[Agapeti]

A coroner's jury in Toronto that is probing the case of teenager Ashley Smith visited the small prison cell in the southern Ontario facility where she died five years ago.

The five-woman panel on Thursday toured the federal Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, where the 19-year-old choked to
death after tying a piece of cloth around her neck, to get a first-hand look at where she spent her final days.
Jurors asked officials many questions about her cell — a beige-painted cell measuring 1.5 meters wide by three meters long — in the prison's segregation unit, such as how often it was cleaned, the CBC's Ioanna Roumeliotis reported from Kitchener.

The CBC and The Canadian Press are accompanying the inquest panel on their tour as pool media representatives, gathering information for all media outlets.

The panel requested that guards shut the door, with them inside, to get an idea of what it was like for Smith, Roumeliotis added.

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)


"It's clear that these jurors are taking their task really seriously," she said. "They really do want to get a real sense of what Ashley Smith's time in prison was like."

Inside the cell was a single bed with a rolled-up pad that serves as a mattress. There were a sink and a toilet behind a privacy screen,
Roumeliotis reported. The cell also had a single window, which was equipped with a camera, she said.

Jurors also took time to peer through the knee-level food slot in the cell door. Smith often lay at the foot of the door, and most of the
time, looking through the slot was the only way guards could get a good look at her, Roumeliotis added. There was also a small viewing window at
about eye level.

Evidence about what guards could see of the cell interior is expected to play a role given that Smith frequently covered the interior surveillance camera and viewing window with toilet paper, The CanadianPress reported.

Bits of toilet paper are still visible on some of the cameras.

After examining Smith's cell, the jurors and media toured the maximum-security area, Roumeliotis reported, although the troubled teen spent little time there.

2nd inquest attempt Smith spent years being shuttled back and forth between the country's prisons and was in isolation much of the time.

She died on Oct. 19, 2007, after she tied a ligature around her neck, as prison guards stood outside her cell and watched. They say they were
told not to intervene. Guards also videotaped her death, footage of which will be shown to jurors at a later date.

The inquest began Monday, with coroner Dr. John Carlisle calling it the "best memorial to we could give to Ashley."

Ashley Smith, shown surrounded by guards at a prison at Joliette, Que. in July 2007, in this image made from video. Smith spent years being shuttled
back and forth among the country's prisons before her death in October 2007. (Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario/Canadian Press)"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. Carlisle has said he wants the impact of prolonged segregation on Smith's mental health explored. Smith suffered from an anti-social personality disorder with borderline traits, psychiatrist Paul Beaudry wrote in a 2010 report. Family hopes for 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.

[BryanXavier]

What a terrible risk the guards were taking. I assume it was tough love or something. They filmed it for a reason other than shits and giggles from the conversation and demeanor of it all. Perhaps to show superiors what was happening with the girl.

[Pyramid_Head]

Crazy shit happens like this all the time.

[Azimuth]

Well that was disturbing and sad.

[RedneckR0nin]

Yeah...it is fucked...but worst things have happened!

[Agapeti]

The sad part is that jails have replaced psychiatric care.

[Henrietta_Pussycat]

I don`t understand why she wasn`t on the first inter regional flight to RPC in Saskatoon. Of course CSC will just do what they always do with the upper management that fucks up - promote them.

[MrCorpse]

Oh well, Fuck her... she seemed like a stupid cunt anyway, waste of tax dollars and oxygen.

[TheCapn]

Guards arent allowed to intervene unless asked for help by the inmate or when without direct intervention inmate will die.

In the UK a few years back, a guard pulled an inmate attempting to hang themselves down and was fired for the "injuries caused to the inmates neck through improper handling". Fucking disgusting.