NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -- The treatment team for a mentally ill British Columbia man who killed his three children is expected to oppose day passes during an upcoming annual review.

A lawyer for Allan Schoenborn has told a B.C. Supreme Court judge that the man's psychiatrists will recommend against allowing him on escorted outings when his hearing is held later this month.

Schoenborn was granted the potential for limited freedom at his hearing last year by the B.C. Review Board, which decided he had made progress and could possibly make day trips as part of his rehabilitation.

But his lawyer Rishi Gill says the director of the psychiatric facility where he lives in suburban Vancouver has never actually given Schoenborn final approval for an outing.

A spokesman for the family members of the three victims, Dave Teixeira, says he's not surprised by the change in Schoenborn's treatment plan, noting the hospital has recorded at least 48 violent incidents since he entered the facility.

In 2010 Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder for the slayings of his 10-year-old daughter and eight- and five-year-old sons in their Merritt, B.C., home.

The information was presented at the start of a hearing on Monday to determine whether strict new controls should be placed on Schoenborn, who has been diagnosed with mental illness since the killings eight years ago.

Crown lawyers are seeking to have Schoenborn designated as a "high-risk accused," a controversial label that was created by the former Conservative government.

The Criminal Code designation includes provisions that can stop almost all of his absences from a psychiatric hospital and has the potential to extend annual review hearings to once every three years.

Schoenborn's lawyers object to the designation and plan to argue that it's unconstitutional at a future hearing, while the family of the victims is strongly in favour of the tougher designation.

The hearing, which is scheduled to last three weeks, comes just ahead of Schoenborn's annual review before the B.C. Review Board in late May.