ASHLEY SMITH INQUEST JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story "Guard made deal to keep silent about Smith death". Firstly guard Blaine Phibbs was charged with criminal negligence in the death of Ashley Smith. Correctional Service Canada then failed to to turn over documents to the Crown, resulting in them dropping the criminal charges against him. Makes you kind of wonder what was in the documents that Corrections Canada would fail to hand them over. Perhaps exculpatory evidence that reinforces the guards version of events does come to mind. Then things get even weirder. He had been fired by Corrections Canada after being criminally charged then when the charges were dropped they made him a deal. Using taxpayer money of course "Corrections paid him time and a half or double time for the thousands of hours he had been off work in the 18 months after the death. He also received $25,000 to go back to school and career counselling." That is outrageous and could certainly be interpreted as a bribe especially as he had to agree never to tell anyone what had happened. I guess a coroner's inquest trumps private sweetheart deals.

Mr. Phibbs also testified that he had personally cut at least 50 ligatures from Smith's neck during her stay at the prison. He further estimated that her face had turned blue on about half of those occasions. Originally management praised him for saving Smith but then orders changed as management decided that removing ligatures before she had stopped breathing would only encourage her. Whether they actually had any medical or psychological expertise behind these new orders has not been determined yet. Looking at the entire picture we've seen so far I'm willing to bet they were flying by the seat of their pants. The appearance I'm seeing is an arms length management locked into a contest of wills with a mentally ill teenager. Good for management as they "won" the battle of wills and Ashley Smith is dead. They seem to have forgotten that their responsibility includes keeping inmates alive.