Friday, December 17, 2010

Two Double life Sentences for $11 - Tell Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour to Intervene

For sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott, $11 earned them eachdouble life sentences.

Jamie and Gladys were convicted of being accomplices to a 1993 robbery. The teenagers who carried out the robbery served only two years in prison. The judge never explained why the Scott sisters deserved such severe sentences.

Sixteen years later, the Scott sisters are still in prison. And if Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour doesn't intervene, they will die in prison -- all over just $11.

You can get the word out about this horrific injustice. Sign the NAACP petition to Governor Barbour asking him to free the Scott sisters:

http://action.naacp.org/FreeTheScottSisters

When the Scott sisters were put on trial, neither Jamie nor Gladys had a criminal record. But the presiding judge in their trial, Judge Marcus Gordon, has a history of racially biased rulings.

In all my years working to reform the criminal justice system, I have never seen such an extreme sentence for this type of crime. I am not alone. Even the original prosecutor in the case has since become an advocate for the sisters' freedom.

And now, their freedom is becoming a matter of life and death. In prison, Jamie Scott has lost renal function of her kidneys and cannot survive without a transplant. The Department of Corrections has refused to allow tests for kidney compatibility even though numerous volunteers have come forward.

Please, sign our petition today and tell Governor Barbour that 16 years is enough. Nobody should die in prison for an $11 crime:

http://action.naacp.org/FreeTheScottSisters

There is no dollar amount that can be placed on a life. I will not stop fighting for the Scott sisters until justice is restored, and I hope you'll join me.

Yours in the struggle,

Ben Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP

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