Ashley Smith. Ashley Smith. Ashley Smith. She infuriates me without knowing. She gives me a sense a dread, and shames me for being Canadian. She scares me, and creates memories that I cannot erase. She has no idea the effect that she has had on me, and she never will. We will never meet.
After repeated abuse by prison guards, Ashley Smith hung herself while the staff of the Grand Valley Institute for Women in Kitchener watched her die through her cell window. It took them 45 minutes to enter her cell, and this heinous act was the finale to a grand show of abuse rained upon her from various institutions stemming from New Brunswick to Ontario. If need be, you can watch her, my faith in the Canadian Justice System, and her life unravel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8KJsflugW4.
After learning that all charges against the guards in Ashley’s case were dropped, I fell into a rabbit hole of obsession. I wondered how isolated these incidences were. Does it happen to other prisoners? In Canada? But we are so nice! We are so polite, kind and giving!
And then I found Camille Strickland. She robbed a drug store and begged to be sentenced somewhere that can get her help with her mental issues. They granted her wish by sending her to the Nova Institution for Women in Truro, Nova Scotia. She began engaging in self-harm, so they threw her in Seg. In February, she cut her face, and was found in a pool of blood. In March, she set her leg and room on fire. On July 20, she attempted suicide, for the second time in her recent history, and on July 28 2015, Camille Strickland-Murphy killed herself. No-one addressed her repeated attempts at suicide, and no-one told her family about them. "The onus is on the inmate to tell her family of her suicide attempts,” the Truro Nova Scotia Prison explained.
Now, if I can just reword that: “The onus is on the suicidal, mentally distressed, mentally ill inmate to call her fam and say ‘hey, by the way, I slit my wrists this morning - but obviously it didn’t work! Bummer, eh?’. Sounds legit.
Camille had been in Nova Prison in Truro before, (where Ashley Smith was transferred out of because of the abuse she received) at the age of 19. At that time, she had been beaten twice, by other inmates.That is when her mental illness began with untreated concussions. She began having seizures, fainting spells, and periods of loss of consciousness.
Apparently my opinion of Canada is a little too pedestal-ish.
Veronica Park has a fun story! She headed to Nova in Truro in 2014. In prison, she self-medicated her mental issues. Prison staff responded to her “situation” by throwing her, three times, into “segregation”, where she spent a total of 22 days. In the weeks before her death, Veronica Park went to the clinic seven times due to flu like illness. On April 23, 2015, Veronica Park went twice to the clinic, where the nurse recorded a shortness of breath and other severe flu like symptoms, and sent her on her way. (Because recording it is curing it! For sure!) The next day, Veronica Park was found gasping for air and was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a serious case of pneumonia. By 4:30 pm, Veronica Park was dead. Five or six months after her death, her family was still waiting for an autopsy report. I am not sure how long it took for officials to provide the cause of death….but I am guessing anything past a few days, let alone months, is completely intolerable.
Who knew Canada provides the opportunity for women to experience hell on earth right here in the cute little eastern town of Truro, Nova Scotia?
Oh wait, it’s not just women? How equal opportunity of you Canada! On May 27th, 2015 Matthew Hines begged for guards to spare his life at Dorchester Penitentiary in Dorchester, New Brunswick. He robbed a bank and hurt no-one in the process.
You see, according to the ‘official report’ poor Matthew appeared confused and physically uncooperative - refusing to find his way back to his cell. Seeing how we now know that prison guards of the east are actually made of satan DNA, they punched him twice, slapped him in the face and kneed him twice in the same spot on his right side. Obviously, they dragged him to seg, and pepper sprayed him in the face five times with seconds between full bursts (illegal!). Now, being the Canadians they are, the guards nicely took him to rinse out his burning retina and while in handcuffs, pulled his shirt over his head (try it at home - it’s fun!) and stuck him in the shower to douse his face. They shut it off after 30 seconds (don’t want to spoil him!) Matt, being the pain in the ass that he obviously is, fell and hit his head against the shower wall, as he couldn’t get his balance. Matt began begging for his life, stating that he couldn’t breathe, and they turned the water back on for Matt the Big Baby for another thirty seconds.
This is where Matt had a seizure. Hours later he died.
Jesus Jumped Up Mercy Canada - WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
I don’t know how to change this. I don’t know how to close down prisons that kill their prisoners. I don’t even know who has the authority to do this. I’m guessing Justin does, did anyone ask his stance on Canada’s OBVIOUS death penalty? Can we? Can we ask everyone running for everything what THEY will do to shut down prisons who use segregation and violence as a healing policy? Isn’t beating up mentally incapacitated Canadians against some sort of law? SOMEONE TELL ME HOW TO FIX THIS.
