Conservative senator says murderers should be given tools to kill themselves in jail

Politicians says the darnedest things.

According to a column in the Globe and Mail, a Conservative senator said while he doesn't believe in the death penalty, murderers should be provided with the tools to kill themselves in jail.

"Each assassin should have the right to a rope in his cell to make a decision about his or her life," senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu told reporters ahead of a meeting of the Conservative caucus on Wednesday.

"I'm against the death penalty, but in horrible cases such as [serial killer Clifford] Olson, can we have a reflection on that issue?"

Boisvenu, who was appointed to the Upper Chamber by Prime Minister Harper in 2009, was a victims rights advocate and founded the Association of Families of Persons Assassinated or Disappeared (AFPAD) after his daughter was murdered in 2002.

During his impromptu press conference, Wednesday, the outspoken senator also had a comment on the recent Shafia murder convictions.

He said that, instead of using the death penalties against the Afghan-born Shafias, "returning them to their country might be a tougher sentence than to keep them here, where our prisons are a lot more comfortable."

In response to Boisvenu's comments, Prime Minister's Office said that it will not reopen the debate over the death penalty, and Boisvenu told all-news LCN channel that he regretted his statement.