Ashley Smith jail death likely accidental, says report
Posted Oct 30, 2010 05:16:19 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Correctional Services Canada report has apparently concluded that teenager Ashley Smith’s death was an accident, and not a suicide.
The Globe and Mail is reporting the internal CSC report, written by psychologist Margo Rivera, was obtained by Smith’s family.
The 19-year-old died in an isolation cell at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., in October 2007.
Until now, CSC has maintained Smith committed suicide through self-asphyxiation.
Smith had accused CSC of poor treatment, including assault, a lack of psychiatric care and frequent transfers between prisons and treatment facilities across Canada.
A coroner’s inquest into Smith’s death opens in Toronto on Monday.
