The distressing images of the last moments of Ashley Smith’s life convey a stark message about the struggles that correctional officers have in caring for people with serious mental illness. This much-needed inquest will undoubtedly provide the public, politicians and the health and corrections sectors with much to reflect on, and much that must be improved.

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By Sandy Simpson, chief of forensic psychiatry at CAMH and head of the forensic psychiatry division at the University of Toronto.

Published on Saturday January 26, 2013