Murderer gets limited freedom after 20 years
Sébastien Simon, who stabbed Brigitte Serre 72 times in a gas station robbery 20 years ago, is being allowed limited freedom from prison, and her family is not happy.
Unless we commit to locking people up forever, are they not allowed some freedom after 20 years if they have not shown themselves dangerous within prison walls? I don’t know the terms of the legal principles here.
Incidentally, Simon got married while in prison and has been allowed conjugal visits at least since 2017.
More on the family and their views from Global.
JP 17:52 on 2025-07-31 Permalink
Yeah perhaps but I don’t blame victims’ families for speaking out and trying to keep people who killed their loved ones locked up.
Kate 18:08 on 2025-07-31 Permalink
I know. I can’t imagine how you feel when your kid is dead, but her murderer gets to have conjugal rights and gradually resume having a life in the outside world. And that’s leaving aside the question whether someone who could wreak such violence is truly safe among us. I do not know what to make of this.
Ian 08:06 on 2025-08-01 Permalink
I guess a lot if it depends whether the point of prison is to reform, or to punish.
jeather 13:37 on 2025-08-01 Permalink
Or the third option which is to keep the rest of society safer.
H. John 10:33 on 2025-08-02 Permalink
SÉBASTIEN SIMON
His life so far could easily provide the plot line for the next season of Florence Longpré’s TV drama “Empathie”. She plays a psychiatrist working on a locked ward.
His father is described as “irresponsable, absent et alcoolique. Sobre ou intoxiqué, il fait preuve de violence physique et psychologique envers le requérant.”
“Sa mère, aux prises avec des problèmes d’alcoolisme et de jeux de hasard, était instable, peu disponible et peu encadrante.”
Both parents and his older brother were violent towards him.
He was drinking and doing drugs by the time he was 9.
He spent most of his childhood in and out of care.
As to that marriage “il s’est marié le 3 mars 2017 avec une agente des Services Correctionnels du Canada. Madame a démissionné de son poste lorsque la relation est devenue plus soutenue. Cette dernière a deux filles nées d’une union antérieure.”
From 2021, the detailed rejection of his last request for earlier parole suggests the system is woking well – so far.
https://citoyens.soquij.qc.ca/php/decision.php?ID=BCF1E3CFCDDD7BE0A2305B2B1B065948
Kate 22:57 on 2025-08-02 Permalink
Thank you, H. John.
I’m still ambivalent about this. Some people do get locked up forever, and I’m concerned that it’s as much over public opinion as any other factor: Paul Bernardo, Valery Fabrikant, Robert Pickton till he was killed by another prisoner. But for most people, Sébastien Simon isn’t a name that means anything. He can stroll out of prison, and the only photo the media have is one that’s 20 years out of date. We’re not expected to be scared of him.