Life in Canada

OTTAWA - A federal judge has ordered Canada's prison service to disclose the personal files of a teen inmate who killed herself.

Federal Court Justice Michael Kelen says the Correctional Service of Canada broke the law by failing to release Ashley's Smith's records while she was still alive.

Smith was 19 when she choked herself to death with a strip of cloth at the Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont., in October 2007.

Earlier that year she had requested access to her personal prison records and authorized their release to the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.

Smith had alleged poor treatment by the Correctional Service, including assault, lack of psychiatric care and frequent transfers between prisons and treatment facilities across Canada.

Prison ombudsman Howard Sapers, the correctional investigator, found she was moved 17 times in just 11 months. He harshly criticized the prison service for failing to give Smith proper care and protection.

In a ruling released Thursday, Kelen said the prison service breached the Privacy Act in not giving Smith her records, and that neither her death nor an RCMP investigation into the conduct of prison staff were valid reasons to withhold them from the Elizabeth Fry group.

In December, Sapers asked the Correctional Service to clearly spell out what it’s doing to help the mentally ill behind bars.

He said the number of inmate deaths by causes such as suicide, accident, homicide or overdose actually increased to 17 in 2008-09 from 10 the previous year.

Sapers said last year there was an "immediate and troubling" shortfall in mental health-care services for offenders — a problem that will only grow as more people are locked away.

Ten to 12 per cent of offenders entering the federal prison system have a significant mental problem.