Hinton, 32, a former champion boxer with a chilling record of violent sexual assaults, was transferred from the medium-security Bowden Institution to the maximum-security Edmonton Institution on Oct. 28.

Hinton is in the midst of receiving a series of reconstructive surgical procedures for his ravaged face in Edmonton, says the source - who added Correctional Service Canada might have moved Hinton in part to save the expense of transporting him.

"As far as the procedure is concerned, I can't give you specifics. All I can say is that it would have been considered medically required ... whatever it is, it's what he needs."

A CSC spokesman confirmed the department will pay for surgical procedures if a doctor says they're necessary for an inmate's mental health. "It wouldn't be just so he could look good," said Cathy Stocki.

On Aug. 16, 2001, he repeatedly raped a woman at her west-end home after threatening to rape her daughter if she didn't obey. Hinton also forced the young girl to watch the attacks.

After his release on bail, Hinton went on a frenzied rampage of sexual attacks. He repeatedly raped a 32-year-old acquaintance at his home on June 14, after tying her hands and threatening her with a knife.

He then sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl also in the home at the time, ripped off her clothes, punching and kicking her and threatening to kill her.

After she escaped, Hinton lured a neighbour to his house and raped her for six solid hours, sometimes holding a gun and a shard of glass to her head.

One of Hinton's victims told court during his trial she was "glad" he'd been mutilated, because "every time he looks in the mirror, he will be reminded not only of what he did to me, but to the two other women he assaulted that day."

Conservative justice critic Vic Toews said he couldn't "begrudge" Hinton the reconstructive work, since it might help ease his transition back into society. Hinton's eligible for parole in 2011 and statutory release in 2014.

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