TORONTO - A coroner's jury is being told that it may be a natural tendency to assume that a young woman who tied cloth around her neck in prison and died meant to kill herself, but a "considerable body of evidence" suggests otherwise.

The five-person jury examining the 2007 death of Ashley Smith, 19, began what will be their months-long task Tuesday of hearing evidence into the circumstances of the troubled young woman's death.

Coroner's counsel Eric Siebenmorgen says the most difficult question they will have to answer is the manner of death, specifically suicide, accident or undetermined.

He told the jury that the day she died in October 2007 was not the first time she tied a ligature around her neck, and said the inquest will examine why she engaged in that behaviour and how she expected staff to respond.

He says they will hear evidence about Smith's treatment at a mental health facility, how the Correctional Service of Canada managed and treated her and how they identified health risks.

The inquest is expected to last well into the fall -- with a two-month summer break -- though Siebenmorgen said he hopes the jury won't still be there at Christmas.

The jury is expected to be shown nine hours of video evidence, including the video of the events on the day Smith died and videos of earlier times Smith tied something around her neck.

The first witness, who was to testify Tuesday afternoon, is Toronto police Acting Det. Patrick Colagiovanni, who did the coroner's investigation. The prison guards and supervisors who were there the day Smith died, will also testify, as will doctors who treated her mental health needs.

A coroner's jury cannot assign blame, but makes findings of fact about the death and can make recommendations to prevent similar deaths. A coroner's inquest is mandatory when a person dies in custody.

Smith choked herself with a strip of cloth on Oct. 19, 2007 at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., and a video of the incident shows staff failed to respond immediately to the emergency.

The inquest was originally slated to look at the last 13 weeks of Smith's life, but the family pushed to have it broadened to the whole 11 months she was in federal custody.

During that time -- most of which was spent in isolation -- she was transferred 17 times between prisons and other facilities across the country, and the constant movement meant the mentally ill woman never got the chance to be properly treated, the family alleges.

Porter agreed in November to broaden the scope, saying evidence wouldn't "necessarily" be restricted by Smith's age, geography, date or institution.