AN INDICTMENT OF OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM WHICH FAILED ASHLEY SMITH

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys a story/opinion piece from the lead singer for Blood, Sweat and Tears namely David Clayton-Thomas. It is a stinging indictment of Canada's judicial system based upon his personal experiences. The title is "Let's not fail Ashley Smith again". Apparently Mr. Clayton-Thomas was from a dysfunctional family and early on, out of desperation, got into trouble with the law. His experiences were very nasty and his disgust and contempt for our jails and justice system obvious. Clearly what are needed are more people speaking out after they.ve been through the system. Especially those who have survived and gone on to be productive members of society, will be credible and informed spokespersons about a system that is clearly unaccountable, unproductive and literally destroys lives. This is a very strong indictment of our Canadian penal and judicial system and to date the public have not been paying attention. Perhaps this coroner's inquest will change that. Perhaps not.