The Toronto Star
GRAND VALLEY, Canada — When a controversial order about when to enter Ashley Smith’s jail cell first came down, prison manager Janice Sandeson renounced it, but months later was following and issuing similarly worded directions, an inquest has heard.
The inquest into Smith’s death was told last week that Sandeson and Eric Broadbent, another manager, got into a yelling match after the latter issued an order June 19, 2007, stating that guards at the Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont., not enter Smith’s cell to cut off ligatures she tied around her neck “as long as Smith was breathing, talking or moving.’'
On Oct. 12, 2007, Sandeson says she confronted a trainer from a regional office of Corrections Canada who, during a “use of force” review session at Grand Valley, told middle managers he didn’t know why guards were entering Smith’s cell when she’s still breathing with ligatures on, the Smith inquest has heard.
Sandeson said she ignored his urging, and told the trainer, Ken Allen, that Grand Valley would have a suicide on its hands if his approach was followed.
Sandeson testified that she adhered to an “assess and reassess’’ approach to Smith when the teen tied ligatures around her neck to choke herself, which happened frequently.
That approach was different from the “do not enter if she’s still breathing” order, Sandeson insisted Monday in her testimony.
Sandeson imparted the assess and reassess approach to guards under her supervision, and it included looking into Smith’s segregation cell to evaluate whether the teen’s face was turning purple, and watching Smith’s breathing and movement, Sandeson said.
Guards could enter her cell, but if Smith got up they were to close the door and “reassess,” the inquest heard.
Meanwhile, by the fall of 2007, senior management were issuing “counselling letters’’ to managers and guards, criticizing guards for entering Smith’s cell too soon and too often, the inquest heard.
On Oct. 15, 2007, a few days after Smith expressed a strong desire to kill herself and was placed on high suicide risk alert, she was in her cell with a ligature around her neck. During the incident, in which guards responded under Sandeson’s direction - she was right at the door - it became difficult to determine if Smith was breathing, so a guard opened the cell door.
Smith moved and it was determined she was breathing, so the door was closed - even though the ligature was still on.
The inquest heard Monday that during this incident Sandeson told the guards, “If (Smith’s) nose begins to bleed at all, we’re in (to her cell). There’s no questions we go in, it (the ligature) gets cut off.’'
Toronto lawyer Howard Rubel, who is representing prison guards at the inquest, suggested to Sandeson that her directions that day sounded close to Broadbent’s “don’t go in’’ order. She agreed.
Sandeson, now an assistant warden at Grand Valley, was not on duty Oct. 19, 2007, when Smith, 19, died in her cell from self-asphyxiation after tying a ligature around her own neck.
Eric Broadbent is scheduled to testify at the inquest Tuesday. The inquest heard Monday of an “immediate action plan’’ he wrote with regards to addressing Smith’s ligature-tying. The note, which appears to have been written on a computer, refers to a plan consisting of Smith receiving “three direct orders to show herself’’ to ensure she’s not in distress. She was to be told if she refuses to comply, staff would enter her cell and use physical force, or a pepper spray-like substance.
The memo makes no mention of waiting until Smith stops breathing to enter.
Janice Sandeson, former correctional manager at the Grand Valley Institution.
Copyright 2013 Toronto Star Newspapers Limited