Inmate advocacy group says Ontario prisoner’s death ‘preventable’

By Diana Mehta, The Canadian Press

TORONTO – The recent death of a woman serving a life sentence in an Ontario prison was “preventable,” an advocacy group said Thursday as it demanded an end to segregation for incarcerated women, particularly those with mental health issues.

Terry Baker was found unresponsive in her cell at the Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont., on Monday and was pronounced dead in a local hospital on Wednesday.

Correctional Service Canada said the 30-year-old was found by guards doing nightly rounds, who immediately performed CPR. It would not provide further details, saying the circumstances of Baker’s death were being investigated.

But the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, a group that advocates for the rights of women in the justice system, said Baker had a history of mental illness and was in segregation when she was found with a ligature around her neck.

“We consider this another preventable death and feel that it is high time the Correctional Service of Canada and the minister of public safety take a clear position that no individuals with mental health issues should ever be in segregation,” said association executive director Kim Pate.

“We shouldn’t be using outdated methods that are no longer used in most mental health facilities — things like restraints and forced confinement. And we should be looking at having people with mental health issues in appropriate mental health facilities.”

A spokesman for Correctional Service Canada declined to comment on the group’s claim that Baker tried to strangle herself.

Baker had been serving a sentence for her role in the death of Robbie McLennan, a teen who was sexually assaulted, tortured and beaten to death by a group of young people in 2002.

Baker, who was 16 at the time of McLennan’s death, had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder four years later and was sentenced as an adult.

Pate said her association had known Baker ever since she entered the prison system. She said the woman had mental health issues, and “certainly was self-injurious” throughout her time in custody.

Baker was doing well in prison for some time, but struggled with post traumatic stress and self-harming behaviour, said Pate.

“She was someone who really needed therapeutic interventions to deal with many of the demons she dealt with.”

The last time advocates who work with Pate’s organization saw Baker, on June 23, they were “extremely concerned” about the amount of times she was placed in restraints and in segregation, Pate said.

Baker is thought to have been placed in segregation on June 24, and was still in segregation on Monday when she was found with a ligature tied around her neck, Pate said.

She was kept on life support in hospital because she wanted her organs donated, Pate said.

The circumstances around Baker’s death — which are eerily similar to the death of Ashley Smith, an emotionally disturbed 19-year-old who died at the same prison in 2007 after tying a strip of cloth around her neck — underscore the need for change, Pate said.

“We’re concerned that after the death of Ashley Smith we started to see increased uses of force against women who had mental health issues and who were self-injurious, increased uses of segregation,” said Pate.

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