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Jamie & Gladys Scott Released from Prison for Kidney Transplant

by Jordan Yerman | January 7, 2011 at 10:49 am

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Jamie & Gladys Scott: Sisters Released from Mississippi Prison for Kidney Transplant

Jamie Scott and Gladys Scott, who have been in prison for 16 years, were released from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility so that Gladys could donate a kidney to Jamie.

Jamie and Gladys Scott were arrested in 1993 after robbing two men of $11. Jamie Scott requires kidney dialysis three times a week, and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has agreed to indefinitely suspend the Scotts' sentence so that the transplant could take place.

After the kidney transplant, the Scotts intend to move to Florida, and will be on parole for the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, the two youths and one man who were arrested along with the Scotts have been freed from prison years ago.

Why did Haley Barbour Suspend the Scott Sisters' Sentence?

The move to suspend the Scott Sisters' sentence is highly irregular, if not unprecedented, so why would Haley Barbour agree to it?

Barbour could be using the suspended sentence as a way to shift the cost of Jamie Scott's treatment off of the State of Mississippi, or as a way of backing away from an unpopular sentence (critics have argued that the Scott sisters were wrongly convicted), or both.

Legal experts said that suspending a prison sentence contingent on an organ donation is highly unusual and may be unprecedented.

Jamie Scott requires dialysis treatment at least three times a week, and her health has been failing during the past few months.

The women plan to live in Pensacola, Fla., with their mother and their children. Jamie Scott has three children; Gladys Scott has two.