours a day on the unfenced grounds of the facility north of Winnipeg.

It includes the addition of two more full time security officers to the ten already on staff and security equipment upgrades including more video surveillance.

Under the revised plan for Li’s outings, the province says:

· two security officers and one clinical staff member will provide the escorts,

· walks will be restricted to periods when staff numbers at the centre are at their peak,

· all risks will be assessed by the treatment team before each individual pass is issued, and

· no pass privileges will be approved until all security measures are in place.

The security officers are equipped with handcuffs and radios but are not armed. The province says it is expected to take approximately two months to finalize the security changes.

The announcement Friday comes exactly two years after Li killed Tim Mclean, 22, on a Greyhound Bus outside Portage La Prairie, MB on July 30, 2008. Li suddenly attacked his fellow passenger with a hunting knife, then decapitated, dismembered and cannibalized the body. Li was found not criminally responsible due to mental illness last year and was committed to secure custody in the Selkirk Mental Health Centre.

In June, Manitoba’s Criminal Code Review Board reported, “The treatment team is of the opinion that his condition is stable and that it would be appropriate and safe for him to leave the locked ward.” The board’s decision required Li be escorted outside only by hospital staff members, not security guards.

The decision outraged Mclean’s loved ones: Friday's upgraded security plan didn't change that. Mclean's mother, Carol de Delley, spoke to reporters Friday from a Winnipeg cemetery where she visited her son's grave on the anniversary of his death.

"I was astounded he was being held in a place without a fence - and they still don't deem that a necessity," she said.

when the outings were first announced last June, Manitoba’s justice minister joined in the outrage, holding a news conference to denounce the review board's decision and vowing Li would not be allowed out until security upgrades are made – but he would not say if they would include a fence.

“That will be determined, and Mr. Li will not be leaving the unit until we have a plan in place,” said Andrew Swan in a news conference June 4th.

Since then, provincial crown prosecutors have announced they have no basis to appeal the ruling allowing Li's outings - and cabinet responsibility for the issue has shifted to Health Minister Theresa Oswald, who struck a less militant tone than Swan.

"The most important thing I needed to do was listen to what medical professional was recommending concerning the treatment of a serious mental illness," Oswald told Global News Friday. She also apologized to de Delley for allowing the announcement to be made on the anniversary of Mclean's death.

"My heart goes out to her every day in terms of the kind of horror and pain she must be going through," Oswald said.