The last time Kelly MacKinnon saw her brother Kevin on Aug. 8 in Bowden Institution, she said prison staff wouldn't let her finish her visitation.“They interrupted our visit. They cut it short. They said this visit was being terminated. They wouldn't tell me why and promptly asked me to leave,” Kelly MacKinnon said.MacKinnon, who lives in Olds, said this was half-an-hour into their meeting and as she left the Bowden Institution's parking lot, she heard prison staff taking her brother away.“There was a little bit of hustle and bustle going on so I took a look and there was six of them carrying him out in shackles and involuntarily transferred him to Edmonton, just like that.”Kelly MacKinnon said she believes her visit gave staff members a chance to move her brother easily, as he provides passive resistance.“Their intent was while he was distracted and out of his cell visiting with me, they organized the transfer,” she said. “They ambushed him as far as I'm concerned.”In 1995, Kevin MacKinnon was convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his roommate Laine Berube and is currently serving his sentence at a maximum-security prison in Edmonton.He has been on a hunger strike, lasting longer than 40 days, to protest a series of involuntary transfers to different penitentiaries.These transfers make it more difficult for Kevin's family members, who reside in Olds, to visit him.“We don't get to see him because we all work full time. So him being in Bowden and we're all close to Bowden gives us opportunity to not have to travel long distances and take time off and that sort of thing to go see him,” Kelly MacKinnon said.According to his mother Sandi MacKinnon, whenever Kevin is moved, he does not retain possession of his personal property – in this case, legal papers.She said he needs them to prove a wrongful conviction and without them, has missed court deadlines.Sandi MacKinnon claims Kevin has an alibi – that he was in a different city at the time of the murder – and that the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted has been looking into his case.“He's been in there for over 20 years. He said since Day 1 that he's not guilty and I believe him or I wouldn't even help,” she said.Jean Collins, a spokesperson for Canadian Correctional Services (CSC) prairie regions, said inmates are transferred depending on security requirements for their sentences and programs they might need.Collins later wrote in an email stating, “Public safety is the number one consideration in all placement and transfers and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.”“When recommending penitentiary placement, the choice of institution and accommodation will be the one that provides the most appropriate environment for the offender, taking into account factors laid out in the CCRA (Corrections and Conditional Release Act) such as the safety of the public, staff or other persons in the penitentiary and the inmate, the essential health care needs of the inmate, the availability of appropriate programs and services to meet the inmates correctional plan, and other factors,” she continued.According to the CSC's Commissioner's Directive, force-feeding is not permitted for inmates who understand the consequences of their hunger strike.Since his incarceration, Sandi MacKinnon said Kevin has been transferred 16 times.During her most recent visit, she noticed how thin her son was.“When I hugged him … his arms just hung out of his shirt and was very weak. Could hardly walk,” she said, adding that he has lost close to 50 pounds.During his transfer to Edmonton, she said he collapsed and was treated with an IV at a hospital in Fort Saskatchewan.Sandi MacKinnon said she's asked him repeatedly to resume eating.However, his sister said the hunger strike is all Kevin can do to bring attention to his situation.“It's his life and this is the only recourse that he has,” Kelly MacKinnon said. “This is just his way, his only way for him to have the corrections services pay attention.”[email protected]
