They were Black. They were young. And, they received Mississippi justice. A life sentence for an $11 dollar robbery.
For 16 years, sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott have shared a life behind bars for their part in an $11 armed robbery. To share freedom, they must also share a kidney.
But Presidential hopeful, Haley Barbour, fresh off his defense of racist organizations and a complete denial of the racial dynamics of his home town, has a solution.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour suspended the sisters' life sentences on Wednesday, but 36-year-old Gladys Scott's release is contingent on her giving a kidney to Jamie, her 38-year-old sister, who requires daily dialysis.
But the offer is, no doubt a generous one because as the AP notes:
Civil rights advocates have for years called for their release, saying the sentences were excessive. Those demands gained traction when Barbour asked the Mississippi Parole Board to take another look at the case.
The Scott sisters are eligible for parole in 2014, but Barbour said prison officials no longer think they are a threat to society and Jamie's medical condition is costing the state a lot of money.
But have no fear. You see:
Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson said the Scott sisters' release will be "a great victory for the state of Mississippi for two individuals who received an excessive sentence" and he has no problem with the kidney donation requirement because Gladys Scott volunteered.
So, swapping a kidney for a release from a life sentence in prison, is just hunky dory - Don't ch' think?
And, this guy wants to be President?
Barbour lacks even the slightest idea of what humane leadership involves.