A coroner's jury in Toronto that is probing the case of teenager Ashley Smith is scheduled today to visit the southern Ontario facility where she died five years ago.
The five-woman panel on Thursday will tour the federal Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, where the 19-year-old choked to death on Oct. 19, 2007, after tying a piece of cloth around her neck.
Ashley Smith choked to death in her cell at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., on Oct. 19, 2007. (Marnie Luke/CBC) Prison guards stood outside her cell and watched, and say they were told not to intervene. Guards also videotaped her death, footage of which will be shown to jurors at a later date.
Smith spent years being shuttled back and forth between the country's prisons and was in isolation much of the time.
The jury panel is expected to observe how segregated prisoners are handled.
The inquest began Monday, with coroner Dr. John Carlisle calling it the "best memorial to we could give to Ashley."
"We cannot now reverse the course of history as it unfolded, but we can learn from the circumstances of this death, and try … to implement measures to prevent future tragedies," he said Monday in his opening remarks.
This is the second inquest into Smith's death, after the first attempt went off the rails amid acrimonious legal squabbling. That inquest was scrapped after the first presiding coroner retired.
Family hopes probe will lead to change
Smith's family says it hopes the inquest will answer lingering questions about the teenager's death, and lead to tangible changes in the system.
The mother of Ashley Smith, Coralee Smith, says she hopes the second inquest into her daughter's death will lead to changes to the correctional system. (Tom Hanson/Canadian Press) "We still have Ashleys, we still have Ashleys being treated in the same tortuous, horrendous ways that Ashley was treated," her mother, Coralee Smith, told CBC News.
"The money they're using, the money that's being spent keeping people in prison, could be much better directed … at mental health services way before they get to the courtroom, way before."
Smith's family, however, have not been able to attend inquest hearings due to Coralee's frail health, their lawyer Julian Falconer said.
The CBC and The Canadian Press will be present during the tour of Grand Valley Institution on Thursday as pool media representatives, gathering information for all media outlets.
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