What Kind of People Stand and Watch As a Young Woman Commits Suicide?

What kind of people could stand by and look on as a young girl commits suicide? Think about it, what people could do that? The answer is the officers in the women’s penitentiary where she was placed.

As a mother of a once juvenile delinquent myself, I know the pain and suffering you feel first hand. These kids can tear your heart out. However, whatever bad they have done, they are you flesh and blood and you love them.

Sometimes you have to make the decision to have them placed in detention so that they can get back in control. The reason they are acting out is because they are out of control and if the parents can’t handle it then the law must. The so-called medical professionals are there to subdue these kids and to keep them in control as well as provide proper medical attention. When a person is about to about to commit suicide can you get more out of control then that? How then can people whom you have entrusted your child or young adult’s life to just watch as she commits suicide in front of them?

This is a serious question that has to be asked and the authorities have to be made accountable for this tragic and senseless death.

According to Correctional Services Canada, Ashley Smith had problems from a very young age. Her parents tried everything for her. They eventually were able to get her some psychiatric help in a New Brunswick diagnostic and treatment center but the medical authorities released her “most probably” too early because she had behavioural problems.

Personal Note: The fact that she had these issues was all the more reason she needed help in order to become a well-adjusted individual and avoid her untimely demise. Instead they failed her.

Ashley went before the courts several times and in 2003, she was turned over to the New Brunswick Youth Center. She committed an additional 50 criminal offenses while in their charge. Many of these crimes were in reaction to the health professionals who were trying to help her and control her anti social behaviour. She spent much of her stay there in “therapeutic Quiet Time” that means isolated and away from everyone else.

Personal Note: My son was in “respite” that is what we call it here in Quebec for a week, when he was in a psychiatric hospital for kids with conduct disorder and other mental illnesses.

By January 2006, Ashley Smith was still incarcerated in the Youth Detention Center and still under “segregation” and isolated from others, only now she turned 18. Ashley continued to be violent and assault the staff. Because of her new charges it was decided in court that all these youth charges and the new ones merge into one Adult charge to be served in a federal institution – The Nova Institution For Women.

Personal Note: I am happy to say that my son’s incarceration in a mental hospital was only for 6 months and he never committed any crimes as an adult. He was only 13 when he was placed in the hospital. However, that period was a very dark period for the both of us and I can only imagine the torment the Smith family had gone through with their daughter.

Ashley ended her life on October 19, 2007. She was still in segregation only now she was incarcerated at a different correctional facilities, she often slept on the floor, where the tiles were taken away. She did not even have a mattress upon her bed. Ashley warned her primary worker of her intention to commit suicide but it went unheeded. Ashley took a rope and hung herself.

Personal Note: When this story was televised it was reported that the guards looked on while she killed herself. Their excuse for not stopping her was that they were told not to intervene. What kind of crap is that?

The four workers were charged under section 220 (b) of the Criminal Code of Canada, Cause Death by Criminal Negligence.

• The results of the government investigation were that:
• Ashley’s Smith death was preventable
• Misuse of segregation
• The death was due to system failures not only to Ashley Smith but these failures could affect every inmate.
• These issues are a result of inherent problems within the Canadian Correctional System.
• The Canadian Government must act immediately to rectify these failures to prevent other suicide deaths across all correctional systems in the land.

Personal Note: Is this a case of too little too late? Or should we just sit back and say, “these things happen?” I say, “why do we as a society always wait until something horrible happens before we check the safeguards within any of our social, medical, and legal systems. Why are these safeguards not in place from the very beginning?”

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