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There will be no monster under the bed in the Miramichi, nor lurking in an alley, a back yard or the woods.

That was the fear earlier this week when people there learned Allan Legere - thought of by many as the Monster of the Miramichi - might be transferred from the special handling unit at the Ste-Anne-des-Plaines supermax prison in Quebec to a less regimented life at a maximum security prison.

To them, a transfer to a less secure prison meant only one thing - the possibility of escape, something Legere is good at. He did it in 1989 on a visit to a Moncton hospital, and that slip-up resulted in an unprecedented reign of terror that had people in the Miramichi, and indeed the entire province, fearful for their lives.

This previously-convicted murderer went on to torture and kill four more people during his few months of freedom, Add to that his talents for charming the unsuspecting and literal escapism, and the fears were entirely legitimate.

But beyond the fear New Brunswickers have felt at the thought of Legere moving, there was the added frustration of a government agency that refused to confirm whether the transfer was actually taking place, citing Legere's rights.

Beyond the obvious question everyone must be shouting - since when did Allan Legere deserve any rights? - there is another issue which speaks to the odd policies within the Department of Public Safety.

The National Parole Board, under the direction of Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, is happy to release information about prisoner decisions to whomever demonstrates a desire to know.

In fact, the reports they issue reveal the most intimate and revealing details of a prisoner's life - their failures at past relationships, their lifelong history of addictions, their plans upon release and so on. They even have a handy form to fill out on their website so you'll get every report ever written on an offender's attempts at parole.

On the other hand, the Correctional Service of Canada, under the direction of Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, refused to reveal whether they had any plans to move Legere, for fear it would infringe upon the serial killer's privacy.

Since 1992, only victims of crime can apply to receive information related to transfers and other matters concerning their attackers. In the case of Legere, most of his victims are dead. But there is an entire community of indirect victims ­- those who feared he would come crashing into their homes some night with a knife and a thirst for murder - whose members include an entire province.

Day says his government is reviewing how it handles its most dangerous prisoners at supermax prisons, and he did, in the end, reassure a frightened province that Legere is staying put.

So the battle is over for now, but in four months, as is government policy, Legere's case will be revisited to make sure the CSC is abiding by its policy that all offenders are housed in the least restrictive environment possible.

For a province held hostage by fear, there is only one suitable environment - the supermax prison Legere calls home.