Jamaican prisoner wins landmark case in Bermuda

Leighton Griffith filed a claim before the Bermuda Supreme Court that his constitutional rights were infringed because he was not allowed to file for parole because he was a foreign national after serving one third of his sentence.

Griffiths was convicted in 2007 for importing cocaine into Bermuda.

He was initially sentenced to 14 years in prison but the sentence was later reduced to 12 years by that country’s Court of Appeal.

Griffiths, who is married to a Bermudian, launched legal action because, as a foreign national, he was denied the opportunity to be released on parole.

In a written judgment, released at the end of last week, Chief Justice Ian Kawaley ruled in favour of Griffiths, saying his constitutional rights had been infringed.

“The provisions of the Prisons Act 1979 relating to parole as applied to the applicant as a Jamaican national, who presently has no opportunity to apply for any form of early release, discriminate against him on the grounds of his place of origin, in contravention of his rights under section 12 of the Bermuda Constitution,” Chief Justice Kawaley said.