A New Brunswick judge has ruled that Randolph Brown — once
connected to the Bandidos MV — will keep his new “maximum security” status and
be housed at the Atlantic Institution near Renous, N.B.
Brown, 47, was handed a life sentence in 2008 with no parole
eligibility until June 2016 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
Confiscated vest with Bandidos MC colors
He had spent much of his time at New Brunswick’s
minimum-security Westmoreland Institution before being moved to the nearby
medium-security Dorchester Penitentiary in 2017, and then to the Atlantic
Institution in August 2018.
Brown, originally from Jackson’s Point, Ont., went to court
to fight the reclassification.
Justice Denise LeBlanc of New Brunswick’s Court of Queens
Bench described two sides of Brown in her ruling this month. Officials describe him as “charismatic and well-spoken,”
with one saying she had always found him personable and easy to talk to. He was
described as “a forthcoming and cognizant individual, someone who possessed the
ability to succeed.”
But he was also an integral part of Dorchester’s
“sub-culture activities, including intimidation, extortion, muscling, assault,
trading in and possession and distribution of contraband/unauthorized items,
possession of stolen property,” according to LeBlanc’s ruling.
Brown was seen on camera “collecting” items from other
inmates, and head-butting another prisoner.
Corrections officials argued his transfer would alleviate “a
major hold held over general population offenders and reducing the risk of
creating either more associate participation or potential victims of the
sub-culture hierarchy.”
The warden felt Brown had needs that required a highly
structured environment, the judge said.
“In protecting the safety and security of the institution, I
have no alternative but to approve the proposed involuntary transfer to higher
security,” the warden said in a report.
In her ruling, LeBlanc said the warden’s decision was
reasonable and justified, and she rejected Brown’s bid and ordered him to pay
$750 in costs. Brown is one of four men who pleaded guilty in the 2005
death of Shawn Douse, a Keswick, Ont., drug dealer.
Another biker was upset that Douse had been selling cocaine
to family members. Brown admitted he stuffed a T-shirt into Douse’s throat to
kill him, after he was beaten unconscious.
Douse’s body was found in a Pickering, Ont., field on Dec.
8, 2005. He had been bound and gagged, with a bag over his head, and set on
fire.
SOURCE: The Star