Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has freed two sisters from a
state prison where they were serving life sentences for an $11
armed robbery on condition that one donate a kidney to the
other.
The sisters, Gladys and Jamie Scott, smiled and waved as they
emerged from Central Mississippi Correctional Facility on Friday
after 16 years in prison.
“Thank you, thank you,” they shouted as they were driven in a
light blue car past crowds of supporters who had come from as far
away as Canada to witness their release in the culmination of a
long campaign for their freedom.
Barbour, a Republican who is considering whether to run for US
president in 2012, suspended their sentences on condition that
Gladys Scott, 36, donate a kidney to her ill sister, Jamie, 38, who
requires dialysis.
The sisters were convicted of robbing at gunpoint two men who
were driving them to a nightclub in northern Mississippi in 1993.
They had no prior criminal record. Each was sentenced to two life
terms.
Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, said
this week one reason for his decision to order their release was
that Jamie Scott’s kidney dialysis and treatment was a financial
burden on the state.
Michael Shapiro, chief of organ transplantation at Hackensack
University Medical Center in New Jersey, has criticised the
decision to impose a condition for the release as unethical and
possibly illegal.
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Article source: http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/sisters-leave-mississippi-prison-after-kidney-deal-3994468?ref=rss
Category: Prison Time