CCLA and QPLC Jointly Participating in Baker Inquest

TORONTO — The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Queen’s Prison Law Clinic are jointly participating in the Inquest into the Death of Terry Baker from January 22 to February 8, 2024.

Ms. Baker was a young women in federal custody with complex mental health issues and a history of suicide attempts. She tragically passed away by suicide after being found unresponsive while held in segregation at the Grand Valley Institute for Women in Kitchener, Ontario.

Shakir Rahim, Director of the CCLA’s Criminal Justice Program, said “We know that federal correctional institutions have a long way to go to provide adequate care to those with complex mental health needs. This inquest is a critical opportunity to find answers about Ms. Baker’s death and generate concrete meaningful recommendations.”

Harini Sivalingam, Director of the CCLA’s Equality Program noted, “The federal correctional system has consistently failed to implement important recommendations from other inquests into similar deaths in custody, contributing to the deaths of Ms. Baker and other vulnerable persons.”

Paul Quick, staff lawyer at the Queen’s Prison Law Clinic, said “Terry Baker’s death has prompted comparisons to Ashley Smith’s death for good reason.”

“The similarities are clear, and so were CSC’s failures. We know that to this day, CSC continues to hold people with serious mental illness in various psychologically harmful forms of solitary confinement, though the names used for this confinement have changed.”

The CCLA and QPLC are grateful to Meaghan Daniel for her representation in this inquest.