Warden due back on stand at inquest into prison death of Ashley Smith

TORONTO – The head of the Kitchener, Ont., prison in which Ashley Smith killed herself is due back on the stand today at the inquest into the troubled teenager’s death.

In her testimony Monday, Cindy Berry denied knowing of the confusion among guards about when they could enter Smith’s cell to save her.

Berry said guards were to stay outside unless the 19-year-old Moncton, New Brunswick native was in “medical distress.”

The inquest has heard how guards would rush in and cut ligatures off Smith’s neck when they thought she was in grave danger, only to be frequently disciplined for making that call.

Berry also told the inquiry she asked superiors to move the troubled teen to another institution just weeks before she killed herself, but that request was denied by a senior correctional official in Ottawa.

Smith choked herself to death in her segregation cell in October 2007 as guards videotaped but did not intervene.