Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

Linden Graham walks from the Kingston Central police lock-up a free man Wednesday. He spent 479 days in jail after he was deported from the United States, which Mr. Graham says is his country. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

AFTER 479 days in jail, Linden Graham, a man who claims to be a United States citizen and who was deported to Jamaica, walked from the Kingston Central lock-up a free man on Wednesday.

"It feels like a thousand pounds have been lifted from my shoulders," Mr. Graham told The Gleaner shortly after walking out of the lock-up with his attorney-at-law, Peter Champagnie.

Despite being held in jail, Mr. Graham, 49, has not been accused of committing any crime in Jamaica.

As he walked from the station yard with two small plastic bags and a box containing his belongings, Mr. Graham made it clear he would take legal action against the Jamaican Government.

"At the present moment, my intention is to seek justification from the Government of Jamaica, while I seek my deportation back to America," a beaming Mr. Graham told The Gleaner. He said his time in jail was "a nightmare".

Filed writ

Mr. Champagnie had filed an habeas corpus writ demanding the release of Mr. Graham. On Wednesday, Resident Magistrate Glen Brown ordered an immediate release.

A condition of his release under the Aliens Act is that he must report to the police three times per week.

Mr. Graham will be staying with a female friend on Spanish Town Road in Kingston.

Graham was deported to Jamaica after serving time in prison for shooting a man in the back. He told The Gleaner that the man did not die and it is was an incident that he regretted. The man, he said, had humiliated him by slapping him in the face in the presence of his daughter.

After completing his sentence he was deported to Jamaica, even though he told U.S. authorities that he was from the U.S. Virgin Island territory of St. Croix.

He said that despite telling U.S. authorities that they had got the wrong man, he was never interviewed by a Jamaican consulate about his nationality.

The Gleaner began following the story of Mr. Graham last February when news of his lock-up came to this newspaper's attention. Then, Leighton Wilson, director of immigration services, admitted that Mr. Graham was not a Jamaican.

"We have verified that he is not a Jamaican, but we cannot verify his nationality. We have done our checks and we are satisfied that he is not a Jamaican," Wilson said then.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com