Burnside inmate's death 'preventable,' says sister of Ashley Smith
Dawna Ward says systemic failures likely contributed to the suicide of Joshua Evans
The sister of Ashley Smith, a young woman who killed herself in her Ontario prison cell in 2007 while guards watched, says the death of an inmate at the Burnside jail in Dartmouth, N.S., this week was "another preventable death."
In the wake of Smith's death, a coroner's jury issued 104 recommendations on how to improve the correctional system, including many about providing services to inmates with mental illness.
Dawna Ward said those recommendations have not been adequately implemented, and if they had been, Joshua Evans would likely still be alive.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing, has changed," she said in an interview Friday. "It looks good on paper, but to actually implement them, we haven't seen that. And it's been 11 years we've been waiting for change."
Evans, 29, was found unresponsive in his cell after a suicide attempt at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility on Monday evening. He was taken to hospital, where he died the next day.
His father, Don Evans, said his son had a genetic condition that left him with a developmental disability and the mental capacity of a seven-year-old, and that Joshua did not understand that what he was doing was wrong.
Evans said Joshua was known to be suicidal before he attempted to take his life in his cell.
Systemic failures
Ward, who has been in contact with Don Evans, said she believes a number of systemic failures contributed to Joshua's death.
She questioned why he was not adequately assessed and placed in a facility that was more suited to his condition.
The province said Friday a review of Joshua's death will explore whether he should have been placed in the jail.
Ward said mental health services are lacking — both inside and outside prisons, and if people get the support they need, they may be able to avoid entering the criminal justice system at all.
"The social safety net just doesn't exist. The wait list for mental health care … is just so astronomically long that it's not even realistic to expect that to benefit anyone."
'A preventable death'
She also questioned why, if Joshua was suicidal, staff weren't trained to recognize the signs that he was in crisis and keep a closer eye on him.
Evans has said his son wasn't found by staff until half an hour after his suicide attempt.
"Where were they? Where were the staff?" asked Ward. "A suicidal person left unattended in his cell for half an hour without any eyes on him — that to me sounds like another preventable death.
"And unfortunately … the list is long of preventable deaths since Ashley's death."
'A Preventable Death' was the title of a report by the Correctional Investigator of Canada into Ashley Smith's death. It concluded that there were "obvious, system-wide breakdowns" and that the courts, health-care and correctional systems failed to respond adequately to Smith's needs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
