Entry #4, February 29

Serial killer Robert Pickton pens book in prison

CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Sunday, February 21, 2016 10:10PM EST 

Overview: 

This article talks about the notorious Canadian serial killer- Robert Pickton, who happened to have published a book about himself while locked down in a high security prison. Pickton was prosecuted for second degree murder against six girls who were found on his farm in Port Conquitlam. Subsequently, he confessed to an undercover security guard placed in his cell, that he killed 49 and got "sloppy" on his fiftieth. Pickton apparently got his written copy of his book out of the prison by giving it to his old inmate Michael Childress who got credited for author of the book. The book is now being sold on Amazon.ca for 20$. Many people are wondering how this man, who committed a gruesome crime could be able to write and publish a book about himself when hes supposed to be doing time in a high security prison. Pickton's book titled; "Pickton in his own words" talks about his life and argues about his innocence and how he should be claimed innocent. This news was seen as outrageous for people all over Canada and who could even imagine how the family members of Pickton's victims feel about this. The book supposedly has many typos and grammatical errors. Releasing a book from prison was not just introduced by Pickton, it previously happened in Canada as well in the 90s with a man named Paul Bernardo, he also released a novel straight from his prison cell. People in Canada are wondering whether publishing novels should be a right that the prisoners have, or should it be not allowed? A threat poses of prisoners like Pickton and Bernardo gaining money from their books and hiring an attorney to get them out of jail.

Serial killer Robert Pickton listens to the guilty verdict handed to him by the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007. (Felicity Don / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Opinion:

In my opinion, the prisoners should not be allowed to publish books from prison. They could be able to write for pleasure and share it with inmates but publishing is a different story. When in prison, the prisoners are supposed to be serving time as a consequence for something bad they have done, they should not be making money. In addition, having books written by prisoners who are in prison read by the public could cause problems such as riots or plans to help an inmate escape. This could be compared to a different situations that has happened in a prison in Texas where a prisoner created a key to unlock his cell in wood shop (a daily activity they could participate in). In my opinion, some activities such as wood shop or writing and getting a book published should not be allowed in prisons due to dangers that could cause future problems. Seeing both sides of this situation, I could see Pickton making this book for a couple of reasons; he wants to make money, he wasn't to prove his innocents or, he just had nothing to do. I feel that he did this because he wants to make money and try and prove his innocents, he would not have tried to get it published if he wanted to do it for fun. I feel that this could have been a good idea from Pickton until I heard a passage from the book where Pickton explains that one of the blood stains on the bed was simply some fallen wallpaper glue. I see this as a preposterous excuse because the police would have been sure it was blood before convicting him, plus they found the dead victims in his barn as well. Overall, I believe that prisoners in high security prisons, such as Pickton, should not be able to publish books and make money or be recognized by others, when they are supposed to be doing time for something horrible that thy have done.