TWO MORE prisoners were released from prison yesterday after spending a total of 38 years behind bars because they were declared unfit to plead, bringing to three, the number set free this week.
At the same time, the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights (IJCHR) is now looking into about 80 cases similar to the three which resulted in the release of these prisoners.
Those ordered released yesterday are St. Ann resident Gladstone Ricketts, who spent the last 28 years in jail awaiting trial on a charge of murder, and Roy Williams, a 44-year-old mechanic of Cockburn Gardens, Kingston 11. Williams was before the court on a wounding with intent charge.
NO EVIDENCE
The Gleaner reported Wednesday that 46-year-old Errol Campbell, of Anchovy, St. James, who was in prison for 24 years, was released after the Crown offered no evidence against him.
Gladstone Ricketts, of Thatch-field district near Bamboo, St. Ann, who was arrested in early 1975, charged with killing his brother, was freed in the St. Ann Circuit Court without a case being presented against him.
Neither the name of his brother nor the circumstances surrounding the killing could be ascertained. But, following a court appearance in November 1975 during which a psychiatric evaluation declared him unfit to plead, Ricketts became lost in the prison system and was not brought back before the court until the opening of the St. Ann Circuit Court on October 6 this year. His trial date was set for yesterday.
Ricketts, who is believed to be 68, was acquitted by High Court Judge Justice Gloria Smith after Crown Council Grace Henry informed the court that the prosecution had no evidence to present a case against him.
NO DOCUMENTS
Ms. Henry said no documents relating to the case could be found and therefore the Crown was in no position to proceed with the charge.
However, although freed of the charge, Ricketts was forced to spend at least one more night in jail as no suitable place could be found to accommodate him.
Justice Smith said that based on the prosecution's decision to drop the charges, the court could not keep Ricketts in custody any longer. She was, however, concerned about releasing him on the street, especially since he had been incarcerated for so long.
Contacts were made by the court with the St. Ann Infirmary to accept Ricketts as a resident but the authorities at the facility said the necessary paper work would have to be completed before they could accept him.
"I am happy to be free," Roy Williams told The Gleaner shortly after
his release yesterday.
Williams' sister and brother were in court and his sister wept for joy.
He was charged in July 1992 with wounding with intent. He was arrested and
charged after Miriam Lawrence was stabbed several times in the chest and had
to be hospitalised. When he appeared in court in 1993, he was declared unfit
to plead and was ordered detained at the Governor-General's pleasure.
Herbert McKenzie, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court
that the
complainant could be found and was willing to come to court. He pointed out
that Williams' case was not one in which the Crown could not
produce the evidence.
INTEREST OF JUSTICE
Mr. McKenzie said it was in the interest of justice that the Crown was offering
no evidence.
Nancy Anderson, secretary and legal officer at the Independent Jamaica Council
for Human Rights (IJCHR), said the body is pressing along with other cases.
He told The Gleaner yesterday that the council is "trying to take the cases
ten at a time".
She also said the difficulty is not in finding the individuals who have been
lost in the prison system for years, but instead in finding their families.
"With all the publicity, I'm surprised we haven't heard from anyone yet,"
Ms. Anderson said of Mr. Campbell's relatives. She added that investigations
have determined that the mother of the man who was imprisoned for 24 years after
being declared unfit to plead at age 22, left the island several years ago.
Mr. Campbell was charged in 1979 with shooting with intent at a policeman,
but did not stand trial. A court official explained on Tuesday that plans have
now been put in place to prevent a recurrence of the extended incarceration,
of those unfit to plead, without conviction. He said the plan would ensure that
prisoners who are unfit to plead attend court on a monthly basis so that medical
reports can be submitted, highlighting their progress.
* Staff reporters Barbara Gayle, Robert Hart and St. Ann correspondent Devon
Evans contributed to this story.
