Sandra Russell, a Jamaican national who had been imprisoned last year for possession of cannabis for trafficking, has filed a lawsuit against the state for false imprisonment and the breach of her constitutional rights after she was kept at the East La Penitence Police Station for almost eight months without charge after serving her sentence.
A fixed date application, filed on Russell’s behalf by attorney Darren Wade, names the Attorney General, Commissioner of Police and Chief Immigration Officer as the respondents and asks that the High Court declare that the woman’s fundamental rights to liberty and freedom of movement were breached and that she suffered inhuman and degrading treatment. The application also asks the court to declare that the Guyana Police Force and Immigration Officers had no legal authority to further imprison Russell beyond her prison sentence and that she was falsely imprisoned.
Russell is seeking a payout of $10 million for each day she was unlawfully kept in custody; over $20 million for inhuman and degrading treatment; over $20 million for the breach of her Freedom of Movement; and over $50 million for false imprisonment. She also asks for exemplary damages and aggravated damages as well as any further order that the court may deem just.
Russell had been sentenced to eight months in prison and fined $135,000 in June, 2018, after she admitted to a charge of the possession of 70 grammes of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.
Russell was, however, released from the New Amsterdam Prison in November of the same year after a reduction of her sentence by three and a half months.
In a supporting affidavit, Russell says she was released into the custody of a female immigration officer who informed her that she would be deported to Jamaica. She noted that no deportation order had been granted against her.
Russell states in her affidavit that while in the custody of the immigration officer, the rank received a phone call and then informed her that she would no longer be taken to the Immigration Office but instead to the East La Penitence Police Station.
“Whilst at the East La Penitence Police Station I was not taken before any Magistrate nor Judge… I fell ill because of poor conditions, and not having proper adequate meals and supplements,” she adds, before noting that she was then taken to the East La Penitence Health Centre, where she was treated and given medication.
In the affidavit, Russell further states that the conditions she was forced to live in at the police station caused her to become depressed and stressed. “At the East La Penitence Police Station the lighting and ventilation was very poor and I spent all the time in the cell and had no leisure nor physical activities,” she notes.
It was further noted that there are only three cells at the station and at times there could be anywhere from three to twenty prisoners “packed like sardines” in them.
According to Russell, she was released from custody on July 7th, 2019 on $10,000 bail and believes that she was only released then due to the intervention of Kaieteur News. “I am advised by my attorney-at-law and verily believe that the police had no legal authority to keep me in custody after seventy two (hours) without charging me or taking me before court for an extension,” she notes.
