In Canada, a Death in Prison Sparks Debate, Lawsuits Over Solitary Confinement

In Canada, a Death in Prison Sparks Debate, Lawsuits Over Solitary Confinement

by Aviva Stahl

Protesters outside the headquarters of the Correctional Service of Canada in Ottawa in January 2013. Photo: Julie Oliver/Ottawa Citizen

Ashley Smith was just 19 when she died in her solitary confinement cell at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario, in October 2007. As she had many times before, Smith tied a ligature around her neck and tightened it. For twenty long minutes, a crowd of prison guards stood watch from outside her door, waiting and filming as her face turned a purplish-black. By the time they entered Smith’s cell, it was too late to save her. Smith had spent more than 1,000 days in isolation.

Six years later—in December, 2013—a Coroner’s Inquest determined that her death constituted a homicide. This past December, the Canadian government issued a formal response to the inquest, refusing to put in place many of the jury’s 104 recommendations. This move has sparked a national debate in Canada about the use of solitary confinement. Two lawsuits, both filed since the government released its response, allege that the Correctional Service’s use of isolation amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Preventable Death Ruled a Homicide

Ashley Smith’s encounters with the law and state services began when she was a young teenager. She cycled in and out of secure youth facilities after her first arrest at 15, for throwing crab apples at a postal worker. Once she aged out was sent into the adult system, Smith’s life took on a new degree of instability; she was transferred 17 times during the course of her 11 months in federal custody in order to accommodate “administrative issues such as cell availability and staff fatigue. Smith also received inconsistent mental health care despite demonstrating self-injurious behavior and voicing suicidal ideation.

After Smith’s death, the warden and four correctional officers directly involved in the incident were fired, and the officers were charged with negligent homicide. The charges were subsequently dropped, however, and all four COs were eventually reinstated to their positions. Union representatives insisted that the COs had been scapegoated by senior management, who had allegedly given direct orders for the guards to ignore Smith’s behavior, and not intervene as long as she was still breathing.

Although Smith died of self-strangulation, a coroner’s jury later ruled the incident a homicide, determining that she could not be held responsible for what happened. Coroner’s inquests are formal court proceedings in which a five-person jury hears from witnesses and determines the facts of a death, but without establishing guilt or fault. In Ontario, where Smith died, it is mandatory to hold a Coroner’s Inquest for all individuals who pass away in the custody of the Correctional Service.

The jury also put forward a series of recommendations for the Correctional Service of Canada, including stringent caps on the amount of time individuals can spend in isolation and a complete abolition of “indefinite solitary confinement.” Nearly a year later, in December 2014, the Canadian government published its formal response. They asserted “that the government is unable to fully support [the inquest’s recommendations] without causing undue risk to the safe management of the federal correctional system.”

The government also refuted the inquest’s characterization of segregation practices. “The term solitary confinement is not accurate or applicable within the Canadian federal correctional system. Canadian law and correctional policy allows for the use of administrative segregation for the shortest period of time necessary, in limited circumstances, and only when there are no reasonable, safe alternatives.”

In an interview with The Canadian Press, one of the lawyers who represented Smith’s family lambasted the government’s refusal to honor the inquest’s language. "They're playing the Orwellian game…That bodes very poorly for them honestly dealing with this crisis in the system—that they can't even call it what it is."

These sentiments were echoed by Ashley Smith’s mother, Coralee. “I don’t see any real changes… segregation is basically going to stay the same.”

Two Lawsuits Filed

Reactions to the Canadian government’s position extend beyond Smith’s family and their legal team. Since December, two separate lawsuits have been filed by advocacy groups alleging that the use of solitary confinement in Canada amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, and is thus unconstitutional.

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