Serial killer Dellen Millard transferred to medium-security prison

The killer of Hamilton man Tim Bosma has been reportedly transferred from a maximum-security institution to a medium-security prison in Ontario.

CHCH News contacted the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) to confirm Dellen Millard’s transfer to a medium-security prison. A spokesperson said that while “we are limited in what we can share about an offender and their location,” Millard remains “securely incarcerated in one of our facilities.”

Criminal defence lawyer Ari Goldkind tells CHCH News that Millard was transferred to the same medium-security institution in the Muskoka area where his co-convicted accomplice, Mark Smich, was moved in 2021.

READ MORE: Murder victims’ families outraged over Ontario killer move to medium-security prison

Millard and Smich killed 23-year-old Laura Babcock – Millard’s former flame – in July 2012. The pair went on to kill a stranger, 32-year-old Bosma, after taking him and his truck for a test drive 10 months later.

In 2016, a jury found both guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Bosma. In 2017, another jury found the pair guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Babcock, whose body has never been found.

Millard was additionally found guilty in 2018 of first-degree murder in the death of his father, Wayne, and later convicted of assault causing bodily harm in 2023 for a stabbing inside prison.

Both men were initially placed at Millhaven Institution in Bath, Ont. — a maximum-security facility near Kingston, Ont., known for holding some of the country’s most high-profile offenders.

In May 2021, five years after his first conviction, Smich was moved to Beaver Creek Institution, a medium-security prison in Gravenhurst, Ont., later spending a short period at another medium-security site before returning to Beaver Creek.

According to reports, the Bosma family learned two weeks ago that Millard was transferred to the same Beaver Creek Institution as Smich.

“A lot of people have heard the term ‘Club Fed’ when they think of medium or minimum-security prisons. [Millard’s] being moved, as I’m told, to Beaver Creek in Gravenhurst in the Muskoka area,” Goldkind said.

“I don’t think it’s ‘Club Fed’ but it’s certainly nothing like Millhaven … It’s certainly a much easier and better time for Mr. Millard, and I know that’s why that’s angering so many people today who know the horrible crime that he committed.”

Bosma’s widow declined to speak with CHCH News.

“It’s probably all retraumatizing. We just read it as a news story and a thing to be angry about one or two days and then it goes away. For these families, even hearing he’s being moved from a theoretical ‘fill-in-the-blank-hole’ to something medium-security, that’s probably traumatizing to them in a way that none of us can feel,” Goldkind said.

READ MORE: Court upholds convictions against Dellen Millard, Mark Smich

In a written statement, CSC expressed sympathy for the victims and their families, noting that any communication about an offender’s case can be distressing.

“We engage with victims at various points of an offender’s sentence, based on a victim’s chosen preferences, and provide them with opportunities to voice their concerns, which are considered in our decision-making,” the spokesperon said.

“We also engage them to gather new or additional information and provide key notifications in accordance with the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.”

CSC added that public safety is central to all decisions and that inmate security classifications must be reviewed at least every two years using “evidence-based assessment tools, the professional judgment of specialized staff and psychological evaluations, while also considering factors such as institutional adjustment, escape risk, and risk to public safety.”

READ MORE: Serial killer Dellen Millard to serve another year after prison fight

Transfers, CSC said, only occur when an offender can be safely managed at another security level, and inmates may be moved back to higher security at any time if needed.

The agency also noted that medium-security prisons have perimeter controls and security measures comparable to maximum-security facilities, including high fencing, armed patrols, and tightly restricted inmate movement.

“CSC will continue to uphold public safety and take a victim-informed approach in all decisions regarding offenders,” the spokesperson said.

WATCH MORE: Crown responds to Millard’s claims that trial was ‘unfair’ in appeal hearing

– With files from The Canadian Press.