By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterA MAN, who got lost in the prison system for 24 years after he was declared unfit to plead, wept for joy yesterday after he was taken before the court then released.
Although 46-year-old Errol Campbell, a mason of Anchovy, St. James, did not know what was going to be his fate now that he had gained his freedom, he said conditions in prison were "a nightmare for me."
"I never believe I would come out alive," the very frail man who looked twice his age told The Gleaner. Campbell, who had been in custody at the General Penitentiary for 24 years without being brought to court said: "I lost all hope of ever being free and I would prefer to roam the street than to be locked up because life in prison is not easy."
He said he had three children but he did not know where they were and was not sure where he was going to sleep last night.
Campbell was charged in 1979 with shooting with intent at a policeman and was taken into custody.
When he appeared before Mr. Justice Horace Marsh yesterday in the Gun Court, the Crown offered no evidence against him.
The police reported that representatives from the Human Rights Council, headed by attorney-at-law Nancy Anderson, discovered the Campbell case and several other prisoners who were lost in the prison system as they had not been to court for many years.
PLANS IN PLACE TO PREVENT RECURRENCE
A court official explained yesterday that plans have now been put in place to prevent a recurrence. The court official said that the plan would ensure that prisoners who are unfit to plead attend court on a monthly basis so that medical reports can be submitted as to their progress.
"I need money to take the train home," Campbell told the police shortly after he was released. He was oblivious to the fact that the train had stopped running for 11 years. He got bus fare from the police.
Attorney-at-law Berry Bryan said he and Frank Phipps, Q.C. intend to assist Campbell to establish his legal rights.
Campbell said he was the victim in the case for which he had been languishing in prison for so many years.
He is alleging that a policeman shot him twice in his side and therefore he did not know why he was taken to prison.
