TORONTO - Staff from the Ontario prison where young inmate Ashley Smith died are telling a coroner's inquest that their faces should be blurred on videos showing their interactions with the troubled young woman. In October 2007, 19-year-old Smith choked herself to death using a strip of cloth at Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont.
The inquest has heard that Smith frequently tied ligatures around her neck for the sensation and staff would have to go into her cell, usually about four at a time, and forcibly remove the cloth.
It's policy of the Correctional Service of Canada for staff to videotape, whenever possible, such use-of-force incidents.
Five such videos have already been released to the media and some of the images have been published.
Deirdre Reinhardt, who was a Grand Valley corrections officer while Smith was at the prison, is telling the inquest today that making the videos public without blurring the faces of staff could jeopardize their safety and their reputations.
