News that Calgary child-killer Harold Smeltzer is having a tough go of it on day parole has rankled readers.
They’re angry that he’s on continued day parole — but that’s not what the Smeltzer story is really about.
Smeltzer is still serving his life sentence. He lives in a halfway house in Regina. He’s free to come and go in the daytime, provided he stays away from parks, malls and schools — any place children might be. (Never mind the fact that Smeltzer, who murdered 5-year-old Kimmie Thompson, was an equal opportunity rapist of both women and children.)
The issue is not that Smeltzer is on day parole but rather what the system is prepared to do with him for the rest of his life.
Now 55, Smeltzer remains low-functioning. No one in Regina will hire him (a combination of his lack of employable skills and a firestorm of publicity surrounding his forgotten case, courtesy of moi).
Unemployed, he spends his days earning an allowance by acting as a janitor for the corrections facility.
But how far is Corrections prepared to go? How long will they nanny Smeltzer — a child killer and rapist who suffers from anti-social personality disorder?
Is the corrections/parole system designed to babysit offenders at risk to reoffend for life? Will Smeltzer live out his days mopping floors and emptying trash cans for them?
It doesn’t seem like much of a solution. It appears they don’t know what the hell to do with him.
The publicity surrounding Smeltzer’s case has outed him to a community that shuns him. His sole supporting relative — a beloved sister who continued to take his phone calls — died a few months ago. His support volunteers have given him a cell phone so he can call when he needs them, given his “frustration.”
This is not the kind of guy capable of turning over a new leaf. It’s a sickening, dark reality that at best, Smeltzer will wrestle with his pedophilic urges internally. And that’s quite a risk for society to endure.
Sherri Zickefoose
Calgary Herald
June 27, 2011
A Calgary child killer on day parole in Regina has been given a cellphone by volunteers so he can reach out to them for support.
Life in a halfway house isn’t easy for Harold David Smeltzer, who is serving a life sentence for murdering his five-year-old Calgary neighbour, Kimberley Thompson, in 1980.
Publicity about his past has led to anxiety and frustration because no one will hire him, according to the National Parole Board.
The 55-year-old has yet to find employment since being released to a halfway house in December 2008 after serving 28 years in custody in Saskatchewan.
He earns an allowance for custodial work at the local community correctional centre.
Smeltzer has earned another six months of freedom in a halfway house, the National Parole Board ruled June 6.
There have been no incidents with Smeltzer, who has strict conditions to stay away from children and have near daily contact with police.
Smeltzer has been given a cellphone by volunteers who work with high-risk, high-needs sex offenders released at warrant expiry into communities across Canada.
His contacts from Circle of Support and Accountability want him to be able to immediately contact them if he has “immediate concerns” to discuss, according to the parole board.
He is allowed to leave his halfway house unescorted, provided he stays away from children. Smeltzer is not allowed near parks, swimming pools, schools and other gathering places.
He must return to the halfway house nightly.
Smeltzer is a pedophile with an anti-social personality disorder, according to the board.
In January 1980, Smeltzer abducted five-year-old Kimberley Thompson as she was walking to kindergarten on an Altadore street in Calgary.
He said he intended to sexually assault her, but she recognized him, so he drowned her and stuffed her body into a garbage can.
Five months later, he was arrested for the murder after an 11-year-old girl he’d recently raped spotted him walking on Elbow Drive.
Smeltzer has admitted attacking nearly 40 girls and women during a five-year reign of terror in the Altadore and South Calgary area.
He was convicted of first-degree murder, two rapes and two attempted rapes.
