Cop killer shouldn't have died in prison: expert

The man found guilty of murdering two Moncton police officers in the 1970s shouldn't have died behind bars, an Ontario criminologist says.

James Hutchison died Saturday at maximum-security Kingston Penitentiary, in Kingston, Ontario.

Hutchison and Richard Ambrose the latterlater changed his last name to Bergeron were sentenced to hang for the 1974 shootings of Const. Michael O'Leary and Cpl. Aurele Bourgeois in 1974.

Their sentences were commuted to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years when Canada abolished capital punishment in 1976.

Hutchison made one last attempt to gain freedom last month, at the age of 83.

'You're going to see more convicts who are allegedly too dangerous to release but too old and feeble to live.' Matthew Yeager, criminologist

Matthew Yeager, a criminologist at the University of Western Ontario, was Hutchison's parole assistant at that hearing.

When Hutchison appeared at the parole hearing, Yeager said it was clear that he would not be a threat to society if he had been released.

"He's feeble, he has heart disease, he has oxygen deprivation issues, he's in a wheelchair, he's a minimum security inmate. And a fact not in dispute is that his risk level for escape or further crimes are lower than averageminimum security inmate," Yeager said.

Despite Yeager's description of Hutchison, the parole board turned down his application to be released from jail.

Hutchison was described as unrepentant and unlikely ever to be paroled in 2000.

In November of that year, Hutchisonescaped when he walked awayfroma prison escort while doing low-security work detail in Kingston.

Yeager said the case paints a troubling picture of a system that will cost millions and won't make the streets any safer.

"You're going to see more convicts who are allegedly too dangerous to release but too old and feeble to live. And you're going to see these geriatric wings in prisons,people rolled around in wheelchairs," Yeager said.

Neither Corrections Canada nor the National Parole board were available for comment.