On the strength of about 500 enthusiastic college students, national justice advocates, and local organizers, Jamie and Gladys Scott stood strong on the steps of the Mississippi State Capitol and requested that governor haley barbour finish what he started. On January 7, 2011, The Scott Sisters were released from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility by the governor to save the state the embarrassment of their continued incarceration with potential death looping over Jamie Scott due to kidney failure. At the same time, the governor wanted to save the state the cost of providing for the kidney transplant he order as a condition of the suspended sentence in granted the Scott Sisters.
On Friday, April 1, 2011 the Scott Sisters asked haley barbour to allow them to move on with their lives. They told governor barbour that 16 years and 32 days was more than enough time served for a crime that they didn’t commit. They told haley that they wanted to vote, go on a get acquainted retreat with their children and grandchildren. They said they wanted to devote their lives to improving the quality of life for others wrongfully incarcerated. To do these things, they said they needed to have freedom of movement and freedom of opportunity to seek gainful employment. They needed the governor to show compassion and grant them a full pardon.
The Scott Sisters said they needed to get "Off Parole and On With Life". And that was the main chant of the 500 supporters who marched the streets of downtown Jackson and stood at the Capitol Building as colonnade columns, like the ones in the pyramids, for Jamie and Gladys. The students from Fort Valley State University, Tougaloo College and Jackson State University stood tall with The Scott Sisters to urging governor barbour to grant a full pardon out of righteousness.
After freeing five men who actually committed murder, the crowd exhorted haley to earnestly consider the light his decision will shed on the image of mississippi. Given the shameful history of this state, it was pointed out the healing and redemptive quality of a compassionate decision in favor of Jamie and Gladys would have on this state and this nation. Getting Jamie and Gladys "Off Parole and On With Life" could be a shining star for a brighter future for them, the state and the nation, if only the governor could be convinced. Call the governor’s office requesting a full pardon at 601.359.3150 or 1-877-405.0733 or email the governor to request a full pardon at governor@governor.state.ms.us
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