THE BLAME GAME BEGINS AT THE ASHLEY SMITH INQUEST

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story "Deputy blames warden at Smith inquiry". The "deputy" is Joanna Pauline and the warden is Cindy Berry. Joanna Pauline claims that she sent memos to middle managers at the direction of the warden (Cindy Berry) advising that guards not go in and remove ligatures from Ashley Smith's neck. Allegedly this was because Ms. Smith wasn't in medical distress although with earlier testimony that her face was repeatedly turning purple; that seems very bizarre. Pauline also claims that she never gave direct orders to guards to stay out of Smith's cell unless she had stopped breathing. Boy talk about mincing words and stickhandling. Pauline also said that "...she believed the number of incidents in which guards used force on the inmate (ie. remove ligatures) were considered a "performance measure" for the prison's management.". Again Pauline blamed the warden Cindy Berry for changes in guards' reports for the purpose of not alarming national headquarters of the Correctional Services of Canada (CSC).

It seems clear to me the level of stupidity and negligence that led to this unecessary tragedy only increased the farther up the ladder of command. The people at the top were in fantasy land squeezed by their even dumber superiors who knew even less. Nobody at the top seemed willing to acknowledge the real problems at the bottom rung.