Gov't ordered to pay more than $120m to man who spent 50 years in prison without trial

 

The Supreme Court has ordered the government to pay more than $120 million in damages to George Williams, the mentally ill man who spent 50 years, or his entire working life, in custody without a trial. 

 

The judgment was handed down Thurday in a wrongful imprisonment lawsuit filed by Attorney John Clarke on behalf of Mr. Williams. 

 

The sum includes $78.6 million for compensatory damages and $42 million for vindicated damages. 

 

The government had offered to pay Mr. Williams $6 million, but this was rejected by his family. 

 

Supreme Court Judge Sonya Wint-Blair declared in her ruling that Mr. Williams' right to due process and a fair hearing by an independent and impartial court within a reasonable time were breached by the failure of state organs to conduct periodic reviews of his incarceration to determine whether he had recovered his mental health to be fit to enter a plea and stand trial. 

 

According to documents reviewed by the Gleaner, Mr. Williams, a Rastafarian, was taken into custody by the police on December 29, 1970 and charged with the murder of Ian Laurie, committed on July 21 that same year. 

 

But he was kept in custody at the court's pleasure because he was declared unfit to enter a plea. 

 

Justice Wint-Blair declared that the manner of his detention breached his right to liberty to which he was entitled by virtue of his being a citizen of a free and democratic society. 

 

Mr. Williams' plight came to light following the release of a 2020 report by the Independent Commission of Investigations. 

 

The report revealed that he was one of seven mentally ill men who had each spent at least 40 years in prison awaiting a trial. 

 

One of them, Noel Chambers, also a Rastafarian, died on January 27, 2020 at the age of 81 after spending 40 years in a high security prison without a trial. 

 

The INDECOM report said Chambers' body showed evidence of chronic emaciation and was covered with bed sores, vermin bites and live bed bugs. 

 

Opportunity for review 

 

Meanwhile, attorney John Clarke is urging the state to use Thursday's landmark judgment as an opportunity to conduct a review and ensure mentally ill people are not left to languish in the penal system. 

 

"Yes, we welcome today's decision because it's not only in relation to the damages, but especially in relation to declarations about the violation of the constitutional rights because we are of the view that it can go some way in correcting the ills. One of the concerns that Mr. Williams indicated to us [was] that he wouldn't want his worst enemy to experience what he did, which is waiting 50 years in custody for a trial that never came," said the attorney. 

 

"I hope that this judgment will be examined carefully by the state because while we are speaking now, there are other persons who are in similar circumstances like Mr. Williams, who are in custody because they are unfit to plea. And one would hope that the state would examine that mechanism to see how constitutional it can be and to ensure that less intrusive methodology can be utilised apart from a prison to detain persons who are unfit to plea," he urged.