Chronology of Events Leading to Release of the Office of the Correctional Investigator's
Initial Assessment of the Correctional Service of Canada's Response to Deaths in Custody Reports

2006

• Ashley Smith, who had a history of self-harming behaviour, spent some five years in the youth justice system in New Brunswick before being transferred to the care and custody of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) in October 2006, at age 18. 

2007

• On February 28, 2007, the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) publicly releases its Deaths in Custody Study, an examination of 82 deaths of prisoners while in the custody of the Correctional Service between 2001 – 2005.

• After just eleven and a half months in federal custody, Ashley Smith dies in her segregation cell on October 19, 2007, at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, in Kitchener, Ontario.

• In December 2007, the Correctional Investigator provides his Interim Report on the death of Ashley Smith to the Commissioner of Corrections and Minister of Public Safety.

2008

• On May 21, 2008, the Correctional Investigator releases A Failure to Respond: Report on the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of a Federal Inmate.

• On June 24, 2008, the Correctional Investigator submits his final report on the death of Ashley Smith A Preventable Death to the Commissioner and the Minister of Public Safety. 

2009

• In February 2009, the Correctional Investigator receives correspondence from the Commissioner of Corrections formally responding to the OCI's Deaths in Custody Study.

• On March 3, 2009, the Correctional Investigator publicly releases his report and recommendations into the death of Ashley Smith, A Preventable Death.

• On April 30, 2009, the Minister of Public Safety requests the Correctional Investigator to assess the Correctional Service's progress in implementing recommendations from his Ashley Smith report.

• On August 17, 2009, the CSC publicly posts its Response to the Office of the Correctional Investigator's Deaths in Custody and A Preventable Death, as well as its own National Board of Investigation into the death of Ashley Smith.

• On September 11, 2009, the Correctional Investigator releases his Initial Assessment of CSC's Response. 

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