Luka Magnotta’s ‘ridiculous Hannibal Lecter treatment’ has been excessive: prison union

Accused murderer Luka Magnotta was flown back to Canada this week on a military plane from Germany and he was greeted in Montreal with a private motorcade - fitting of a dignitary -- that escorted him to prison.

[Related: Why Luka Magnotta flew home in a military plane]

But the head of Quebec's jail guard union says the Montreal police's treatment of the accused dismemberment murderer has been excessive and needlessly expensive.

"He's not an international terrorist and he's not a gangster with accomplices on the outside, we're going to transport him by standard means," Stephane Lemaire, head of the provincial jail guards' union, told PostMedia News.

"It's ridiculous the amount of money that was wasted to give the media a show…. To see that much security, it feels like we're dealing with Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs."

Magnotta is currently under "super protection" at the Rivière-des-Prairies Detention Centre, which means he has no contact with any of the other prisoners. Beyond that, he'll receive no special treatment while in the jail.

"It's horrible, the crime he did, but we do our work and we're not afraid of him," Lemaire said adding that Magnotta is under suicide watch.

Meanwhile, Magnotta made his second court appearance Thursday and to the surprise of many did not request a psych evaluation.

A preliminary hearing date has been set for March 2013.

[Related: Luka Magnotta's lawyer Pierre Panaccio will have unusual challenges]