Campbell gets unescorted leaves from prison

Heather Wright/The Independent

Convicted killer Donald Campbell has given permission to leave prison without an escort.

It’s something the family of Fenny Campbell has fought against since 2022 saying he has shown no remorse and still denies killing the mother of three.

Twenty-seven years ago, Donald Campbell killed his wife, Fenny, in their Wyoming home and then tried to cover up her death by disguising it as a traffic death. During the three-month long trial, a jury heard Donald Campbell had verbally and emotionally abused his wife, often humiliating her, and was seeking a way out of his marriage when he killed her with a pedstal in the garage of the family home.

In May 2022, after 25 years in prison for first-degree murder, Campbell started seeking parole in the form of unescorted temporary absences – short leaves to begin reintegration to society. 

Each time a hearing was held, seven members of the Campbell family, including Fenny’s three children, Joel, Brent and Alica, appeared by video link to “fight for justice” reliving the worst moment of their lives.

At the last hearing in May 2024, the family urged the parole board to ask Campbell if he had killed Fenny. They did. “I maintain, and I will always maintain, I did not murder my wife,” he said. Adding “not all the facts” were brought out in court with the children there.

He was denied unescorted temporary absences then.

In Dec. 2024, Campbell went again to the Parole Board of Canada seeking temporary absences. The board suggested “an in-office review” instead of an in-person hearing. Campbell agreed. Campbell and his representatives submitted his requests for three, 72-hour leaves over the course of a year to go to a community based residential facility.

Family members statements in past hearings and updated versions were available to the parole board as well.

By Feb. 2025, the parole board granted Campbell three, 72-hour absences in the next year with conditions.

After reviewing the family’s impact statements and listening to a recording of the last in-person review,  the board concluded: “While your dogged maintenance of a denial stance in the face of all evidence to the contrary remains a barrier to accountability and makes positive change difficult to assess, the board is cognizant that denial alone does not render your risk in the community unmanageable.”

The board’s biggest concerns are Campbell’s controlling nature and his attitudes toward domestic violence according to the decision citing his “manipulation, need for control” which reflect “ongoing personal/emotional issues.”

The board said his psychological issues didn’t reflect a criminal attitude.

But an assessment done in 2024 showed Campbell is still a “moderate” risk for violence against an intimate partner.

Over his years in prison, the board acknowledges Campbell went to counselling, including some to manage “powerful emotions.”

Campbell, according to the report, recognized “some of your toxic and coercive control behaviours within your family home and towards the victim. You have also acknowledged that you “may have pushed” your wife on occasion. However, your progress towards insight into your risk factors and the harm you have caused remains limited,” the board writes.

“In order to monitor this area of risk and in the interest of protecting any future partner to ensure that they are informed of your offence history, you are to immediately report all intimate sexual and non-sexual relationships and friendships with females to your parole supervisor,” the parole board writes adding “this includes any attempts to initiate friendships and relationships with females.”

The board also ordered Campbell to stay out of Chatham-Kent and Lambton-Middlesex “to prevent any incidental contact and provide a measure of peace of mind for the victims.”

While he’s on unescorted temporary absences, Campbell is expected to build a rapport with the facility’s staff – who “did express concern about your denial of your offence” –  obtain government identification, look into old age pensions, look for work or volunteer opportunities and check on his banking status.

“You are expected to follow the structured plan which has been prepared for your release. You are to return to the facility nightly.”

The temporary absences are meant to give Campbell “opportunities to gain further credibility in the community, demonstrate self-management…and set goals for future reintegration plans.”

It’s not clear whether Campbell has already used one of the unescorted temporary absences granted. Corrections Canada, which monitors the temporary leaves, says it does not comment on when or whether the leaves have been taken. 

The family of Fenny Campbell, who vowed to make sure their mother received justice when her murderer first sought day passes, say their concerns were not heard.

“We feel that the paper process is a detriment to the voice of impacted victims,” said Joel Campbell in a statement to The Independent.

“The board did not get to see and hear the victims of Donald Campbell’s horrendous crime personally. Nor did they personally hear from him in person and see what all previous hearing panels have seen: the degree to which he is unchanged, lacks remorse for what he has done, and is unable to exhibit sympathy or empathy. 

“Paper alone does not do the process justice.”