Yves C么t茅 is a hardworking, compassionate, affable 60-year-old man.

If you meet the Chilliwack resident you wonB次元官网网址檛 see the terrible experiences he has endured, nor the terrible things he has done.

The second youngest of eight children, YvesB次元官网网址� mother died when he was young, propelling him into the foster care system where he suffered serious abuse for his entire childhood.

Between the ages of five and 17, he lived in numerous foster homes, juvenile detention facilities, and more than one psychiatric hospital, all in Quebec.

As Yves emerged from an unenviable childhood, soon after he turned 20 he did the unthinkable. His older brother Beavis had treated him horribly, physically and mentally tormenting him for years.

B次元官网网址淗e was a bully and he was extremely cruel,B次元官网网址� Yves said in an interview with The Progress.

With the help of three of his brothers, Yves convinced Beavis to meet them at their fatherB次元官网网址檚 house. There, the four of them kept Beavis hostage for three days, beating him repeatedly, torturing and threatening to kill him.

B次元官网网址淥n the third day, I grabbed his head, tilted it back, put his own gun under his chin, and shot him.B次元官网网址�

So began 40 years of a violent criminal adulthood mostly spent in maximum security prisons in Quebec.

How could a person who spent 32 years incarcerated recover and become a contributing member of society?

ThatB次元官网网址檚 what Yves outlines in the book co-written with criminologist Alana Abramson, titled Metamorphosis: My path to transformation.

Beavis didnB次元官网网址檛 die the day Yves shot him, and Yves received a 42-month sentence for attempted murder and other crimes.

From that sentence in January 1982 until his release on day parole on Dec. 6, 2013, a little under 32 years, Yves was only out of prison for 11 months.

B次元官网网址淢y sentence is not the years that I got,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淢y sentence is having to live with what IB次元官网网址檝e done for the rest of my life.B次元官网网址�

A lifetime behind bars

Going to prison meant learning how to survive. Violence is omnipresent in maximum security institutions such as Donacona in Quebec City where Yves spent many years.

But for Yves, it wasnB次元官网网址檛 unfamiliar coming from an abusive household. He did OK in prison, becoming the type of person inmates fear because being feared was a way to survive.

B次元官网网址淔ast forward 10 to 15 years: I am in prison serving two life sentences, one for first-degree murder and one for second-degree murder,B次元官网网址� he writes. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 five-foot-seven inches and 225 pounds and my body is covered with tattoos. I have been working out for 20 years and was known as one of the strongest men in most of the institutions I have served time in. I have used violence while in prison as an instrument to get what I want. I became like the men that I feared when I first entered prison.B次元官网网址�

Meeting Yves at The Progress office, sitting down with him for an interview, this patient, respectful, self-aware man is incongruous to the violent killer he explains that he was in the past.

What is interesting about Metamorphosis is to see that, however rare it might be, humans can change and according to Yves, they change in spite of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 corrections system, not because of it.

Ask him about capital punishment and for a man who has committed the most serious offences in the criminal code, his answer is surprising.

B次元官网网址淚 would have chosen capital punishment if I could have,B次元官网网址� he says.

The maximum sentence in Canada of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years is a waste of a life for Yves.

He believes the worst should be life with parole consideration after 10 years because at least that gives an offender a light at the end of a tunnel.

Inmates serving life lose all hope so they become hardened, committed to the prison life, the very opposite of rehabilitation so touted by CanadaB次元官网网址檚 system.

B次元官网网址淎 life-25 sentence is very hard to imagine when you are young,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淲hereB次元官网网址檚 the hope? Hope is a terrible thing to lose.B次元官网网址�

If a man is given 10 years to change then thatB次元官网网址檚 a positive outcome for the system. And if he canB次元官网网址檛 change? He stays incarcerated.

B次元官网网址淚f you have a couple of decades to do in prison, thatB次元官网网址檚 a long (expletive) time,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淚n the time I spent in there, they could have made a brain surgeon out of me.B次元官网网址�

Despite being someone who is now out of prison, with a second B次元官网网址� if very late B次元官网网址� chance in life, he doesnB次元官网网址檛 blame his upbringing for the crimes he committed and it drives him crazy to see other offenders do the same.

B次元官网网址淎 lot of the guys (in the prison system) have been abused when they were kids, a lot of the guys got sexually abused, too,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淚 remember sitting in restorative justice circles and hearing sexual predators complaining because they are saying B次元官网网址業 got sexually abused so thatB次元官网网址檚 why IB次元官网网址檓 a pedophile.B次元官网网址� I say, B次元官网网址榃ait a minute, I was sexually abused when I was a child and itB次元官网网址檚 the last thing I would want to do to someone else. You are a sex predator because you are a (expletive) creep.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

He applies the same principle to bullies.

B次元官网网址淚 ask the guy who says he was bullied, B次元官网网址榃ell why do you want to do it to other people?B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淏laming others is always easier than taking responsibility for your own actions,B次元官网网址� he writes in the book. B次元官网网址淣o one forced me to kill anyone, to pull the trigger six times, to stab a man many times.B次元官网网址�

YvesB次元官网网址� book is eye opening for the lay person who knows nothing about lives of violence, abuse, and conditions inside the harshest of federal prisons.

It also sheds a light on what some say is impossible, or at least very rare, namely that criminal offenders can serve time and go on to live productive lives.

B次元官网网址淢y purpose to the book is to show there is a reason why we become who we are but also, we can change.B次元官网网址�

Metamorphosis: My path to transformation is a self-published book available through the author who can be contacted at 604-997-4265 or email chefrealyves@gmail.com

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