Systemic failures led to teen's prison death: report

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The Correctional Service of Canada broke its own regulations by holding a troubled inmate in solitary confinement for most of the year she spent in federal prisons before she killed herself, the correctional watchdog says.

He wondered why Ms. Smith ended up behind bars in the first place. She was a teen convicted of minor crimes – public disturbance, throwing apples at a postal worker, stealing a CD – but she fell deeper and deeper into the system because of run-ins while in detention.

“When it first started, we thought it was a typical teenage behaviour. We didn't think we were headed down a long road of despair,” Mrs. Smith said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090303.wreport0303/BNStory/National/home

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1. FTR: ASHLEY SMITH PACK

It has been nearly a year-and-a-half since Ashley Smith died alone in her jail cell, after choking herself to death. A federal investigation has since found that Corrections staff did little to intervene. In fact, they stood outside her jail cell as Ashley tied a ligature around her neck.

As we heard on yesterday's program, Canada's Correctional Service Investigator has blamed a system-wide failure for the Moncton teenager's suicide. Yet, even now, no one has been held accountable.

Today, the Ashley's family is demanding answers. For the first time, her mother, Coralee Smith, spoke publicly about her daughter's death. Here is some of what she had to say, for the record.
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/20090304-aih-1.wmv
PETER VAN LOAN Duration: 00:00:17


Today, the family's lawyer called on the Minister of Public Safety Peter Van Loan to direct the federal investigator to name those "faceless bureaucrats". To find out if he will, we reached the Minister in Ottawa.

FTR: ASHLEY SMITH LAWYER


http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/latestshow.html