It’s been a month since Lisa Piercey’s daughter died while in custody at the Clarenville Correctional Centre for Women.
The Corner Brook woman still doesn’t have the answers she needs, and now she’s calling for action.
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Lisa will speak at a rally and press conference at the Sir Richard Squires Building today to demand change within the province’s prisons.
Samantha Piercey, 28, died at the centre on the night of May 26. Lisa was informed of her death at midnight when officers with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary showed up at her home.
But it would take her two days before Lisa would get any information from the centre on what happened to Samantha, and then she was told her daughter had killed herself.
“I know she didn’t do this to herself, said Lisa earlier this week.
“They told me how, and that’s what makes me not believe it all the more.”
Lisa said Samantha’s death never should have happened. She was just days away from returning to Corner Brook to stand trial on assault charges and was ready to deal with things.
Lisa was told Samantha had been upset earlier in the evening.
“If somebody was as upset as what they said she was, you don’t lock them away. That’s the bottom line you don’t put them behind a locked door and walk away.”
Whether it’s a jail or a hospital, Lisa said “you do not do that. They should have kept her safe.”
It’s just not how she was told Samantha died that’s upsetting her. Since then there’s been no other communication.
“Can you imagine yourself as a mom, somebody showing up at your door to tell you your child has died and you ask why, how, and (they) look at you and say I don’t know. And then somebody else tells you over the phone we have an investigation to do and leave you hanging for two days. Let your imagination run wild on how your child died,” said Lisa.
She’s also angry that neither Justice Minister Andrew Parsons or Premier Dwight Ball have contacted her.
She said they should have been there to say they were sorry this happened and that they should work together to find out what happened.
That never happened.
Because of all that she feels the grieving process is not normal.
“You’re not even allowed time to grieve,” she said.
Samantha was the second inmate to die at the women’s prison in the past few months — 27-year-old Skye Martin died on April 21 after reportedly choking on food — and the third to die while in custody in the past year.
Since Samantha’s death former inmates of the centre have spoken out about the conditions there and the lack of services and supports.
Piercey is glad they have.
“I know it’s not supposed to be The Hilton, but I think conditions should be better than what they are,” she said. “I really believe that they’re designed to help rehabilitate a person to make changes, but I’m learning that they’re designed so to set these women up to fail, they end up back there again.”
Parsons has launched an independent investigation into the deaths, but Piercey wants a public inquiry.
She approached the Corner Brook Status of Women Council for assistance and the council organized today’s event.
“I’m not going away. I’m not giving this up. Not until we get this public inquiry,” she said.
“Two women deserve this public inquiry.”
The rally and press conference gets underway at 12:30 p.m.
Paula Sheppard Thibeau, the council’s executive director, will also speak on behalf of the Provincial Action Network on the Status of Women.
