A Devonshire woman who said she accidentally brought cannabis into a prison has been sentenced to a year behind bars.

Lavida Codrington, 37, pleaded guilty in November to charges that she brought high-risk articles, specifically drugs, into the Co-Ed Facility in St George’s in an incident on July 11, 2025.

She also admitted supplying cannabis in an increased penalty zone and bringing contraband, specifically matches, into a prison.

However, she told the court that she had not deliberately committed the offences, stating that she only realised she had the contraband on her after she had already entered the facility to visit an inmate.

The court heard that at about 3pm on July 11, an officer at the Co-Ed Facility noticed Codrington lean forward as if to grab something from the floor that fell next to the inmate’s shoe, which was not on their foot.

During a subsequent search of the inmate, prison officials found a headband with two hand-rolled cigarettes containing plant material, along with rolling papers and matches.

Codrington told police that the headband belonged to her and that it had slipped off her head and fallen into the inmate’s shoe.

Audley Quallo, for the Crown, said that CCTV footage of the incident showed Codrington take off her headband with her right hand and place it in her lap.

She was then seen to put the headband in the inmate’s shoe while leaning forward to pick up dropped playing cards.

Mr Quallo proposed a sentence of 18 months behind bars, noting that the facility housed vulnerable people who might struggle with addiction.

However, Paul Wilson, counsel for Codrington, argued that the defendant had not acted with malice and any period of imprisonment could be suspended.

He told the court that Codrington had regularly smoked cannabis since she was a teenager and kept the drugs in her headband for her own personal use.

Mr Wilson said that the defendant only realised she had the drugs after she had passed through security — then made a bad decision in the heat of the moment in an effort to get rid of the cannabis.

He also noted previous cases in which those who were caught importing drugs into the prison received periods of probation or partially suspended sentences.

Codrington apologised, stating that she had not intentionally brought the two cannabis cigarettes into the facility.

She said: “I made a poor decision to try to get rid of them rather than report or dispose of them properly.”

Senior magistrate Maxanne Anderson said that while she accepted the defendant’s remorse was genuine, Codrington was entirely to blame for her actions.

Ms Anderson added that there were too many instances of people smuggling contraband into the island’s prisons “without fear of more than a slap on the wrist” and that a message needed to be sent.

In all the circumstances, she sentenced Codrington to a global sentence of 12 months behind bars.

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