California Sunshine
05-31-2005, 06:02 PM
http://www.canada.com/nanaimo/story.html?id=e571b940-a9c2-4dab-bd03-6ebd502b6b5d
Paul Cherry
CanWest News Service
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
MONTREAL -- To some who have served time with her in Joliette she has come to be known as "the Max Princess."
As Karla Homolka's controversial 12-year sentence comes to an end in July she is already the focus of widespread attention. Some of that attention has focused on the question of whether the time she has served has done anything to rehabilitate her.
Three women, interviewed by The Montreal Gazette, who served time with Homolka at various stages of her incarceration at Quebec's only federal penal institution for women, argue she has made little effort toward rehabilitating herself and has shown no remorse for her crimes, sentiments echoed in the National Parole Board decisions that denied her release for years.
In particular, all three former inmates said, an issue that was the root of several heated arguments inside the fences of the Joliette prison was her role in her sister's death and whether Homolka feels remorse for the loss.
Homolka is finishing her term for manslaughter for her role in the sex slayings of Ontario teenagers Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French during the early 1990s.
As part of her 1993 plea agreement, which saw her provide evidence against her former husband Paul Bernardo, she was not charged with the death of her younger sister. Tammy Homolka died in 1992 after choking on her own vomit after she was drugged and sexually assaulted by the couple.
One ex-inmate, who was recently released from Joliette and who spoke on condition her name would not be used, said she was startled when she recently saw Homolka.
She said Homolka has changed her appearance drastically, dying her hair jet black and wearing it at shoulder length. She has also dropped much of the weight she gained during her time at Joliette and has trimmed down significantly, apparently in preparation for her release.
"I despise her," said the ex-inmate who served time with Homolka in the latter part of her sentence and now worries about where she will live when released.
"As a mother, I would be terrified for my children or anybody else's."
The former prisoner said Homolka has spent the past couple of years in the maximum-security section of Joliette.
"They put her in max for her own protection," said the former inmate while joking that some conditions "in max" are the envy of other women in Joliette.
"The Max Girls," she said, have bigger rooms, bigger beds and access to exercise equipment such as brand new Stairmasters. But because Homolka is not in the maximum section as a security risk she enjoys freedoms others don't.
Homolka recently worked Mondays to Fridays in the institution's kitchen preparing food with two cooks. The work assignment is believed to be part of a Correctional Service of Canada plan to gradually integrate Homolka into Joliette's general population to prepare her for her release without being granted parole.
According to the ex-inmate, gossip at Joliette often touched on rumours that guards there bring Homolka things like makeup and magazines, special treatment that led some to dub her "the Max Princess."
She is also granted special privileges to contact friends in minimum security to have 15-minute conversations on the phone.
One of those friends, the inmate said, is Stivia Clermont, 41, the president of the inmates' committee at Joliette, serving a life sentence for first-degree murder since 1998.
The ex-inmate said Homolka has only a few other friends at Joliette after alienating many others. Earlier on in her sentence she befriended Lynda Veronneau, who was then the head of the inmates' committee. That friendship has since ended, one inmate said.
Two of the inmates interviewed for this story said clinging to people in power at Joliette is just part of Homolka's manipulative ways.
"To the sick ones (at Joliette), she was worshiped. To the normal people, she's despised," the former inmate said.
"Karla's a very arrogant person. She takes up a lot of space with that personality. To look in her eyes is scary. You see the evil."
Mary Smith, 46, who served a six-year sentence for manslaughter during the 1990s at Joliette, said she initially took Homolka under her wing because few others would. Homolka was transferred to Joliette in 1997 from the penitentiary for women in Kingston, Ont., because it was closing.
HOMOLKA LOST FRIENDS
Homolka started out her term at Joliette as something of a loner, said Smith and another inmate who was there when she first arrived.
Instead of working out or joining the other women in sports like volleyball, Homolka would take long walks around the institution grounds. She started the walks alone until Ines Barbosa, a convicted drug trafficker with ties to the Colombian Cali cartel, decided to walk with her.
"We would ask (Ines), 'what are you doing with her?' She would just shrug. But after a few walks (Barbosa) stopped going. She never said why. But we figured she was spooked," said the inmate, who served time at Joliette in the late 1990s and asked not to be named.
Smith confirmed that Barbosa, who was dubbed The Godmother during her Montreal trial, took a few walks with Homolka but then suddenly ceased the activity.
"She just stopped taking walks. I figured there was a reason but out of respect I didn't ask why," Smith said, adding she also gradually distanced herself from Homolka after getting to know her.
"She's a good-looking girl. You know, with the blond hair, the blue eyes, the whole nine. She uses it well. She uses it to her advantage, believe me," Smith said. After a while she came to see Homolka as a crafty manipulator -- a description used by the other inmates interviewed.
Smith said the beginning of the end of their relationship came after they had a conversation alone. Smith said she wanted to know "the whole story" about what happened with her sister Tammy.
The issue of Homolka's sister and how she died was a topic of heated debate among inmates early on in her time at Joliette. Smith said Veronneau fiercely defended Homolka whenever the issue came up.
"I asked (Homolka) about her sister and her face just lit up. That is not normal. I couldn't find any remorse in her at all. To me family is the most important thing. How could you feel good about talking about your sister when that happened?" Smith said.
"I feel like justice has not been served. All of the times that I talked to Karla I felt that she had no remorse for her sister or the French girl. She would sit back looking like the girl next door, Miss I-could-never-do wrong, when I knew she was guilty as sin.
"She doesn't feel any remorse for her sister."
Smith said she recently took out a photo of Homolka, herself and Veronneau, taken while they shared the same housing unit at Joliette. It gave her pause for thought knowing that Homolka will be released soon.
"We all did some things. But I have to say Karla looks so innocent with her blond hair and blue eyes. When you think of what she did. I mean she did the worst of all of us but judging by that photo you'd think she didn't do anything."
ALTERCATION DISTURBS INMATE
Smith said there is one memory of Homolka she will take to her grave.
Smith lived in the same housing unit as Homolka and Veronneau. An argument over coffee cream between Veronneau and another inmate started on the first floor of their shared building.
Smith said she was a sort of den mother to the unit and Veronneau brought the argument to her on the second floor where Homolka was working in her room on a computer. Smith said Veronneau was screaming at the top of her lungs about the coffee cream.
"That's when Karla came storming out of her room, looked at (Veronneau), smacked her in the face, pointed in her face and said 'that's enough,' " Smith recalled.
"But also Karla didn't blink. That is what has stuck in my mind. I have seen a lot of fights in my life and been in quite a few. But I've never seen somebody smack somebody and not blink. She looked like a robot. It made the hair stand on the back of my neck. (Karla) went back to her room to work on her computer."
(MONTREAL GAZETTE)
Paul Cherry
CanWest News Service
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
MONTREAL -- To some who have served time with her in Joliette she has come to be known as "the Max Princess."
As Karla Homolka's controversial 12-year sentence comes to an end in July she is already the focus of widespread attention. Some of that attention has focused on the question of whether the time she has served has done anything to rehabilitate her.
Three women, interviewed by The Montreal Gazette, who served time with Homolka at various stages of her incarceration at Quebec's only federal penal institution for women, argue she has made little effort toward rehabilitating herself and has shown no remorse for her crimes, sentiments echoed in the National Parole Board decisions that denied her release for years.
In particular, all three former inmates said, an issue that was the root of several heated arguments inside the fences of the Joliette prison was her role in her sister's death and whether Homolka feels remorse for the loss.
Homolka is finishing her term for manslaughter for her role in the sex slayings of Ontario teenagers Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French during the early 1990s.
As part of her 1993 plea agreement, which saw her provide evidence against her former husband Paul Bernardo, she was not charged with the death of her younger sister. Tammy Homolka died in 1992 after choking on her own vomit after she was drugged and sexually assaulted by the couple.
One ex-inmate, who was recently released from Joliette and who spoke on condition her name would not be used, said she was startled when she recently saw Homolka.
She said Homolka has changed her appearance drastically, dying her hair jet black and wearing it at shoulder length. She has also dropped much of the weight she gained during her time at Joliette and has trimmed down significantly, apparently in preparation for her release.
"I despise her," said the ex-inmate who served time with Homolka in the latter part of her sentence and now worries about where she will live when released.
"As a mother, I would be terrified for my children or anybody else's."
The former prisoner said Homolka has spent the past couple of years in the maximum-security section of Joliette.
"They put her in max for her own protection," said the former inmate while joking that some conditions "in max" are the envy of other women in Joliette.
"The Max Girls," she said, have bigger rooms, bigger beds and access to exercise equipment such as brand new Stairmasters. But because Homolka is not in the maximum section as a security risk she enjoys freedoms others don't.
Homolka recently worked Mondays to Fridays in the institution's kitchen preparing food with two cooks. The work assignment is believed to be part of a Correctional Service of Canada plan to gradually integrate Homolka into Joliette's general population to prepare her for her release without being granted parole.
According to the ex-inmate, gossip at Joliette often touched on rumours that guards there bring Homolka things like makeup and magazines, special treatment that led some to dub her "the Max Princess."
She is also granted special privileges to contact friends in minimum security to have 15-minute conversations on the phone.
One of those friends, the inmate said, is Stivia Clermont, 41, the president of the inmates' committee at Joliette, serving a life sentence for first-degree murder since 1998.
The ex-inmate said Homolka has only a few other friends at Joliette after alienating many others. Earlier on in her sentence she befriended Lynda Veronneau, who was then the head of the inmates' committee. That friendship has since ended, one inmate said.
Two of the inmates interviewed for this story said clinging to people in power at Joliette is just part of Homolka's manipulative ways.
"To the sick ones (at Joliette), she was worshiped. To the normal people, she's despised," the former inmate said.
"Karla's a very arrogant person. She takes up a lot of space with that personality. To look in her eyes is scary. You see the evil."
Mary Smith, 46, who served a six-year sentence for manslaughter during the 1990s at Joliette, said she initially took Homolka under her wing because few others would. Homolka was transferred to Joliette in 1997 from the penitentiary for women in Kingston, Ont., because it was closing.
HOMOLKA LOST FRIENDS
Homolka started out her term at Joliette as something of a loner, said Smith and another inmate who was there when she first arrived.
Instead of working out or joining the other women in sports like volleyball, Homolka would take long walks around the institution grounds. She started the walks alone until Ines Barbosa, a convicted drug trafficker with ties to the Colombian Cali cartel, decided to walk with her.
"We would ask (Ines), 'what are you doing with her?' She would just shrug. But after a few walks (Barbosa) stopped going. She never said why. But we figured she was spooked," said the inmate, who served time at Joliette in the late 1990s and asked not to be named.
Smith confirmed that Barbosa, who was dubbed The Godmother during her Montreal trial, took a few walks with Homolka but then suddenly ceased the activity.
"She just stopped taking walks. I figured there was a reason but out of respect I didn't ask why," Smith said, adding she also gradually distanced herself from Homolka after getting to know her.
"She's a good-looking girl. You know, with the blond hair, the blue eyes, the whole nine. She uses it well. She uses it to her advantage, believe me," Smith said. After a while she came to see Homolka as a crafty manipulator -- a description used by the other inmates interviewed.
Smith said the beginning of the end of their relationship came after they had a conversation alone. Smith said she wanted to know "the whole story" about what happened with her sister Tammy.
The issue of Homolka's sister and how she died was a topic of heated debate among inmates early on in her time at Joliette. Smith said Veronneau fiercely defended Homolka whenever the issue came up.
"I asked (Homolka) about her sister and her face just lit up. That is not normal. I couldn't find any remorse in her at all. To me family is the most important thing. How could you feel good about talking about your sister when that happened?" Smith said.
"I feel like justice has not been served. All of the times that I talked to Karla I felt that she had no remorse for her sister or the French girl. She would sit back looking like the girl next door, Miss I-could-never-do wrong, when I knew she was guilty as sin.
"She doesn't feel any remorse for her sister."
Smith said she recently took out a photo of Homolka, herself and Veronneau, taken while they shared the same housing unit at Joliette. It gave her pause for thought knowing that Homolka will be released soon.
"We all did some things. But I have to say Karla looks so innocent with her blond hair and blue eyes. When you think of what she did. I mean she did the worst of all of us but judging by that photo you'd think she didn't do anything."
ALTERCATION DISTURBS INMATE
Smith said there is one memory of Homolka she will take to her grave.
Smith lived in the same housing unit as Homolka and Veronneau. An argument over coffee cream between Veronneau and another inmate started on the first floor of their shared building.
Smith said she was a sort of den mother to the unit and Veronneau brought the argument to her on the second floor where Homolka was working in her room on a computer. Smith said Veronneau was screaming at the top of her lungs about the coffee cream.
"That's when Karla came storming out of her room, looked at (Veronneau), smacked her in the face, pointed in her face and said 'that's enough,' " Smith recalled.
"But also Karla didn't blink. That is what has stuck in my mind. I have seen a lot of fights in my life and been in quite a few. But I've never seen somebody smack somebody and not blink. She looked like a robot. It made the hair stand on the back of my neck. (Karla) went back to her room to work on her computer."
(MONTREAL GAZETTE)