A Posthumous Pardon for Jamie Scott and a Full Pardon for Gladys Scott.

Mississippi Owes Them Both

We, the undersigned, call on the Governor of Mississippi, the Mississippi Parole Board, and the Mississippi Legislature to issue a full and unconditional posthumous pardon for Jamie Scott, a full and unconditional pardon for Gladys Scott, remove all conditions of Gladys Scott's suspended sentence, and immediately and permanently lift the banishment that bars her from her home state of Mississippi.

The Scott Sisters Have Maintained Their Innocence Since 1994.

Jamie Scott and Gladys Scott were convicted in Scott County, Mississippi of armed robbery. It was their first offense. No one was killed. No one was injured. No threat to public safety was established. The total amount involved was eleven dollars. They did not do this. They have said so from the beginning. They have never stopped saying so.

Mississippi sentenced them to life anyway.

Two life sentences. First offense. Eleven dollars. No one hurt. No one killed. Two women who said they were innocent and have never changed that position. That is $5.50 per life.

Mississippi Did Not Stop There.

In 2011, after years of national organizing and sustained public pressure, Governor Haley Barbour suspended their sentences. He did not pardon them. He did not acknowledge their innocence. He attached conditions that no court of law had imposed and no act of justice could justify.

Governor Barbour required Gladys Scott to donate a kidney to her sister Jamie, who had fallen into renal failure after years of inadequate medical care while incarcerated by the State of Mississippi. Gladys did not ultimately provide the kidney, another donor did. But Mississippi demanded a human organ from her body as the price of their freedom. That condition had no legal basis. It was imposed on an innocent woman who had never stopped proclaiming her innocence.

Both sisters were banned from the State of Mississippi for life as a condition of that release.

Two women who maintained their innocence were sentenced to life in prison, and when public pressure forced the state to act, Mississippi demanded an organ from one of their bodies and exiled them both from their home state for life. That is not compassion. That is continued punishment with a different name.

Jamie Scott Died Waiting.

On November 8, 2021, Jamie Scott died. She died maintaining her innocence. She died under the terms of a suspended sentence. She died banned from Mississippi for life. She died without a pardon. She died without the State of Mississippi ever acknowledging it was wrong.

She left behind family. She left behind her sister Gladys. She left behind a name this state has never cleared and a conviction she never accepted.

A posthumous pardon will not bring Jamie Scott back. But it will tell the truth about what this state did to her. It will clear her name in the official record of Mississippi. It will say to her family, to her memory, and to this nation that the State of Mississippi was wrong.

Jamie Scott deserves that declaration. Her family deserves it. Her legacy demands it.

Gladys Scott Is Still Here. Still Innocent. Still Waiting.

Gladys Scott had an organ demanded from her body as the price of release. She complied with every condition the state imposed. She has lived in exile from her home state for over a decade. She has buried her sister. She still maintains her innocence. She is still living under a suspended sentence the state can revoke at any time. She is still banned from Mississippi for life. That is not freedom. That is a leash. And Mississippi has no moral or legal justification for keeping it in place.

We Are Calling for Four Things.

1. A full and unconditional posthumous pardon for Jamie Scott.

2. A full and unconditional pardon for Gladys Scott.

3. The removal of all parole and suspended sentence supervision for Gladys Scott.

4. The immediate and permanent lifting of Gladys Scott's banishment from Mississippi
No person should serve a life sentence for $11 on a first offense in which no one was killed and no one was hurt. No person should have an organ demanded from their body as the price of their survival. No person should be exiled from their home state for life and told to call it release. No person should die with their name still attached to a conviction they never accepted and a sentence they never deserved.

Jamie Scott died waiting on Mississippi to do right.

Her name will not be forgotten. Her case will not be closed. Her pardon is still owed.

Gladys Scott is still waiting.

Mississippi still has time to act. That time is now.

Sign your name. Demand justice for both sisters. Mississippi owes them this.

Mississippi Impact Coalition (MIC)

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