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But while acknowledging the gravity of Doyle’s crime and a prison psychologist’s assessment that he was a “moderate” risk to reoffend, the board members said they were satisfied allowing Doyle to have “escorted temporary absences” did not pose an undue risk to society and would be beneficial for his rehabilitation.

Photo by Family handout

“We’ve suffered enough. This just adds to the pain and suffering. … I feel cheated,” Parsons said later, railing not only against the decision but the “country club” atmosphere of the oceanfront prison.

Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, William Head Institution — which overlooks the Strait of Juan de Fuca, features a tennis court and is surrounded by deer feeding on grass — has been derided by critics who call it “Club Fed.” After serving time in maximum security prisons, including Ontario’s Millhaven Institution, Doyle was transferred there in 2015.

Parsons was 19 when he found his 45-year-old mother Catherine Carroll’s body in the bathroom of her home in January 1991. She had been stabbed or slashed 53 times.

Police initially suspected Parsons, and in 1994, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder based on hearsay and circumstantial evidence that Carroll had feared her son and that he had taken part in recording a song titled “Kill Your Parents,” media reports said at the time.

DNA evidence later exonerated Parsons, however, and investigators turned their attention to Doyle who confessed to the murder in the course of an undercover sting. In 2003 he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole eligibility for 18 years.