Ashley Smith coroner's jury rules prison death a homicide

[evewithanapple]

An Ontario coroner's jury in Toronto has ruled the self-inflicted choking death of Ashley Smith in her segregated prison cell was a homicide.

​Smith, 19, originally from Moncton, N.B., was imprisoned at the Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont., when she died in 2007.

Comments

[234_am]

This whole sad mess really hit home for me, as this could have been me at age 17 if I had gotten into trouble somehow. I feel like I understand what she was doing so this case feels much more personal to me than it probably should. I am glad to see it was ruled as homicide because it really stands out now and hopefully will serve as an example. The guards and the system in general failed Ashley and it seems that they were sick of her shenanigans and were trying the tough love approach; obviously it wasn't freaking working. I can't imagine how hard the time in solitary must have been for her. :( RIP.

[tabaqui]

Jayzus. I'm not familiar with this case outside of this posting but *17* institutions? What the hell. And they just stood outside her cell while she died.....

The recommendations listed are *all* good ones - let's see them implemented *now*! And ruling it a homicide will hopefully make everything move along more quickly.

What a horrible mess.

[romp]

Another piece of Canadian news that I'd missed! Thanks for posting. That whole case was a clusterfuck and you know it's not an isolated incident. The girl was owed care whether she raged against authority or not.