FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS!

State leaders demanding full pardon for Scott sisters

2012-01-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

State leaders demanding full pardon for Scott sisters
By Alice Thomas-Tisdale

Jackson Advocate Publisher

Attorney Chokwe Lumumba held a press conference last week to respond to former governor Haley Barbour’s lopsided exiting pardons. He said although many of the pardons were deserving, including one his former clients, not enough was done to right the wrong of Mississippi giving a full pardon to Jamie and Gladys Scott, who served 16 years for a $11 robbery they deny responsibility for.

“It is not a requirement for a pardon to admit guilt,” noted Lumumba. “To not pardon the Scott sisters is an act of injustice. They will continue to have to look over their shoulders, afraid that their freedoms will be snatched from them at the first infraction,” he said. “They are terrified. They do not want to go back to prison.” The cost of supervision, which is absorbed by Mississippi taxpayers, is also a reason to allow the Scott sisters to pursue a life of normalcy.

Lumumba plans to appeal to Governor Phil Bryant to reexamine the issue. But there is no wait and see attitude among human rights activists. The Full Pardon Campaign Committee for the Scott Sisters is taking action by hosting the National Day of Justice Conference in Jackson, April 2-4, 2012.

Among the planned events is The Rally for Justice, which will involve national as well as state and local leaders. For details, call 601-353-4455.

PRAYERS FOR MRS. EVELYN RASCO

2012-01-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

From: Sis. Jamia

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

S.O.P.E. - SUPPORT OUR PEOPLE'S EFFORTS - Founder/President - Jamia Shepherd

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> <><><><><>

Our Prayers go out to Mrs Rasco, who is the Mother of Jamie and Gladys Scott , who was recently released earlier this year from 16 years of Incarceration, having been charged with an $11.00 Robbery, which they have always Proclaimed Innocence. Those of you who have been receiving my Newsletters (at least for a year and more)...should recall the many times that Mrs. Rasco was spoken about. She is a Mother who has given UnConditional Love to her Children and Grandchildren. She is a true Warrior Woman, whom is Dedicated, Loyal, Committed and Loving. You would want a person like Mrs Rasco in your corner. Throughout the years Mrs Rasco has been fighting to be Healthy herself, while in the Fight for Jamie and Glady's Release. Mrs Rasco had been in much pain and agony for months.

After a couple of prognosis from doctors to have her leg amputated, it was done on Monday. I communicated with Nancy Lockhart earlier (when unable to reach Mrs Rasco this morning, again, via phone) that the amputation did take place on Monday. Of course, we Pray that Mrs Rasco will be as healthy as possible, and that this 'stumble' in the road, will only be that...and she will proceed with Health Challenges out of the way...for a Better Life.

Update on Terrance Scott Hearing

2011-07-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

From Mrs. Evelyn Rasco

Dear Supporters:

Thanks to your help, Terrance's sentencing hearing has been put off until July 28. This will give more time for supporters to write letters and fax his attorney as she is working very hard to get him the least amount of time that she can, due to the great injustice Jamie and Gladys suffered.

Atty Contact is:

Jennifer Hart
3 West Garden St, Suite 200
Pensacola, FL 32502
Fax: 850 434 3855
Office: 850 432 1418.

Terrance Scott is Jamie Scott's oldest son.

Thank you on behalf of Jamie and Gladys.

Plea from Evelyn Rasco to Call-in for Grandson, Terrance Scott

2011-07-15T11:28:00.001-07:00

From: Mrs. Evelyn Rasco - rqueenbee2222@yahoo.com

I am asking all of our supporters to please email or fax my grandson's attorney to ask the judge to have mercy on Terrance Scott. He is Jamie's oldest son that went on a rampage due to our long fight to free Jamie and Gladys and his belief that his mother would die in prison. Crimes have been put on him by the state that he did not do. He has pled guilty to federal charges so he will be sentenced on July 19. I am asking just for your help so the system will know that someone cares for Terrance just as so many of you cared for Jamie and Gladys. His attorney is Jennifer Hart, fax her at 850 434 3855, office number 850 432 1418. Terrance had no convictions until all this happened and no one was hurt or killed in the crimes he pled guilty to, so please i need your help. Send a fax, please, time has run out for letters to reach Pensacola, FL. Just ask the judge to have mercy on Terrance and state that what happened to his mother, Jamie, pushed him off the edge and drinking that 4LOKO beer that has killed some teens in the past. So please help me to save my grandson's life, please everyone fax as quickly as possible. You all freed Jamie and Gladys and I know you can make an impact on what the judge does to Terrance.

Thank you so much for your support, Evelyn Rasco (Jamie and Gladys Scott's mother). My fight for my kids will never end, thank you.

SCOTT SISTERS APPEAR ON THE MONIQUE SHOW

2011-05-12T03:48:00.000-07:00

From: BET.com / 5-11-11

Tonight on The Mo'Nique Show: NAACP President Ben Jealous Joins the Scott Sisters to Discuss Their Landmark Case

Also, Grizz Chapman talks about his kidney scare and VaShawn Mitchell sings for the Scott sisters.
By BET-Staff

BET's The Mo'Nique Show is the boldest talk show on TV. Tonight the Queen of Late Night welcomes:

LOCAL HEROES GLADYS AND JAMIE SCOTT, WHOSE LIFE SENTENCES WERE CUT SHORT. The Scott sisters discuss their 16 years in prison, how they overcame their circumstances and the deal that ultimately set them free.

NAACP PRESIDENT BEN JEALOUS, WHO CAME TO THE SCOTT SISTERS' RESCUE. Ben Jealous joins the Scott sisters on the couch to discuss what attracted the NAACP to the Scott sisters' case and how they were able to land another major victory in Civil Rights history.

ACTOR GRIZZ CHAPMAN, WHO WENT FROM PERSONAL SECURITY GUARD TO PLAYING ONE ON TV. Chapman talks about his real-life kidney-transplant scare as well as his role on the hit sitcom 30 Rock.

GOSPEL SINGER VASHAWN MITCHELL, WHO DEDICATES HIS PERFORMANCE TO THE SCOTT SISTERS. VaShawn Mitchell explains the history of "Nobody Greater" to Mo'Nique before delivering an emotional performance in honor of the Scott sisters.

4/23 SCOTT SISTERS FEATURED IN BROOKLYN EVENT

2011-04-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY, 4/23: SCOTT SISTERS SPEAK IN BROOKLYN!

Malcolm X Grassroots Movement & National Conference of Black Lawyers To Host Forum featuring Jamie & Gladys Scott and Chokwe Lumumba, with panelists Michael Tarif Warren, Marc Lamont Hill, and Rukia Lumumba, moderated by April R. Silver:

April 23 at Restoration Plaza, 1:00pm

WHO: Featured Guests: Jamie and Gladys Scott (aka the Scott Sisters) will be featured guests via teleconference.

Panelists: Chokwe Lumumba (legal counsel to the Scott Sisters); Michael Tarif Warren (lawyer activist), Marc Lamont Hill (activist, author, scholar), and Rukia Lumumba (activist); April R. Silver (activist, writer), moderator.

Organizers: The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the National Conference of Black Lawyers.

WHAT: Mississippi, Goddam! The Scott Sisters Speak in Brooklyn – a community forum regarding the case of the Scott Sisters (see background note below). Attorney Chokwe Lumumba will give updates about the current state of affairs of this case and will provide information about the campaign for their full release. Jamie and Gladys Scott will be teleconferenced in live to share their experiences as well as their ongoing commitment to help others with similar cases. This forum is free and open to the public.

WHEN: Saturday, April 23, 2011 from 1:00 pm – 3:00 p

WHERE: Restoration Plaza, First Floor –
Multi-Purpose Room

Located at 1368 Fulton St Brooklyn, NY 11216

CONTACT: For more information, contact Lalit Clarkson at 917.468.7348 or info@mxgm.org. freethescottsisters.blogspot.com

~ more ~

BACKGROUND

In 1993 in Mississippi two young Black women, Jamie and Gladys Scott were each sentenced to double life sentences for an $11 robbery. The trail and conviction of the then 19 and 22 year old women wreaks of the blatant race, gender and class oppression that is rampant throughout the criminal justice system in America. Their defense attorney, who was later disbarred for unrelated incompetency, never called a single witness in the sister's defense. One of the witnesses who testified against them has since recanted his testimony saying he was threatened by police. Ultimately, two of the three men who indeed committed the robbery served 2 years in prison in exchange for testifying against the Scott sisters. Jamie and Gladys maintain their innocence

While in prison, Jamie and Gladys suffered all of the usually physical and psychological abuses of incarceration. The lack of decent health care and nutrition put Jamie Scott in critical need of a kidney transplant. Support for their release grew over the decade and a half of their incarceration, ultimately leading to a suspension of sentence in January of this year - conditional on Gladys donating a kidney to her ailing sister.

Today, the Scott family and their supports urge the governor of Mississippi for a full pardon. Under the suspended sentence they must pay $52 a month for parole, abide by a strict curfew, and live with the constant fear of a parole violation - which would land them back in prison to serve their double-life sentences. Furthermore, without a full pardon, they still live with the stigma of being convicted felons. As felons, they are unable to get jobs, decent housing, and other critical services.

##

APRIL SCOTT SISTERS INTERVIEW!

2011-04-06T07:53:00.001-07:00

Links to Two New Scott Sisters Articles

2011-04-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

MS Rally was held yesterday in Jackson, MS - http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110331/NEWS/110331027/Mississippi-Gov-Haley-Barbour-No-pardon-Scott-sisters

Barbour Refuses to Grant Pardon - http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110331/NEWS/110331027/Mississippi-Gov-Haley-Barbour-No-pardon-Scott-sisters

2011-02-01T19:22:00.001-08:00

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

1/27 SCOTT SISTERS INTERVIEW ON NPR

2011-01-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

PRESS RELEASE: Jamie Scott Hospitalized

2011-01-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: MRS EVELYN RASCO
850-375-4336

E-Mail: thewrongfulconviction@gmail.com

JAMIE SCOTT HOSPITALIZED - BROTHER IN AFGHANISTAN NEEDS TO COME HOME

(Pensacola), FL – 1/25/11 – Jamie Scott has been hospitalized with an excessively high potassium level. The sisters were released from prison to serve life on parole and have had a very rough time adjusting with little funds to support themselves. Their mother is on a fixed income and unable to make necessary repairs as a result of storm damage to the house. These
repairs require immediate attention to accommodate Jamie upon her release from the hospital.

Currently, their brother serving in Afghanistan owns the home and is the only person who is able to conduct business regarding the house -- the insurance company will not comply with Mrs. Rasco. Willie James Scott Jr., is in need of your assistance to get home. Please contact all media outlets and make this information public.

--
Nancy Lockhart, M.J.
http://www.nancylockhart.blogspot.com
843.217.4649

1/7 CNN Interview w/Gladys & Jamie

2011-01-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

THE SCOTT SISTERS ARE IN NEED OF DONATIONS, THEY ARE REQUIRED TO PAY $52 EA. PER MONTH AND HAVE MANY EXPENSES. PLEASE SEND ANYTHING YOU CAN TO JAMIE AND GLADYS SCOTT C/O MRS. EVELYN RASCO, P.O. BOX 7100, PENSACOLA, FLORIDA 32534. THANK YOU!

HALEY BARBOUR'S ORDERS

2011-01-07T15:59:00.001-08:00

GOVERNOR BARBOUR'S ORDERS ARE AT:
JAMIE SCOTT - http://www.scribd.com/doc/47626391/Jamie-Scott-Gov-Orders
GLADYS SCOTT - http://www.scribd.com/doc/47626550/Gladys-Scott-Gov-Orders

SCOTT SISTERS PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO!

Haley Barbour to Free the Scott Sisters: Beyond Race to the Bitter Aftertaste

2011-01-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

See The Entire Story Here ~~~

http://www.blogher.com/haley-barbour-will-free-scott-sisters-and-its-bittersweet-aftertaste?page=full

Editor's update: A spokesperson for the Scott Sisters, Nancy Lockhart, announced tonight, Wednesday, January 5, that the Scott Sisters will be released from prison on Friday to start their lives on parole.

By now you may have heard that on December 29, 2010, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, possibly a Republican contender for the presidency in 2012, has suspended indefinitely the life sentences of Jamie and Gladys Scott. You've probably also heard that Jamie Scott was on dialysis in prison and that a condition of her sister's release is Gladys must donate a kidney to Jamie as soon as possible by decree of Gov. Barbour. That condition is only one of many disturbing elements in the sisters' journey through hell to freedom.

My mantra for this post: I am happy Haley Barbour will free the Scott Sisters. God bless those young women. They are overjoyed to know freedom. God bless social media activists. God bless the NAACP. God bless the sisters' attorney Chokwe Lumumba. God bless America. I am happy. Breathe.

The Scott Sisters are African-American women who were convicted of armed robbery in 1994 in Mississippi's Scott County based on the testimony of three teen males who took plea bargains and swore the women planned the robbery. Both sisters were considered first-time offenders, and so neither had a criminal record before their convictions.

They were not accused of handling a weapon or of demanding anyone's money, but the jury found them guilty and the judge sentenced them to life in prison. According to Nancy Lockhart, an advocate for the sisters, and others, they actually received two life sentences each, "double life." This is a complicated story, and so, the devil's in the details when we consider how these two young mothers landed in jail. You may read the bedtime version here, and the fuller background at this 2010 BlogHer post.

When I first heard that Barbour had suspended their sentences, I rejoiced, but not as much as I would have rejoiced had the governor pardoned the women because it is my understanding that an indefinite suspension amounts to life on parole and leaves both women with felony records, making it difficult for either to find work.

I was also leery. Barbour, a real-time, good-old boy of the South had been pressured for years with blasts from activist bloggersand other purveyors of social media and then the johnny-come-lately grumblings of the NAACP that arose in September to let the sisters go. Their release seemed like it would never come, but when the timing was right, when Barbour found himself wading in hot water after an attempt to rewrite history and paint segregationist Citizens Councils of the 50s and 60s as warriors against the KKKâ•‰to tell a story that even some white conservative southerners refused to buyâ•‰then Mississippi Parole Board deemed the Scott Sisters no longer a threat to society and Voila! Presto. Free at last!

Free sort of, that is. Time served on a sentence that even Barbour himself called longer than usual for the alleged crime committed wasn't enough payment; a kidney was due. When I read that Barbourâ•‰a "tough on crime" governorâ•‰said the condition for freedom for Gladys, who had already said a year ago without coercion that she wanted to donate a kidney to her sister, was she must part with an organ, a little more of that initial happiness ebbed from me. "What!" I said and decided not to write too much about it then lest my anger set the computer on fire.

I don't have to go into exactly what's wrong with the "kidney deal" here. Bioethicists have already objected. Barbour's "quid pro quo" order violates 50 years of organ transplant law, they say. But the governor, with his sights on the Oval Office, is not worried. In fact, he seems to think he's found a new way to claim that he's fiscally responsible as he signs off on the sisters' release.

Undoubtedly nodding to some constituents who never saw a budget cut they couldn't love, Barbour framed Jamie's release in terms of cost savings. In his official announcement he says:

"To date, the sisters have served 16 years of their sentences and are eligible for parole in 2014. Jamie Scott requires regular dialysis, and her sister has offered to donate one of her kidneys to her. The Mississippi Department of Corrections believes the sisters no longer pose a threat to society. Their incarceration is no longer necessary for public safety or rehabilitation, and Jamie Scott's medical condition creates a substantial cost to the State of Mississippi.

Jamie's dialysis, according to Barbour, could cost the the state $200,000 per year and that's the best reason to release her. A release in the name of justice, in the name of compassion? No, can't have that. It's far better to court the muses of Southern Grotesque.

And Barbour's very pleased with himself about his decision. In the video below you'll hear a clip of the governor on WMPR talking to Charles Evers, the station's manager, a small-town mayor, civil rights activist and older brother of the late Medgar Evers (Yes, that Medgar Evers). Someone is chuckling off camera while Barbour discusses how ridiculous it is for the State of Mississippi to pay for a prisoner's dialysis.

SCOTT SISTERS TO BE RELEASED FRIDAY 1/7!!

2011-01-06T04:09:00.000-08:00

From: Jerry Fort Robinson

The Scott Sisters Will Be Released On Friday at which time they start LIFE ON PAROLE w/ a $52.00 per month fee each.

Grit TV w/Anthony Papa and Atty Jaribu Hill

2011-01-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

From: Nancy Lockhart

Listen to Anthony Papa and Attorney Jaribu Hill - The Scott Sisters

Anthony Papa, author of 15 to Life, discusses Haley Barbour's stipulation that Gladys Scott had to donate a kidney to her sister to earn a commuted sentence for both. (1minute)

Watch the full conversation at GRITtv: Freeing the Scott Sisters: Clemency and Race - http://www.blip.tv/file/4587955

(12 minutes)

The price of freedom from an overly harsh sentence in Mississippi? Apparently, one kidney. That's the promise Mississsippi governor Haley Barbour extracted from Gladys Scott--that she would donate a kidney to her sister Jamie in order for both of them to have their sentences commuted. The sisters had served nearly 17 years in prison for an armed robbery worth $11, and a prolonged grassroots effort finally paid off in achieving their freedom--though it may have more to do with Barbour's attempt at making up for his recent approving comments about the White Citizens' Councils.

Joining us to discuss are Anthony Papa, author of 15 to Life and manager of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance, and from Mississippi, Jaribu Hill, executive director of the Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights.

* *

NORDETTE ADAMS INTERVIEW W/MRS. RASCO

2011-01-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

From: Nancy Lockhart
Date: January 4, 2011 10:21:33 AM EST

http://bigsole.blogspot.com/2011/01/mother-of-scott-sisters-discusses-their.html

Mother of Scott Sisters Discusses Their Release

By now many of you have heard the good news that this past Wednesday December 29, 2010, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour announced that he is suspending indefinitely the sentences of Jamie and Gladys Scott, African-American sisters who have been in a Mississippi Prison since 1994 on armed robbery charges. Despite neither sister having a criminal record, the two were convicted on the words of three teenage boys who confessed to the crime and received reduced sentences in exchange for testifying against the sisters.

Jamie and Gladys were ages 22 and 20 respectively at the time of conviction and each was sentenced to double life with no chance of parole for 20 years. No one was physically injured during the crime, and the boys who handled the gun and walked off with the $11 stolen, were released years ago. The sisters have maintained their innocence, but whether you believe they are guilty or not, most people concede, after hearing of their sentences, that Mississippi treated the Scott Sisters unjustly. And while supporters are overjoyed at Gov. Barbour's decision to free the sisters, the victory for many seems bittersweet. Jamie has been on dialysis for the last year and one condition of her sister Gladys's release, said Gov. Barbour, is that she donate a kidney to Jamie as soon as possible.

Nordette Adams talks to their mother, Evelyn Rasco who now lives in Pensacola Florida about their impending release. Mrs. Rasco, with the help of advocate Nancy Lockhart, has worked tirelessly for her daughters' release since their conviction. As would be expected, she is overjoyed that after 16 years, her daughters will come home.

SCOTT SISTERS SENTENCES SUSPENDED

2010-12-31T00:29:00.000-08:00

MAINSTREAM NEWS REPORTS

From: Nancy Lockhart

http://www.wapt.com/news/26314528/detail.html
Governor Suspends Scott Sisters' Sentences

Gladys Scott To Donate Kidney To Jamie Scott

UPDATED: 5:08 pm CST December 29, 2010

JACKSON, Miss. -- Gov. Haley Barbour on Wednesday suspended the double life sentences of sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott, who were convicted in 1994 in connection with a robbery.â•˛To date, the sisters have served 16 years of their sentences and are eligible for parole in 2014. Jamie Scott requires regular dialysis, and her sister has offered to donate one of her kidneys to her," Barbour said in a statement. "The Mississippi Department of Corrections believes the sisters no longer pose a threat to society. Their incarceration is no longer necessary for public safety or rehabilitation, and Jamie Scott's medical condition creates a substantial cost to the State of Mississippi."Barbour said the Mississippi Parole Board reviewed the sisters' case and recommended that he neither pardon them nor commute their sentences.˛At my request, the Parole Board subsequently reviewed whether the sisters should be granted an indefinite suspension of sentence, which is tantamount to parole, and have concurred with my decision to suspend their sentences indefinitely," Barbour said. "Gladys Scott's release is conditioned on her donating one of her kidney to her sister, a procedure which should be scheduled with urgency."Barbour said the release date for Jamie and Gladys Scott is a matter for the Mississippi Department of Corrections.In September, nearly 200 people rallied at the state Capitol asking Barbour to release the sisters.According to court records, the Scott sisters were found guilty of luring two men down a road near Forest, where three young assailants used a shotgun to rob the men.The Scott sisters had exhausted all of their appeals.
============

Dec. 29, 2010

GOV. BARBOUR'S STATEMENT REGARDING RELEASE OF SCOTT SISTERS

"Today, I have issued two orders indefinitely suspending the sentences of Jamie and Gladys Scott. In 1994, a Scott County jury convicted the sisters of armed robbery and imposed two life sentences for the crime. Their convictions and their sentences were affirmed by the Mississippi Court of Appeals in 1996.

"To date, the sisters have served 16 years of their sentences and are eligible for parole in 2014. Jamie Scott requires regular dialysis, and her sister has offered to donate one of her kidneys to her. The Mississippi Department of Corrections believes the sisters no longer pose a threat to society. Their incarceration is no longer necessary for public safety or rehabilitation, and Jamie Scott's medical condition creates a substantial cost to the State of Mississippi.

"The Mississippi Parole Board reviewed the sisters' request for a pardon and recommended that I neither pardon them, nor commute their sentence. At my request, the Parole Board subsequently reviewed whether the sisters should be granted an indefinite suspension of sentence, which is tantamount to parole, and have concurred with my decision to suspend their sentences indefinitely.

"Gladys Scott's release is conditioned on her donating one of her kidneys to her sister, a procedure which should be scheduled with urgency. The release date for Jamie and Gladys Scott is a matter for the Department of Corrections.

"I would like to thank Representative George Flaggs, Senator John Horne, Senator Willie Simmons, and Representative Credell Calhoun for their leadership on this issue. These legislators, along with former Mayor Charles Evers, have been in regular contact with me and my staff while the sisters' petition has been under review."
****************************************

Dec. 30, 2010
Sister's Kidney Donation Condition Of Miss. Parole

Unique Parole Condition: Miss. Inmate Must Give Kidney To Sister To Have Life Sentence Lifted

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has suspended the life sentences of two sisters convicted in 1994 for their roles in an armed robbery, but one sister's release is contingent on her giving a kidney to the other.

Gladys and Jamie Scott were convicted of leading two men into an ambush in central Mississippi in 1993. The men were robbed of $11 by three teenagers who hit both men in the head with a shotgun and took their wallets, court records said.

The Scott sisters are eligible for parole in 2014, but 38-year-old Jamie Scott "requires regular dialysis, and her sister has offered to donate one of her kidneys to her," Barbour said.

Barbour said in a news release that 36-year-old Gladys Scott's release is conditioned on her donating one of her kidneys to her sister.

Dan Turner, Barbour's spokesman, told The Associated Press that Jamie Scott was released because she needs the transplant. He said Gladys Scott will be released if she agrees to donate her kidney because of the significant risk and recovery time.

"She wanted to do it," Turner said. "That wasn't something we introduced."

Barbour is a Republican in his second term who has been mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2012. He said the Mississippi Parole Board reviewed the case at his request and agreed with the indefinite suspension of their sentences, which is different from a pardon or commutation because it comes with conditions.

An "indefinite suspension of sentence" can be reversed if the conditions are not followed, but those requirements are usually things like meeting with a parole officer.

The Scott sisters have received significant public support from advocacy groups, including the NAACP, which called for their release. Hundreds of people marched through downtown Jackson from the state capital to the governor's mansion in September, chanting in unison that the women should be freed.

Still, their release won't be immediate.

Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said late Wednesday that he had not received the order. He also said the women want to live with relatives in Florida, which requires approval from officials in that state.

In general, that process takes 45 days.

JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE!

2010-12-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

12/23/10

from - Nancy Lockhart

Dear Supporters:

Jamie Scott did receive dialysis yesterday however; there is still a major concern regarding this OSHA citation (#313634453). We are aware that black mold was found during an inspection but, additional toxins are not being confirmed and inmates have no idea what is in the Environmental Report.

Wexford Health Sources is the medical contractor for Mississippi Department of Corrections and my research shows that Wexford has this report. I rarely make assumptions regarding issues as such but, will assume that what is in this report may explain why Jamie has had such massive headaches. This report may also explain the sudden death of a health care worker inside this same facility. Wexford Health Sources has a history of law suits and medical neglect -- nation wide. Wexford is a prison medical contractor.

Needless, please contact the following individuals at Wexford and request a copy of The Environmental Report. Please do not become surprised when/ or if you are told NO. Please continue to call TODAY!

Call the following individuals and request The Environmental Report generated for Citation #313634453

Joe Ebbet (May be incorrect spelling of last name)
412.937.3614

Kelly Amos - Secretary - April
601-932-2880 Extension 6243

URGENT JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE

2010-12-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

From Nancy Lockhart

Dear Supporters:

Happy Holidays from Jamie and Gladys Scott. Jamie and Gladys send their love and sincere thanks!

Jamie Scott has informed us that upon arrival for dialysis at 5am this morning -- she was turned away because of conditions within the Dialysis
trailer. Nurses stated that masks were distributed for medical personnel only but, the nurses have refused to wear the masks. (I have no idea as to
why)

Jamie has not received dialysis. Jamie Scott needs to be taken to the hospital where her dialysis treatment can be completed TODAY!

Her Schedule is Monday-Wed-Friday. Jamie states that when she lays down it feels as though fluid is surrounding her heart. Jamie also has another
infection!!

Please call Dr. Gloria Perry and ask that Jamie Scott be carried to a hospital for treatment.

Gloria Scott, M.D.
601-359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

In addition, OSHA has placed a notice of Citation on the door of this dialysis trailer. The Citation # is 313634453. It is my understanding that this Citation is a 90 day citation - Wexford Health Solutions which is the medical contractor - has 90 days to clean the mold. Non the less -- Jamie
Scott needs dialysis TODAY!

OSHA - Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Jackson Area Office
3780 I-55 North, Suite 210
Jackson, Mississippi 39211-6323
(601) 965-4606
(601) 965-4610 fax

SCOTT SISTERS GO BEFORE MS BD OF PARDONS & PAROLE

2010-12-13T13:30:00.000-08:00

Jamie and Gladys Scott both went before the Mississippi Board of Pardons and Parole today. Results from this hearing are unknown at this time. Please continue to call and e-mail governor Haley Barbour's Office in support of their release. Each call and e-mail is very important!

Contact Information For Governor Barbour

P.O. Box 139

Jackson, Mississippi 39205

1-877-405-0733

governor@governor.state.ms.us

To: Blog Talk Hostesses/Hosts, Bloggers, Radio Station Hosts/Hostesses and Journalists

From: Nancy Lockhart, M.J.

Date: December 13, 2010

Re: Urgent Action Needed For The Scott Sisters

Media activities surrounding Jamie and Gladys' case are diminishing and pressure needs to remain on Governor Haley Barbour to release both sisters immediately.

Please assist us during Monday December 13, 2010 – Tuesday December 21, 2010 by talking about the Sisters and requesting that your listeners call, and e-mail Governor Haley Barbour's office in support of freedom for Jamie and Gladys. This time frame is chosen so that calls and e-mails reach the governor before the Mississippi State Government holiday.

Suggested Methods:

Bloggers – please copy and paste the information found in italics below in your blogs.

Blog Talk Hosts – Please place Action Needed For the Scott Sisters in your program headings so that The Scott Sisters rank higher in Google searches. Also, copy and paste the information found in italics into the Blog section of your Blog Talk Radio accounts. Please read this short script at some point in time during your programs.

Radio Stations – Please read the information below on your programs daily. Currently, Rip Daniels of WJZD in Gulfport, Mississippi (www.wjzd.com) is the only brick and mortar media outlet mentioning the plight of The Scott Sisters on a daily basis.

Whether the Scott sisters are innocent or guilty, any reasonable person can see that the punishment they’ve received doesn’t fit the crime. In addition, Jamie Scott is very ill and suffering from stage 5 renal (kidney) failure. Currently, it’s up to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to commute their sentences and pardon them.

Each sister is currently serving double life sentences each for an $11 robbery – that's 4 life sentences between the two sisters. To date the sisters have been in prison 16 years. Let governor Barbour know that you 're seeking justice for the Scott sisters now!

Contact Information For Governor Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733
governor@governor.state.ms.us

Email the governor's personal assistant - Dorothy Kuykendal

DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us

JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE/RADIO INTERVIEW

2010-12-06T04:00:00.000-08:00

From: Nancy Lockhart

Dear Supporters:

Jamie Scott has received glasses and would like to thank all supporters for the persistent e-mails, calls and faxes. Jamie is very excited! Jamie has not received results of the CT scan as of yet.

Thank you to Mr. Richard Prince of The Maynard Institute for his most recent
interview regarding the Scott Sisters. The link is below and the interview starts around 18:44 minutes.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4208

11/28 - ACTION NEEDED FOR JAMIE SCOTT!

2010-11-28T13:26:00.000-08:00

From: Nancy Lockhart

Dear Supporters:

I hope that everyone has had a great holiday weekend. Jamie has asked that I let everyone know that she and Gladys send their love and thanks for the great support shown.

Jamie has not received the results of her CT scan - Dr. Williams (unknown first name) has seen Jamie at MDOC and treats her in a very hostile manner. Jamie has stated that Dr. Williams acts as if she does not want to touch her for medical examinations. For the record - Dr. Williams is a female physician at the prison.

Jamie was sent to an eye doctor who has stated that the pressure in her eyes was lower than diagnosed in a previous examination. She states that this is a good sign. The doctor also stated that she will receive some eyeglasses but, no idea when.

The Dialysis trailer is infested with black mold. Several of the dialysis inmates are now experiencing headaches and watery eyes while in this trailer (mobile building), for treatment. One of the facility nurses had to be rushed out by ambulance recently, and this nurse only becomes sick while at work in the dialysis trailer. In addition, the trailer is very unstable with holes in the floor, the inmates feel that it's simply a matter of time before someone falls through the floor.

Also, the toilets in Quickbed where Jamie is housed are still running over. That was never completely repaired.

Please contact the Mississippi health department regarding the black mold, toilets in Quick Bed and inadequate infrastructure in this dialysis trailer which are all located at CMCF in Pearl, Mississippi. Jeffrey K. Brown is the Bureau Director and his information is below. Thank you!

Jeffrey K. Brown, Ph.D., R.P.E., B.C.E.
Bureau Director
State Public Health Entomologist
Mississippi State Department of Health
570 East Woodrow Wilson Avenue
Jackson, Mississippi 39216
601.576.7972 Office
601.576.7632 Fax
769.257.2242 Cell
jeffrey.brown@msdh.state.ms.us
www.healthyms.com

In Solidarity,

Nancy Lockhart

Seattle Times Scott Sisters Article

2010-11-21T17:16:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Sisters may or may not be guilty, but Mississippi assuredly is

Let's assume they did it.

Let's assume that two days before Christmas in 1993, a 22-year-old black woman named Jamie Scott and her pregnant 19-year-old sister Gladys set up an armed robbery. Let's assume these single mothers lured two men to a spot outside the tiny town of Forest, Miss., where three teenage boys, using a shotgun the sisters supplied, relieved the men of $11 and sent them on their way, unharmed.

Assume all of the above is true, and still you must be shocked at the crude brutality of the Scott sisters' fate. You see, the sisters, neither of whom had a criminal record before this, are still locked away in state prison, having served 16 years of their double-life sentences.

It bears repeating. Each sister is doing double life for a robbery in which $11 was taken and nobody was hurt. Somewhere, the late Nina Simone is moaning her signature song:

"Mississippi Goddam."

For the record, two of the young men who committed the robbery testified against the sisters as a condition of their plea bargain. All three reportedly received two-year sentences and were long ago released. No shotgun or forensic evidence was produced at trial. The sisters have always maintained their innocence.

Observers are at a loss to explain their grotesquely disproportionate sentence. Early this year, the Jackson Advocate, a weekly newspaper serving the black community in the state capital, interviewed the sisters' mother, Evelyn Rasco. She described the sentences as payback for her family's testimony against a corrupt sheriff. According to her, that sheriff's successor vowed revenge.

You don't have to believe that to believe this: Mississippi stands guilty of a grievous offense against simple decency.

But there is hope. Recently, the sisters' cause has been championed by high-powered allies. New York Times columnist Bob Herbert and the NAACP have called on Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to pardon the two women. I add my voice to theirs.

I have no way of knowing if the Scott sisters' fate is tied in to some sheriff's revenge and at some level, the question is moot. Whatever the proximate cause of this ridiculous sentence, the larger cause is neon clear: the Scott sisters are black women in the poorest state in the union. And as report after report has testified, if you are poor or black (and God help you if you are both), the American justice system has long had this terrible tendency to throw you away like garbage. Historically, this has been especially true in the South.

If you doubt it, play with the scenario in your head. Try to imagine some rich white girl doing double life for an $11 robbery. You can't.

But then, that girl has access to a brand of justice unavailable to women like Jamie and Gladys Scott. She will receive every break the law allows her and maybe a few it does not. No one will throw her away.

And while it would be nice to think this problem of discarding people's lives would be solved by the release of the Scott sisters, the truth is, that wouldn't even address it.

How many other Scott sisters and brothers are languishing behind bars for no good reason, doing undeserved hard time on nonexistent evidence, perjured testimony, prosecutorial misconduct or sheer racial or class bias?

So fixing the problem the Scott sisters represent involves nothing less than the reformation of the justice system, a commitment to make it, as the name implies, a system that reliably produces justice â€” as opposed to these too frequent miscarriages thereof.

Meantime, Jamie Scott, who is in her late 30s now, is in poor health. She is said to be losing her vision and both her kidneys have failed. And we wait for common sense to take hold in Mississippi.

It is a situation that shocks the senses, even if we assume they did it.

Now, assume they did not.

Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.'s column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is: lpitts@miamiherald.com

From: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2013477385_pitts21.html

11/17 ACTION ALERT for the Scott Sisters

2010-11-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

From: Nancy Lockhart

YOUR ASSISTANCE CONTINUES TO BE NEEDED

Your Calls-Emails and Faxes are Urgently Needed: Jamie Scott has stated that she is going blind her vision is getting worse daily and she has NOT received glasses as of yet. Call Gloria Perry and ask that she follow through with ensuring that Jamie Scott # 19197 receives glasses - gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us (601) 359-5155

Gladys Scott has informed me that the board of Pardons and Parole in Mississippi is wrapping their investigation up and will refer their findings to Governor Haley Barbour's office. Gladys Scott #19142 has requested that we call, fax, snail mail and e-mail The Honorable Haley Barbour's office to request clemency. Please also request that the governor make provisions for the sisters to include that their civil rights are restored - WITHOUT FELONY records. Make a toll free call to governor Haley Barbour at 877-405-0733 E-mail governor Barbour -- governor@governor.state.ms.us Governor Haley Barbour P.O. Box 139 Jackson, Mississippi 39205 1-877-405-0733 Fax: 601-359-3741 Email the governor's personal assistant - Dorothy Kuykendal DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us

Last, National Action Network - Rev. Al Sharpton's organization - stated that a rally would be held at the beginning of December. After having their release forms by The Scott Sisters NAN has said that the date is postponed and has not given us any idea of their plans thus far. Please Call National Action Network's National Headquarters and inquire about their involvement to FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS! 1-877-626-4651

------

From: Nancy Lockhart

To: "Perry, Gloria" ; "Zein-Ahmed, Mohamed"

Sent: Mon, November 15, 2010 11:10:45 AM

Subject: Jamie Scott #19197 Is Going Blind and Needs Glasses

Dear Drs. Perry and Zein Mohamed:

Jamie Scott is going blind and the cause of this rapid vision loss is unknown. As a result Jamie is in need of glasses which have been repeatedly requested. In addition, Jamie Scott needs an examination from an outside physician to diagnose this vision loss as well as, the massive headaches.

Please ensure that Jamie receives eyeglasses so that she is able to see. This is very unethical and inhumane treatment.

The mission of the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure is to ensure the protection of the health, safety and welfare of Mississippians through implementation and enforcement of laws involving the licensing and regulation of physicians, podiatrists, physician assistants, radiology assistants and acupuncturists and through the objective enforcement of the Mississippi Medical Practice Act.

Currently, this mission statement is not being adhered to. The only consistency here, is medical neglect.

Please do not allow your medical neglect to turn into a death sentence for Jamie Scott.

Respectfully,

Nancy R. Lockhart, M.J.
-----------

Please continue to feature action alerts, updates and information on your blogs. Thanks to Dr. Pamela D. Reed for featuring this case on her Cultural Currents blog at:
http://diverseeducation.com/blogpost/316/mississippi-goddam-free-the-scott-sisters.html

CALL GOV. BARBOUR'S OFFICE FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS!

2010-11-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

From: Nancy Lockhart

Dear Supporters of The Scott Sisters:

Jamie Scott has expressed a great increase in the loss of her vision -- she has NOT received glasses as of yet and has a big problem seeing. Call Dr. Gloria Perry regarding this - gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us (601) 359-5155

Gladys Scott has informed me that the board of Pardons and Parole in Mississippi is wrapping their investigation up and will refer their findings to Governor Haley Barbour's office.

Gladys Scott has requested that we call, fax, snail mail and e-mail The Honorable Haley Barbour's office to request clemency. Please also request that the governor make provisions for the sisters to include that their civil rights are restored - WITHOUT FELONY records.

Make a toll free call to governor Haley Barbour at 877-405-0733

E-mail governor Barbour -- governor@governor.state.ms.us

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733
Fax: 601-359-3741

Email the governor's personal assistant - Dorothy Kuykendal

DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us

--
Nancy Lockhart, M.J.
http://nancylockhart.blogspot.com
843.217.4649

10/29 JAMIE SCOTT ACTION ALERT + MORE!

2010-10-29T08:10:00.001-07:00

Greetings,

Jamie Scott's headaches have continued unabated for this entire month and all the prison has done is offer her medications which are NOT helping! She and many others have asked that she be HOSPITALIZED and have her head scanned.

Even though Jamie is seriously ill, receiving dialysis three times a week, and unable to rest without excruciating headaches, these so-called health professionals at the prison refuse to recognize that this could represent an EMERGENCY.

PLEASE CALL AND E-MAIL THESE OFFICIALS AND TELL THEM THAT JAMIE SCOTT MUST BE HOSPITALIZED IMMEDIATELY AND PASS THIS ON TO ALL OF YOUR CONTACTS!!

Dr. Gloria Perry - gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us
(601) 359-5155

Dr. Zein-Ahmed - MZein-Ahmed@mdoc.state.ms.us
(601) 359-5155

Margaret Bingham - mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
601-932-2880

Christopher Epps - CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
Epps ph. 601-359-5600

Please be professional but don't let up, keep calling and e-mailing!
------------

MS Governor Haley Barbour is currently touring with GOP governors and should
be greeted everywhere that he goes with pickets demanding that he FREE THE SCOTT
SISTERS and end this nightmare for them and their family! His travels for today and
tomorrow are listed in this article:

http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/22/barbour-to-hit-15-cities-in-five-days-with-other-gop-governors-next-week/

Please help us to keep up with his travels and organize a presence on behalf
of these long-suffering women to greet him wherever he is at!!
------------

The Michael Baisden Show featured the case of the Scott Sisters yesterday, and
the wonderful podcast is available at: http://www.michaelbaisden.com/tools/podcast/player.php?file=all-natural-thursday/ant_hr3_a_10282010.mp3&title=All%20Natural%20Thursday%20Hr%203%20%2010.28.201

There are also postings on the Scott Sisters on his Facebook group, Baisden Live, on
which the case has generated a tremendous amount of interest!

10/25 JAMIE SCOTT ACTION ALERT!

2010-10-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Supporters,

Mrs. Rasco received a call from Jamie Scott this morning complaining of excruciating head pain that she has suffered with all night long and that the prison refuses to take her to the hospital.

Jamie has been dealing with severe headaches this entire month and has only been given Tylenol, which has not helped and which she is worried may cause liver and other types of damage.

Please contact everyone below for Jamie Scott, #19197, and urge that she be taken to the hospital immediately!

Dr. Gloria Perry - gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us
(601) 359-5155

Dr. Zein-Ahmed - MZein-Ahmed@mdoc.state.ms.us
(601) 359-5155

Margaret Bingham - mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
601-932-2880

Christopher Epps - CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
601-359-5600

This has been going on for far too long, Jamie needs relief ASAP!

10/15- Mississippi Pardons - NYT Article

2010-10-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Op-Ed Columnist

The Mississippi Pardons

By BOB HERBERT

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/opinion/16herbert.html?_r=1

Published: October 15, 2010

Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi has to decide whether to show mercy to two sisters, Jamie and Gladys Scott, who are each serving double consecutive life sentences in state prison for a robbery in which no one was injured and only $11 was taken.

This should be an easy call for a law-and-order governor who has, nevertheless, displayed a willingness to set free individuals convicted of far more serious crimes. Mr. Barbour has already pardoned four killers and suspended the life sentence of a fifth.

The Scott sisters have been in prison for 16 years. Jamie, now 38, is seriously ill. Both of her kidneys have failed. Keeping the two of them locked up any longer is unconscionable, grotesquely inhumane.

The sisters were accused of luring two men to a spot outside the rural town of Forest, Miss., in 1993, where the men were robbed by three teenagers, one of whom had a shotgun. The Scott sisters knew the teens. The evidence of the sisters’ involvement has always been ambiguous, at best. The teenagers pleaded guilty to the crime, served two years in prison and were released. All were obliged by the authorities, as part of their plea deals, to implicate the sisters.

No explanation has ever emerged as to why Jamie and Gladys Scott were treated so severely.

In contrast, Governor Barbour has been quite willing to hand get-out-of-jail-free cards to men who unquestionably committed shockingly brutal crimes. The Jackson Free Press, an alternative weekly, and Slate Magazine have catalogued these interventions by Mr. Barbour. Some Mississippi observers have characterized the governor’s moves as acts of mercy; others have called them dangerous abuses of executive power.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections confirmed Governor Barbour’s role in the five cases, noting that the specific orders were signed July 16, 2008:

• Bobby Hays Clark was pardoned by the governor. He was serving a long sentence for manslaughter and aggravated assault, having shot and killed a former girlfriend and badly beaten her boyfriend.

• Michael David Graham had his life sentence for murder suspended by Governor Barbour. Graham had stalked his ex-wife, Adrienne Klasky, for years before shooting her to death as she waited for a traffic light in downtown Pascagoula.

• Clarence Jones was pardoned by the governor. He had murdered his former girlfriend in 1992, stabbing her 22 times. He had already had his life sentence suspended by a previous governor, Ronnie Musgrove.

• Paul Joseph Warnock was pardoned by Governor Barbour. He was serving life for the murder of his girlfriend in 1989. According to Slate, Warnock shot his girlfriend in the back of the head while she was sleeping.

• William James Kimble was pardoned by Governor Barbour. He was serving life for the murder and robbery of an elderly man in 1991.

Radley Balko, in an article for Slate, noted that none of the five men were given relief because of concerns that they had been unfairly treated by the criminal justice system. There were no questions about their guilt or the fairness of the proceedings against them. But they did have one thing in common. All, as Mr. Balko pointed out, had been enrolled in a special prison program “that had them doing odd jobs around the Mississippi governor’s mansion.”

The idea that those men could be freed from prison and allowed to pursue whatever kind of lives they might wish while the Scott sisters are kept locked up, presumably for the rest of their lives, is beyond disturbing.

Supporters of the Scott sisters, including their attorney, Chokwe Lumumba, and Ben Jealous of the N.A.A.C.P., have asked Governor Barbour to intervene, to use his executive power to free the women from prison.

A spokeswoman for the governor told me he has referred the matter to the state’s parole board. Under Mississippi law, the governor does not have to follow the recommendation of the board. He is free to act on his own. With Jamie Scott seriously ill (her sister and others have offered to donate a kidney for a transplant), the governor should move with dispatch.

The women’s mother, Evelyn Rasco, told The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss.: “I wish they would just hurry up and let them out. I hope that is where it is leading to. That would be the only justified thing to do.”

An affidavit submitted to the governor on behalf of the Scott sisters says: “Jamie and Gladys Scott respectfully pray that they each be granted a pardon or clemency of their sentences on the grounds that their sentences were too severe and they have been incarcerated for too long. If not released, Jamie Scott will probably die in prison.”

As they are both serving double life sentences, a refusal by the governor to intervene will most likely mean that both will die in prison.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print on October 16, 2010, on page A19 of the New York edition.

10/15 ACTION ALERT FOR JAMIE SCOTT

2010-10-15T14:40:00.001-07:00

From: Nancy Lockhart

October 15 at 1:28pm

Jamie Scott is still enduring a massive headache -- around her forehead and in the temples for weeks. The vomiting has stopped but she is currently experiencing diarrhea after eating each meal. She is being treated for a sinus condition which IS NOT WORKING!

AT this point in time, Jamie needs the attention of an outside physician. Would you please call and/or e-mail and ask that she is taken to the hospital where this illness can be immediately taken care of.

Drs. Gloria Perry and Zein-Ahmed and request that Jamie Scott #19197 immediately taken to the hospital. Please assist us in saving her life until she is released!

Dr. Gloria Perry - gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

(601) 359-5155

Dr. Zein-Ahmed - MZein-Ahmed@mdoc.state.ms.us

(601) 359-5155

You may cc and call the following if time permits.

Margaret Bingham - mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us

601-932-2880

Christopher Epps - CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us

Epps ph. 601-359-5600

Nancy Lockhart

10/12 "So Utterly Inhumane" - NYT Article

2010-10-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

October 12, 2010 - New York Times

‘So Utterly Inhumane’
By BOB HERBERT

You have to believe that somebody really had it in for the Scott sisters, Jamie and Gladys. They have always insisted that they had nothing to do with a robbery that occurred near the small town of Forest, Miss., on Christmas Eve in 1993. It was not the kind of crime to cause a stir. No one was hurt and perhaps $11 was taken.

Jamie was 21 at the time and Gladys just 19. But what has happened to them takes your breath away.

They were convicted by a jury and handed the most draconian sentences imaginable — short of the death penalty. Each was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in state prison, and they have been imprisoned ever since. Jamie is now 38 and seriously ill. Both of her kidneys have failed. Gladys is 36.

This is Mississippi we’re talking about, a place that in many ways has not advanced much beyond the Middle Ages.

The authorities did not even argue that the Scott sisters had committed the robbery. They were accused of luring two men into a trap, in which the men had their wallets taken by acquaintances of the sisters, one of whom had a shotgun.

It was a serious crime. But the case against the sisters was extremely shaky. In any event, even if they were guilty, the punishment is so wildly out of proportion to the offense that it should not be allowed to stand.

Three teenagers pleaded guilty to robbing the men. They ranged in age from 14 to 18. And in their initial statements to investigators, they did not implicate the Scott sisters.

But a plea deal was arranged in which the teens were required to swear that the women were involved, and two of the teens were obliged, as part of the deal, to testify against the sisters in court.

Howard Patrick, who was 14 at the time of the robbery, said that the pressure from the authorities to implicate the sisters began almost immediately. He testified, “They said if I didn’t participate with them, they would send me to Parchman and make me out a female.”

He was referring to Mississippi State Prison, which was once the notoriously violent Parchman prison farm. The lawyer questioning the boy said, “In other words, they would send you to Parchman and you would get raped, right?”

“Yes, sir,” the boy said.

The teens were sentenced to eight years in prison each, and they were released after serving just two years.

This is a case that should be repugnant to anyone with the slightest interest in justice. The right thing to do at this point is to get the sisters out of prison as quickly as possible and ensure that Jamie gets proper medical treatment.

A number of people have taken up the sisters’ cause, including Ben Jealous, the president of the N.A.A.C.P., who is trying to help secure a pardon from Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi. “It makes you sick to think that this sort of thing can happen,” he said. “That these women should be kept in prison until they die — well, that’s just so utterly inhumane.”

I have no idea why the authorities were so dead set on implicating the Scott sisters in the crime and sending them away for life, while letting the teens who unquestionably committed the robbery get off with much lighter sentences.

Life sentences for robbery can only be imposed by juries in Mississippi, but it is extremely rare for that sentencing option to even be included in the instructions given to jurors. It’s fair to think, in other words, that there would have to be some extraordinary reason for prosecutors and the court to offer such a draconian possibility to a jury.

Chokwe Lumumba, a lawyer representing the sisters, captured the prevailing legal sentiment when he said: “I don’t think Mississippi law anticipates that you’re going to be giving this instruction in a case where nobody gets hurt and $11 is allegedly stolen. In the majority of robbery cases, even the ones that are somewhat nasty, they don’t read that instruction.”

The reason for giving the jury the option of imposing life sentences in this case escapes me. Even the original prosecutor, Ken Turner, who is now retired and who believes the sisters were guilty, has said that he thinks it would be “appropriate” to offer them relief from their extreme sentences. He told The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., “It was not a particularly egregious case.”

The appeals process for the women has long since been exhausted. It is up to Governor Barbour, who is considering petitions on the sisters’ behalf, to do the humane thing.

A pardon or commutation of sentence — some form of relief that would release Jamie and Gladys Scott from the hideous shackles of a lifetime in prison — is not just desirable, it’s absolutely essential.

10/2 JAMIE SCOTT ACTION ALERT

2010-10-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

October 2 at 1:47am

Please e-mail and/or call Drs. Gloria Perry and Zein-Ahmed and request that Jamie Scott #19197 immediately receive proper medical treatment. Jamie has been vomiting for 5 days now and is in need of immediate attention. I apologize for being so crude here but, this is the case and it is urgent. Please assist us in saving her life until she is released!

Dr. Gloria Perry - gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

(601) 359-5155

Dr. Zein-Ahmed - MZein-Ahmed@mdoc.state.ms.us

(601) 359-5155

You may cc and call the following if time permits.

Margaret Bingham - mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us

601-932-2880

Christopher Epps - CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us

Epps ph. 601-359-5600

Nancy Lockhart

9/27 SCOTT SISTERS ACTION ALERT!

2010-09-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

MESSAGE FROM MRS. RASCO:

Thanks to all of the supporters that have helped with Jamie and Gladys' case. It is because of all of you that it has came down to what it has. You all have worked hard to help to free Jamie and Gladys and I feel like now we are on the final step to freedom.

I am asking that everyone Write and Fax all the Parole Board members to ask for justice for Jamie and Gladys. They need all of your help, the ones that can tweet it, please do. Jamie and Gladys' life depends on you all so that another injustice won't be done to them. Let the Parole Board know that the world is looking at this injustice.

Shannon Warnock - Chairman

Bobbie Thomas - Board Member

Clarence Brown - Board Member

Betty Lou Jones - Board Member

Danny Guice - Board Member

State of Mississippi Parole Board
660 North Street
Suite 100A
Jackson, MS 39202
Fax: (601) 576-3528

Please contact these Board Members and keep doing it until Jamie and Gladys are free. Love to every one of you.

Evelyn Rasco

Please be polite when writing/faxing.

9/16 SCOTT SISTERS MEDIA UPDATES!

2010-09-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

The very well-attended 9/15 Jackson, MS rally to Free the Scott Sisters has generated an unprecedented amount of mainstream media that is shining a light on these cases like never before! Hopefully these actions and many more to come will at long last bring about the release of these two long-suffering women and reunite them with their family. Keep the pressure on!

This just in.... Starting in October on the Michael Baisden Show on his Falsely Accused Series will be: Have you read about the Scott Sisters?
----

MSNBC gave coverage to this case! Features Mrs. Rasco and NAACP Prez, Ben Jealous

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

-----

Great excerpts of 9/15 Scott Sisters Rally held in Jackson, MS

-----

NAACP Press Conference on Scott Sisters: http://www.naacp.org/blog/entry/naacp-press-conference-on-the-scott-sisters/
-----

Uhuru News http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=mississippi-rally-demands-release-of-scott-sisters-15-years-into-double-life-sentences-on-bogus-11-robbery-charge
-----

Thanks to Muhammad Speaks for publishing our Case Summary! - http://www.muhammadspeaksonline.net/2010/09/12/mississippi-injustice-2/
-----

USA TODAY even gave coverage to this case! - http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-09-14-scott-sisters_N.htm
-----

PRE-RALLY

Bro. JR of Block Report Radio speaks to Mrs. Rasco on 9/13 Flashpoints at http://aud1.kpfa.org/data/20100913-Mon1700.mp3

WAPT- Scott Sisters Supporters to Rally in Jackson, MS 9/15 - http://www.wapt.com/r/24986222/detail.html

WLBT- Scott Sisters Attorney to Present Pardon Request -http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=13144101

Clarion Ledger - Support Growing for Sisters - http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20109120370

8/24 + 8/27 RADIO PROGRAMS

2010-08-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

8/27 INTERVIEW WITH NANCY LOCKHART AND MRS. EVELYN RASCO

Listen to internet radio with brburns.com on Blog Talk Radio

8/24 - DOES RACISM STILL EXIST IN AMERICA?: The Tragic Case Of THE SCOTT SISTERS!

Listen to internet radio with brburns.com on Blog Talk Radio

BLACK NOBILITY MAGAZINE ON THE SCOTT SISTERS

2010-08-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

the Scott Sisters received double life terms each for $11 ….

Jamie and Gladys Scott are blood sisters and have been wrongfully convicted of armed robbery. The sisters received double life terms each. No one was murdered or injured during this robbery. One witness testified that the robbery netted about $11, another said that around $200 bucks was in his wallet. Witnesses and the two alleged victims testified that the sisters had absolutely nothing to do with this robbery. Witnesses also testified that the sheriff coerced and threatened them to lie on the Scott Sisters. The sisters have been in prison since October of 1994.

As if that weren’t bad enough, these young women received incompetent legal representation at the lower court trial. Their attorneys, Firnist J. Alexander, Jr. and Gail Shaw-Pierson failed to interview and subpoena witnesses, only calling one witness when there were several. Incredibly, the jury never even heard any testimony from the alleged victims. The sisters were advised to not testify on their own behalf by their attorneys, Alexander and Shaw-Pierson, denying them the opportunity to speak for themselves.

In October of 1994, Jamie and Gladys Scott were sentenced to extraordinary double life terms each in prison, even though neither sister had prior convictions and there was no violence involved in these charges.

The four State’s witnesses provided conflicting testimony and one alleged accuser was not called to testify – he was not questioned or subpoenaed by defense attorneys Firnist J. Alexander, Jr. or Gail Shaw-Pierson. Witnesses admitted however, that reports prepared by the Sheriff, of their descriptions of the event contained no such claim. In other words, the sisters were not present. Jamie and Gladys Scott were not involved in the armed robbery and they did not conspire to plan such. Witnesses all testified that they were coerced and threatened by Deputy Sheriff Marvin Williams. Testimony also revealed that Marvin Williams prepared statements of the events from the night of December 24, 1994 BEFORE obtaining signatures and BEFORE the witnesses were brought into his office. In other words, the statements were not written by witnesses. Three affidavits exist – they all state that the Scott Sisters were not involved in this robbery. One affidavit is written by a trustee of the local jail, his account of the facts reveal that a wallet was located a few days after this alleged robbery and that wallet contained the photo ID of one of the alleged victims of the trumped up robbery and three twenty dollar bills. The trustee also reveals that there was NOT a robbery, he was also threatened to be sent to Parchman Penitentiary if he told the truth.

According to the Request for Commutation of Sentence and/or Pardon prepared by attorney Chokwe Lumumba, the Scott Sisters challenged their convictions on direct appeal; arguing that there was insufficient evidence to convict them, and the guilty verdict was against the overwhelming weight of evidence, which should have exonerated them. The court of appeals found no error and affirmed the convictions on December 17, 1996. As a result, they filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court, which was denied on May 15, 1997. They consequently filed an Application for Leave to File Motion to Vacate Conviction pursuant to the Mississippi Post Conviction Collateral Relief Act. The Supreme Court also denied that application.

This family is shell-shocked, yet determined to fight on. They have tried to have faith that at some point this unbelievable travesty would be corrected and their upside-down lives righted. Yet 16 long years later nothing has changed, the women’s five children are still being raised by their now ailing mother, and their father has died of a massive heart attack because of this. The emotional strain this burden has placed upon their family is immeasurable.

Jamie Scott, who entered the prison system as a healthy young woman, is now suffering from complete kidney failure and other life-threatening medical conditions. Since January, 2010 Jamie has endured almost weekly severe health setbacks that the state has either outright refused to address or handled in a slipshod manner. Jamie has had weeks of serious infections that could have taken her life, has gone into shock, been given sporadic dialysis treatments, and suffered the state’s refusal to provide her with adequate nutrition as required for her serious medical condition. She is now at Stage 5 (end stage) of this disease, the next stage being death.

Jamie writes, “What began as an implication and outright miscarriage of justice, has catapulted to destroy an entire family. Gladys was a 19 year old pregnant mother, and myself, Jamie, a 22 year old mother during the time of our arrest, conviction and sentencing for a crime we did not commit.” She continued, “We are convinced that once this chain of events is exposed and unraveled, the events that occurred, the lives that have been destroyed, the pain and suffering the citizens of Scott County have endured; everyone will be utterly amazed, astonished and compelled to assist us in our plight for freedom. We pray that the people would insist upon an investigation into their misconduct and miscarriage of justice.”

Gladys and Jamie’s older brother has served in the US Army for over 22 years, while his sisters remain victims of wrongful convictions in the very country that he proudly represents. The defendants and their family are wholly depending on support from the press, organizations, and all those dedicated to justice in making this debacle as public as possible.

JAMIE SCOTT MEDICAL UPDATE!

2010-08-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

From: Nancy Lockhart (Facebook)

Mrs. Rasco would like to thank everyone for making calls and sending e-mails regarding Jamie's surgical procedure today. Our calls and e-mails gained positive results.

If it were not for your many calls and e-mails I'm certain that Jamie's health would be much worse than it currently is ~ Thank you!

As soon as we are able to speak with Jamie I will provide a followup posting.

In Solidarity,

Nancy Lockhart

JAMIE SCOTT ACTION ALERT!

2010-08-23T08:19:00.001-07:00

From: Nancy Lockhart
----

Dear Supporters:

Jamie was hospitalized this weekend but, is now in the prison infirmary. The hospital scheduled surgery for her this morning at 8:30am to unclog the fistula in her arm which is used for dialysis treatments. Jamie was not taken back to the hospital for this surgery.

Please write Dr. Gloria Perry, cc Christopher Epps and Margaret Binghman. Flood their offices with e-mails and ask them to have this surgical procedure done immediately at the hospital. Your e-mails and phone calls have saved Jamie's life in the past and will continue to do so. Let these officials know that Jamie needs to be in a hospital NOW!

Dr. Gloria Perry - gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us
Margaret Bingham - mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
Christopher Epps - CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us

You may also call.- Dr. Gloria Perry - (601) 359-5155
Margaret Bingham- 601-932-2880
Christopher Epps - 601-359-5600

Thank you,

Nancy Lockhart, M.J.

12/22 MARCH ON JIM HOOD'S OFFICE FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS

2010-08-18T08:16:00.001-07:00

Created by: I Demand Justice for the Scott Sisters, Adam Reza, Nancy Lockhart

March on Jim Hood's Office in the name of Justice - Freedom Riders Part II

December 22 · 1:00pm - 7:00pm

Walter Sillers Building 550 High Street Ste. 1200 Jackson, MS 39201

We are marching to Mississippi!!! From New York, From Massachusetts, From California, From South Carolina...from all 50 STATES!!!!

MARCH ON THE MISSISSIPPI ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE!!!!

JUSTICE WILL REIGN IN MISSISSIPPI ONCE AGAIN!!!
...
The Scott Sisters have been in jail in Mississippi for 15 years. They are facing double life imprisonment for $11 robbery. They had no prior arrests, no criminal record, and no one was injured. There was no evidence to whatsoever to implicate them. The jury deliberated for 36 minutes and handed down double life sentences for each of the Scott Sisters. Many of the witnesses in the case testified to being coerced to give false testimony against the Scott Sisters. How is this justice? MS Attorney General Jim Hood has assigned Charlie Rubisoff, an Investigator in his office to further investigate matters. As Americans, justice is the glue that holds our democracy together. Stand in solidarity with the Scott Sisters and make sure that justice is preserved by calling the Mississippi Attorney Generals office at 601-359-3680 and ask to speak with Investigator Charlie Rubisoff. Demand an investigation in to the case of the Scott Sisters and ask they be exonerated from these charges.

We are marching on Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hoods Office to DEMAND THE SCOTTS SISTERS BE FREED!!!!

We are looking for organizers.

Please contact marchonjimhoodsoffice@yahoo.com

E-MAIL THE DIRECTOR OF INVESTIGATIONS ASSIGNED TO THE SCOTT SISTERS

2010-08-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

From: Nancy Lockhart

-----
Thank you all who have called to demand justice for the Scott Sisters.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has assigned an individual to investigate the case of the Scott Sisters. His name is Charlie Rubisoff. If you have any information that will help in freeing the Scott Sisters, please send it to : chrub@ago.state.ms.us Thank you.

Sincerely, Kambiz Mostofi

____________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 1st, 2010

Contact: Kambiz Mostofi, 818-451-6472

Life Imprisonment for $11 Robbery (Jackson, MS) – On Christmas Eve in 1993, sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott left a mini-mart near their home in Scott County, Mississippi. Their car broke down. They hitched a ride from two young men, one of whom they knew. Later that evening the two men were robbed at gunpoint by three teenagers in another car. The robbers took an estimated $11 from the two young men. No one was hurt. Police accused the Scott sisters of setting the victims up.

Their father, James “Hawk” Rasco had experienced problems with law enforcement after he moved his family from Chicago back to Scott County, Mississippi. Rasco took over a nightclub previously owned by a nephew who had turned state’s evidence in a case against the “High White Sheriff” of Scott County, Glenn Warren. In the case of the Scott Sisters, the gun allegedly used in the robbery was never located, and the “stolen” wallet was recovered according to an affidavit by a trustee of the jail.

Jamie Scott is currently suffering from kidney failure and is gravely ill due to the care she is receiving at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) in Pearl, Mississippi. Jamie’s condition has grown more critical prompting many groups in Mississippi to start writing letters and making phone calls to elected officials.

Civil Rights Advocate Dr. Adam Reza said “The people of Mississippi demand an investigation into the case of the Scott Sisters and we call on Attorney General Jim Hood to personally look in to the health of Jaime Scott. This is the United States of America and the Scott Sisters are entitled to their civil rights. We shall pursue legal action against the state of Mississippi if matters are not rectified.”

Terrance Scott, Jamie Scott's son, arrested and jailed

2010-08-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

Terrance Scott - The Son Of Jamie Scott

Mrs. Rasco has asked that I inform all supporters that Terrance Scott snapped and has been arrested for Carjacking, armed robbery and etc., etc. Terrance is Jamie Scott's son.

I've spoken with Terrance myself personally on numerous occasions and he has stated time and time again that if his mother and aunt had to die in prison for something they did not do - he wanted to die in prison as well.

Terrance also expressed this on video via the documentary which is being currently filmed for The Scott Sisters. I regretfully have to inform you that Terrance has carried out that which he said he wanted to do for some time. He has felt that his mother and aunt would never get out of prison and he felt that he had a need to die in prison.

I'm including a link to an article and feel the least that I can do is call the television stations and let them know the ins and outs of this.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100804/NEWS01/100804011/Robbery-carjacking-suspect-19-caught

Regretfully,

Nancy Lockhart

ACTION ALERT - CONTACT MS ATTY GENERAL

2010-08-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

ACT NOW!! CALL, WRITE, AND BROADLY DISTRIBUTE!!

Contact the Mississippi Attorney General
Telephone: 601-359-3680

MS Attorney General's Office
Walter Sillers Building
550 High Street, Suite 1200
Jackson, MS 39201

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 1st, 2010

Contact: Kambiz Mostofi, 818-451-6472

Life Imprisonment for an $11 Robbery

(Jackson, MS) – On Christmas Eve in 1993, sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott left a mini-mart near their home in Scott County, Mississippi. Their car broke down. They hitched a ride from two young men, one of whom they knew. Later that evening the two men were robbed at gunpoint by three teenagers in another car. The robbers took an estimated $11 from the two young men. No one was hurt. Police accused the Scott sisters of setting the victims up.

Their father, James “Hawk” Rasco had experienced problems with law enforcement after he moved his family from Chicago back to Scott County, Miss. Rasco took over a nightclub previously owned by a nephew who had turned state’s evidence in a case against the “High White Sheriff” of Scott County, Glenn Warren.

In the case of the Scott Sisters, the gun allegedly used in the robbery was never located, and the “stolen” wallet was recovered according to an affidavit by a trustee of the jail.

Jamie Scott is currently suffering from kidney failure and is gravely ill due to the care she is receiving at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) in Pearl, Mississippi. Jamie’s condition has grown more critical prompting many groups in Mississippi to start writing letters and making phone calls to elected officials.

Civil Rights Advocate Dr. Adam Reza said “The people of Mississippi demand an investigation into the case of the Scott Sisters and we call on Attorney General Jim Hood to personally look in to the health of Jaime Scott. This is the United States of America and the Scott Sisters are entitled to their civil rights. We shall pursue legal action against the state of Mississippi if matters are not rectified.”

7/22 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2010-07-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings all,

Mrs. Rasco just returned from visiting with Jamie and Gladys and wanted everyone to have an update right away. Jamie no longer has evidence of infection and the boils that were on her body have cleared up. She is, however, still very weak and exhausted from her dialysis and at times during the visit was speaking while her eyes were closed. She told her mother that she wants and needs a kidney transplant.

Thanks to you supporters, Mrs. Rasco was able to get in to visit Gladys! Mrs. Rasco said that Gladys was so happy to see her that she picked her up off of the ground and kissed her, to the delight of everyone in the visiting room! It was truly a beautiful moment. Gladys' daughter, Courtney, was at first denied due to a claim that she was not on the visiting list. Thanks to the efforts of Sondra Humphrey, Director of MS CURE, Courtney was able to finally visit her mother the following day for one hour. Mrs. Rasco is very, very grateful for her intervention.

The Scott Sisters are still in need of pro bono legal representation and we are asking for an individual, group or class to please help develop ideas for these women's legal defense. This is incredibly their 16th year on this outrageous charge, the injury just grows each and every day that their lives are hijacked in that place and their children and grandchildren suffer without them.

We also are seeking mainstream publicity in a very BIG way, please help by sending out our press release to every major media outlet that you can, http://www.scribd.com/doc/30178263/Scott-Sisters-Press-Release and help
to distribute our flyers at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/28847395/Scott-Sisters-Flyer-Black-23-Mar-2010-20
(Front of flyer) and http://www.scribd.com/doc/34548313/Flyer-Back (Back of flyer).

Please purchase t-shirts to help with fundraising efforts!! We need folks to wear them to help raise awareness as we need everyone to begin talking about this case so that no one can say that they have not heard about it. Visit http://www.radicaljack.com/scsit.htmland get yours today!

Additionally, both women said that they have practically exhausted their commissary funds and anyone who wishes to donate to the women directly may send donations via http://www.inmatedeposits.com,
register for Access Corrections and use each of their name and number to make your donation. Jamie is #19197 and Gladys is #19142.

Ask Color of Change to feature the Scott Sisters at http://www.colorofchange.org/, and also copy and paste in an e-mail to: info@colorofchange.org.

Thank you! More updates will come soon!
==============

Please continue to advocate on behalf of Jamie and Gladys Scott, their children and families need for them to return home alive, the time is NOW!

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Christopher Epps
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

TAKE ACTION FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS!

2010-07-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

ACTION ALERT!

PLEASE ACT, REPOST, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, TALK ABOUT IT, REPOST!

Please go to the link below and request that Color of Change feature the Scott Sisters.

http://www.colorofchange.org/

Also copy and paste in an e-mail to: info@colorofchange.org

Thank you!

7/4 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2010-06-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

Dear Supporters:

Jamie and Gladys would like to thank all supporters for everything that is being done to assist in securing their freedom. They would especially like to thank The Gray Haired Witnesses for the most recent Washington, DC event.

Jamie sends a special thank you to everyone for contacting the Health Department regarding conditions at MDOC's- Quickbed Unit which is where she and many other inmates are housed. She has said that the prison made noticeable improvements and are continuing to do so. Many other inmates have also expressed their thanks to everyone who called and wrote the Mississippi Health Department. The Health Department did visit the prison and it has made a great difference in the lives of inmates.

Mrs. Rasco said that Jamie has broken out in boils again. The medical clinic has given her antibiotics and hopefully this will clear her condition. Although Jamie is sick; she is in very high spirits because of the improved living conditions. I would personally like to thank Ms. Gloretha Darlene Pinckney-Gray for sharing the idea of contacting OSHA and the Health Department. Ms. Gray - you have made a difference in many lives there at MDOC - Quick Bed. We thank you!

Jamie's Birthday is on July 16th and she would very much appreciate receiving cards and letters from supporters. Please write to Jamie Scott at the following address:

Jamie Scott # 19197
CMCF/2A-B-Zone
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8850

Anyone who wishes to send funds directly to Jamie for her commissary privileges may do so by following instructions provided via this link. http://www.mdoc.state.ms.us/Sending%20Money.htm

Free The Scott Sisters T-Shirts are available and may be purchased via the link below. Thank you to Paul Lefrak for organizing this and to Jack and Mike for picking up the torch! Please order your shirts, wear them and assist us in spreading the word. http://www.radicaljack.com/scsit.html

Last but not least, a documentary is now being produced of The Scott Sisters, their family and this tragic case. The producer and his team are working around the clock to meet deadlines and ensure that all bases are covered. This documentary should be released in a few months!

In Solidarity,

Nancy R. Lockhart, M.J.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6/27 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

Greetings all,

The prison sends out visitation lists two times a year and Gladys mailed one to Mrs. Rasco that she never received. Now the state of Mississippi is trying to keep Mrs. Rasco from visiting Gladys at any cost. This is truly ridiculous because they know that she has been visiting her there for the past 15 years! The next time forms will be sent is October, but it's not even guaranteed that she will receive it or be able to get onto the list because of the way she is being treated. At this rate, she may not even be able to see Gladys until next year!

Please contact Christopher Epps and tell him that Mrs. Rasco needs another form sent to her right away so that she can get in to see Gladys!
--------

Jamie and Gladys were visited by a mutual friend on June 17. Gladys was in good spirits and happy about the fast in Wash, DC on June 21. Jamie was feeling weak initially but after 2 1/2 hrs. began to feel better and optimistic about the future. Sometimes the hot temperatures in Quik Bed make it difficult for her to breathe. The health department has investigated Quik Bed and found the area to be extremely hot and gave the prison officials a date in which restroom repairs had to be completed. Jamie says that her dialysis is going better than before. Jamie and Gladys send their love and are thankful for the efforts
of everyone.
---------

The 6/21 Gray-Haired Witnesses Fast for Justice began at the Department of Justice with a small but spirited protest and speak-out against the prison industrial complex, the disparity in arrests, sentencing and treatment during and after incarceration, particularly of Black people. Supporters came from as far as Boston and Mississippi to proclaim that the Scott
Sisters be released from prison, as well as all those suffering under the MDOC system, one of the worst prison systems for medical care in the country. Later that afternoon at Lafayette Park, the energy was still very high and a lot of information was shared with attendees and passersby.

View some of the photos at: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4491610&op=1&o=all&view=all&subj=122487714448868&aid=-1&oid=122487714448868&id=524327824
http://www.grayhairedwitnesses.blogspot.com! Thanks so much to all who supported in any way at all, stay tuned for next steps!
---------

The following poignant letters were sent in for the rally:

A Letter from Jamie Scott
From Inside the Central Mississippi State Prison
Pearl, MS

June 17, 2010

Hello Everyone,

I want to thank each of you for your support in helping my sister, Gladys and me. It seems as if the fight will never end. I never want to lie to any of you, the truth is, at this time my heart is so heavy and tired. How does this happen in a country that is suppose to be free? With the loss of my kidneys, my hypertension, and diabetes, I cry a lot these days. I ask God to please help me because it seems like I am losing my mind. As July approaches, I feel so guilty to be thankful for turning 38 years old, because that’s the day in 2008 my sister died and I had to go to her gravesite shackled like an animal.

I’ve been robbed of so much by the state of Mississippi until I can’t feel anymore. But in the midst of this pain, I do also feel the love and support from each of you. Please stay strong in your stand for justice. One day we shall overcome. I just pray my day won’t be too late. I am sorry I couldn’t write more now but you will hear from me again.

Love,

Jamie Scott

--------------------------------------

A Letter from Gladys Scott
From Inside the Central Mississippi State Prison
Pearl, MS

June 17, 2010

To All of My Supporters,

I would like to thank you for helping Jamie and me fight for justice. Life is not easy but I know with God’s Help, He will see me through. As I write this letter, I feel so much joy and happiness because I have prayed for this day when people hear our cries but at the same time, my heart is sad because my sister, Jamie is fighting daily for her life. I have been behind these prison walls for almost 16 years. I have seen many people come and go through these prison gates. I’ve seen some folks who walked in later being carried out in body bags and hearses because of the terrible medical care received here in the Mississippi penal system. I pray my sister, Jamie will walk out of here and lead a normal life with her health restored. Yes, I want freedom and justice for both Jamie and me. I am so grateful for all the cards, letters and support of the people. Everyday, I feel the love through your prayers. If it weren’t for your support, I don’t think that I could go on much longer. So thank you and we will see justice one day soon.

Love,

Gladys

-----------------------------------

Statement from Mrs. Evelyn Rasco:

I would like to thank all of the Gray-Haired Witnesses for the stand that they took on behalf of Jamie and Gladys and all women that are locked down in Pearl, Mississippi and all around the world. What has been done to Jamie and Gladys is the greatest injustice that could be done to a human being. In 1994 Jamie and Gladys were sentenced to two life sentences each with no chance of parole for 20 years. On Oct. 7 they will have been in prison for 16 years. Judge Marcus Gordon ran one of the most inhumane courts in the land. He used our justice system to express his hate for the Rasco name and will have given Jamie and Gladys a death sentence if they are not freed. How can someone get a double life sentence when the alleged victums say you didn't rob them and never held a gun on them -- how can a jury find them guilty? Because they were seen as guilty when they first walked into the court of Judge Marcus Gordon. The part that really hurts me is that my oldest son has been in the military for 29 years and is on a second tour to Afghanistan to fight for a country that has taken his sisters' lives and will not give them justice. What has our justice system come to? It must be reformed. Our black women are dying in prison, our white women are dying, and our children are being destroyed.

===================

The national NAACP is sending out an e-mailer announcing their upcoming convention and asking which issues they should focus on and what questions they should address there. Please log-in to http://action.naacp.org/YourIdeas and write the question as something similar to: "When is the NAACP going to join the growing national and international movement for justice for the Scott Sisters of Mississippi?" and include the website "http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com" as the theme. The Convention is just a few weeks away, so please do this action as soon as possible and pass the word!
===================

6/27 -- SUPER SUNDAY ALL DAY EXCLUSIVE SPECTACULAR -- THE SCOTT SISTER'S MODERN DAY LYNCHING ON HARAMBEE RADIO - www.harambeeradio.com
======================

Write some encouraging words to Jamie and Gladys (for commissary donations go to http://www.inmatedeposits.com, register for Access Corrections and use each of their name and number to make your donation):

Gladys Scott, #19142
CMCF/B-Bldg.
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8550

Jamie Scott, #19197
CMCF/2A-B-Zone
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8550

------------------------------

Please continue to advocate on behalf of Jamie and Gladys Scott, their children and families need for them to return home alive, the time is NOW!

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Mrs. Rasco needs to visit her daughter, Gladys, Christopher Epps, get her the necessary form so that she can get back on the list!

Christopher Epps
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

PRESS RELEASE: GRAY-HAIRED WITNESSES GO TO WASHINGTON!

2010-06-27T08:56:00.001-07:00

P r e s s R e l e a s e

Contacts:
B.J. Janice Peak-Graham / Marpessa Kupendua
1- 866-968-1188, Ext. 2
ghwitnesses@gmail.com
http://www.grayhairedwitnesses.blogspot.com/

Gray-Haired Witnesses and Supporters Bring
Shocking Case of the Scott Sisters to Washington!

WASHINGTON, June 25/Gray-Haired Witnesses for Justice News -- Gray-Haired Witnesses Fast for Justice was held on June 21, 2010, calling attention to the growing numbers of incarcerated Black women and the gross over-sentencing in cases such as the Mississippi Scott Sisters, Jamie and Gladys. The Scott Sisters received double-life sentences each in an alleged armed robbery of $11.00 in which no one was harmed or injured, and for which they have steadfastly maintained their innocence. This outrageous case became all the more urgent when Jamie Scott, now in the 16th year of this draconian sentence, suffered kidney failure in January, 2010 and has had several close calls with death as a result of poor medical treatment in the prison.

The rally began at the Department of Justice with a small but spirited protest and speak-out against the prison industrial complex, the disparity in arrests, sentencing and treatment during and after incarceration, particularly of Black people. Supporters came from as far as Boston and Mississippi to proclaim that the Scott Sisters be released from prison, as well as all those suffering under the MDOC system, one of the worst prison systems for medical care in the country. “We are here to represent those who came before us,” stated Gray-Haired Witness B.J. Peak-Graham, "Our Ancestors cry through us demanding all justices denied." Atty Sam Jordan was very thorough and spoke with great conviction, as well as Gloria & Clarence Bolls, Donnie Finley, Chioma Oruh, and more! They were each eloquent and adamant that an investigation into the case of the Scott Sisters needed to be a top item on the Washington agenda and that enough is truly enough for this devastating case!

Later that afternoon at Lafayette Park, the energy was still very high and a lot of information was shared with attendees and passersby. Brenda Branson, Spoken Word and Slangston Hughes were among those who brought the power to bear on this system during their hard-hitting and impassioned spoken word presentations, and the crowd was visibly moved by a beautiful musical performance by Khadijah “Moon” Ali-Coleman. The many speakers who brought dynamic information to the rally included Returning Citizens United, UNIA Pres. General Senghor Jawara Baye, Clinton Alexander, Atty Nkechi Taifa, Mike Johnson, revered community mother and esteemed elder Mama Nia, and more, that made for a very meaningful day of education and information that lit up the entire square and reached everyone within earshot. Atty Ann Wilcox also took the stage and spoke in solidarity on behalf of the local Green Party and the Gray Panthers.

Portions of the rally were very moving and being in the shadow of the White House made them all the more poignant. Gray-Haired Witness, Jamia Shepherd, read from heartbreaking letters from Jamie and Gladys Scott, one in which Jamie wrote: “I’ve been robbed of so much by the state of Mississippi until I can’t feel anymore. But in the midst of this pain, I do also feel the love and support from each of you. Please stay strong in your stand for justice. One day we shall overcome. I just pray my day won’t be too late.”

The organizers were uplifted by those in attendance as well as all of those who supported but were unable to attend, and all expressed their love and admiration for the awe-inspiring courage and fortitude of Mrs. Evelyn Rasco, the true engine behind all of the organizing that goes on with respect to her beloved and suffering daughters. The movement is growing and all of the people who are organizing on behalf of the Scott Sisters around the country and world will be heard! “We come from a history of struggle, we must relearn that we don’t just lay down and accept injustice!” said Gray-Haired Witness Marpessa Kupendua. The women vowed to remain consistent and continue to move forward in the spirit of Ida B. Wells on this case and in other efforts to demand an end to the demonization and dehumanization of the Black community in general and Black women in particular in the future.

# # #

(Some photos from the event are currently viewable at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4491610&op=1&o=all&view=all&subj=122487714448868&aid=-1&oid=122487714448868&id=524327824)

PLEASE VIEW ALL ENDORSEMENTS, SOLIDARITY STATEMENTS AND PRESS RELEASES RELATED TO THE GRAY-HAIRED WITNESSES FOR JUSTICE AT http://www.grayhairedwitnesses.blogspot.com

6/5 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2010-06-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings all,

Mrs. Rasco arrived in Mississippi yesterday for a visit with Jamie today and one with Gladys tomorrow, yet was told once she arrived at the prison today that she and her granddaughter had on open-toed shoes and were not permitted in. They had to leave the prison and purchase closed-toe shoes to even get into see Jamie after all of that travelling. She was also told that she would not be permitted to see Gladys at all tomorrow because she is NOT on Glady's visitation list!! She has been on Gladys' visitation list for 15 years and visited she and Jamie recently. This is unconscionable and pure harassment,
and the family and Gladys are extremely hurt and disappointed.

Jamie was feeling and looking better today and told her mother that she is getting better medication, although she did state that she feels her body is changing and deteriorating slowly. She has unresolved chest pains that come and go and have not been evaluated. She's very, very grateful to all of the supporters for all that is being done!

The conditions in the Quick Bed unit where she is housed are horrible. This unit is the worst place in the prison, no one even goes back there except those that work there. It is in the back of the prison and there are also men housed back there. When it rains, the water pours into the unit and they all have to mop up the water. Water leaks around Jamie's bed and electrical socket and she is worried about getting sick or even electrocuted. The toilets still have major plumbing problems and overflow. Mold is also still an issue on the unit.

The Board of Health needs to go into the prison and get these problems addressed once and for all, Jamie's health is tenuous as it is! On April 16, 2010 , Mr. Jeffrey Brown of the Board of Health stated that the mold, sewage and spider infestation at CMCF/quickbed would be taken care of but only the insect infestation has been addressed.

Jeffrey Brown - Jeffrey.Brown@msdh.state.ms.us
Mac Arthur Washington - Macarthur.Washington@msdh.state.ms.us

Central Office Phone
601-576-7400 (8am-5pm)
Agency personnel are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in public health emergencies.

==========

Please continue to advocate on behalf of Jamie and Gladys Scott, their children and families need for them to return home alive, the time is NOW!

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Christopher Epps
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

5/18 SCOTT SISTERS MEDIA/VIDEO, RADIO & ARTICLE!

2010-05-20T18:43:00.001-07:00

Greetings, all,

Below is a beautiful compilation video put together by Bro. Darryl McClain of the 3/26 rally behind the Jackson, MS Capitol Bldg.

---------------

The Gray-Haired Witnesses for Justice will undertake a fast and appear at the Department of Justice and the White House in Washington, DC on June 21, 2010, calling upon the nation to exercise an authentic system of justice in the case of Gladys and Jamie Scott and all other women who have been incarcerated wrongly and egregiously over-sentenced, punishing and destroying our families and children. Among their demands is freedom for the Scott Sisters and that an Inspection and Observation Team enter the Pearl, MS prison where Jamie Scott is being held. The Gray-Haired Witnesses are calling on all people of good will to fast in solidarity with them and to contact the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and Dept. of Justice across the nation on that day. Full details are at their website http://www.grayhairedwitnesses.blogspot.com.

----------------

Thanks so much to James Ridgeway of Solitary Watch for writing another piece regarding the ongoing struggle to obtain competent medical care for Jamie Scott, whose condition remains serious and needs intervention. This piece includes a letter from Jamie and appears at http://solitarywatch.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/saving-jamie-scott-victim-of-prison-health-care/

SAVING JAMIE SCOTT, VICTIM OF PRISON HEALTH CARE

After being convicted on questionable evidence, Jamie Scott and her sister Gladys received two consecutive life sentences apiece for a 1993 armed robbery in which no one was hurt and the take was $11. As we wrote back in March, this unwarranted life sentence is at risk of becoming a death sentence for Jamie Scott, who is gravely ill, due to the care she is receiving at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) in Pearl. Since we first covered the story, Jamie's condition has, if anything, grown still more critical.

Now 38, Jamie has been diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, and requires dialysis to stay alive. Rather than let her leave for dialysis, the prison brought in a machine that according to Jamie broke down periodically. She has had one complication after another, including multiple infections at the site of her dialysis shunt. She has been rushed to the hospital several times, only to be promptly returned to prison the moment her condition is deemed "stabilized." According to her mother, Evelyn Rasco, Jamie's most recent hospital visit took place when her veins collapsed and she was unable to walk. This time, according to Rasco, the doctor at the hospital said he refused to allow his patient to go back to prison because she would surely die there. But the Mississippi Department of Corrections had its way, and back she went.

In the following letter, written a few weeks ago, Jamie Scott says, "I have witness many inmates die at the hands of this second rate medical care. I do not want to be one of them." The letter was provided to Solitary Watch by Nancy Lockhart, a paralegal who works with the wrongfully convicted, and has been advocating for Scott for some time.

The living condition in quickbed area is not fit for any human to live in. I have been incarcerated for 15 years 6 months now and this is the worst I have ever experience. When it rain out side it rain inside. The zone flood like a river. The rain comes down on our heads and we have to try to get sheets and blankets to try to stop it from wetting our beds and personnel property. Because the floors are concrete and it have paint on it, it makes it very slippery when it rain and there have been numerous of inmates that have broke their arms and hurt there self do to this.

Above our heads there are rows and rows of spiders as if we live in the jungle. There are inmates that have holds in there bodies left from spider bites, because once they are bitten it take forever to get to the clinic for any help. There are mold in the bathroom ceiling and around the walls and toilets. The toilets leak sewage from under them and they have the inmate men to come in and patch them up occasionally. The smell is awful. The showers are two circular poles with five shower heads on each pole. The floor in the shower is also concrete and slippery. There is nothing to hold on to when you exit the shower so there have been many inmates that have hurt there self in the process. Outside the building there is debirs where the unit is falling apart.

Each day we are force to live in these conditions. The staph infection is so high and we are force to wave in toilet and sewage water when we have to go to the bathroom. I have witness many inmates die at the hands of this second rate medical care. I do not want to be one of them.

When this is brought to the health department or anyone attention. The MDOC tries to get the inmate to try to pamper it up so if someone comes in it want look as bad as the inmates said it did. I am fully aware that we are in prison, but no one should have to live in such harsh condition. I am paranoid of catching anything because of what I have been going throw with my medical condition.

We are living in these harsh conditions, but if you go to the administration offices, they are nice and clean and smell nice because they make sure the inmates clean their offices each day. They tell us to clean the walls. Cleaning the walls will not help anything. Cleaning the walls will not stop the rain from pouring in. it will not stop the mold from growing inside the walls and around us. It will not stop the spiders from mating.

They have 116 inmates on each wing, and we live not five feet from each other in order to pack us in. We have the blowers on the ceiling and if the inmates are acting crazy or the staff come in mad they use the blowers as a form of punishment. The taxes payers really are lead to believe we are been rehabilitated. That is a joke. All we do is sit in this infected unit and build up more hate. Rehabilitated starts within you. If you want to change you will change.

One thing about MDOC, they know how to fix the paper work up to make it seen as if they are doing their job. You can get more drugs and anything else right here. I have witness a lot in my time here.

Do I sound angry, I am not I am hurt and sick. Because they have allowed my kidney to progress to stage five which been the highest. They told me years ago I had protein in my urine, but I went years without any help. Now, it seen the eyes are on me because my family are on their case. Every inmate is not without family. Yes, you do have many inmates that family have giving up on, but my sister and I are not them.

I do not want special attention, I want to treat, and to live how the state says on paper we are living. The same way when it is time for the big inspection we are promised certain food if we please clean up to pass this inspection. So I beg of anyone to please understand Mississippi Department of Correction is a joke. They will let you die or even kill yourself. We are told when visitors come into the prison do not talk to them. Well I have the right to talk to anyone and if the health department or anyone comes I will talk to him or her, because this is my life and I should or anyone else should be force to live like this.

They use unlawful punishments to try to shut us up. I need help. I need a inmate to help me, but for some reason they will not allow me to move with my sister, so she can help me. There are mother and daughter, aunties, and nieces housed together and also there are a total of 12 inmates acting as orally for others inmates. I have all the names of the inmates acting as a orally if need to be giving. However, the subject of my sister is been danced around. A form of discrimination. My sister [Gladys Scott] and I were housed together for over ten years and not once have we ever caused any problem. We were split up because in 2003 the Commissioner came with the order to separate all family members. Because its payback because my family is holding them accountable to do what they are paid to do. Also, do to the fact Mr. [Rip] Daniels on It’s a New Day [talk radio show] & Grassroots are keeping the supports inform that is been pointed out to me in a negative way.

Now that I am sitting everyday because of my sickness I have time to use my typewriter. MDOC have gotten away with to much. In addition, some of the things that go on here I truly believe that Mr. Epps [Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections] do not know.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS ARTICLE TO MEDIA OUTLETS!!!
-----------------

Please continue to advocate on behalf of Jamie and Gladys Scott, their children and families need for them to return home alive, the time is NOW!

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Christopher Epps
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

SCOTT SISTERS 3/26 RALLY VIDEOS!

2010-05-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

Greetings, all,

Thanks to Bro. Darryl McClain, Jahmilah Sekhmet & her assistants, we have footage of the press conference/rally that was held behind the Jackson, MS Capitol Bldg. on 3/26/10, which was initiated by the MWM and carried out by Free the Scott Sisters,
MS organizers. Mrs. Rasco especially wants to acknowledge Sis. Jaribu Hill and the Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights for all of the support that they have given to her and her family, as well as everyone who has helped in any way to fight
for her daughters.

There will be an edited version of these videos available soon.

Hosted by Sis. Maati Hi and featuring:
Sis. Jaribu Hill
Representative Clark
Atty Chokwe Lumumba
Bro. David Muhammad
Bro. Earnest McBride
Mrs. Evelyn Rasco
Olivia, Gladys Scott's daughter
Eugene Powell
Clarence Holden

5/11 JAMIE SCOTT ACTION ALERT!

2010-05-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

This is an update on the condition of Jamie Scott.

Jamie Scott did not receive dialysis today as the fistula in her armed has clogged up! It is my understanding that it may be unclogged at this present time.

After passing out today, Jamie was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, from prison.

At the hospital she was given an antibiotic shot.

Jamie has many boils over her body which are running pus and blood.

The doctors at the hospital cleaned the boils and Jamie was sent back to the prison.

Jamie does not sound well at all.

Please contact these officials and let them know that Jamie Scott, #19197, needs to be hospitalized ASAP as she has infections throughout her body that need immediate treatment! Please ask the individuals below to ensure that Jamie Scott remains in the hospital until the infection clears totally.

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Dr. Gloria Perry, Medical Department (601) 359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

Christopher Epps
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

NO BANQUETS! FREE JAMIE AND GLADYS SCOTT!

2010-05-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks very much to the SF Bay View and Dr. Lenore Daniels for writing on the case of the Scott Sisters, we need as many people as possible to continue to write and spread the word of this travesty of justice!

The SF Bay View article is in their fantastic most recent newspaper dated May 2010, with lots of good information posted online at http://www.sfbayview.com. Dr. Daniels' article appears below from the May 6, Issue 374 edition of
http://www.blackcommentator.com.

Please help us continue to spread the word about the struggle for the freedom of Jamie and Gladys Scott, as well as the fight for the life of Jamie as she endures one horrific medical misstep after another. Join us in calling for Jamie to be
hospitalized until she is completely free of infections!
----

No Banquets! Free Jamie and Gladys Scott!
Represent Our Resistance
By Dr. Lenore J. Daniels, PhD
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board
May 6, Issue 374

We, the Black masses, don't want these leaders who seek our support coming to us representing a certain political party. They must come to us today as Black Leaders representing the welfare of Black people. We won't follow any leader today who comes on the basis of political party. Both parties (Democrat and Republican) are controlled by the same people who have abused our rights, and who have deceived us with false promises every time an election rolls around.
-Malcolm X

Jamie Scott suffers from kidney disease. She receives inadequate medical care, but the Jackson County Branch of the NAACP in Mississippi last month (April) held a banquet, “NAACP: One Nation, One Dream,” to honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding service to the community. Christopher Epps, commissioner for the Mississippi Department of Corrections was recognized for his - work.

Epps (Black American) is the “longest serving commissioner in the history of the agency,” according to MDOC’s website. Appointed by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in 2002 and then reappointed by Gov. Haley Barbour in 2004, Epps must have done his work quite well.

Mrs. Evelyn (Rasco), Jamie’s mother, spoke to Epps in March of this year on behalf of her daughter. Jamie, she told him, is very ill; she needs serious medical care. Jamie and her sister Gladys were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to double life each for an $11 dollar robbery. The wallet re-appeared with the money. The accusers admitted to supplying false testimonies against the young women then. But its 15 years latter and now Jamie is ill.

Epps told Mrs. (Rasco) that he would do “everything in his power” and work to have the Scott sisters released from prison, according to legal analyst Nancy Lockhart. Now it seems that Epps isn’t so sure this is his work - securing medical care for Jamie or securing the release of Jamie and Gladys. Maybe Jamie isn’t so ill. Maybe she isn’t so truthful about her experiences with the prison’s medical personnel.

“I’ve talked with Jamie many times. I know Jamie. I can’t imagine Jamie would lie. I have never known Jamie to lie,” Lockhart told me.

No, I can’t imagine that any woman in the end-stage of kidney disease, receiving inadequate treatment, living in a cell with spiders and moldy walls would lie about her condition. No, not many could imagine a woman lying about the pain and bleeding of 4-5 caterers that had been placed in her neck or the bleeding from the caterer (placed in her groin) that fell out. No human being would imagine another would be lying while they suffer from a life-threatening disease.

But Epps seems to have doubts. Something is wrong with this story!

I agree. Something is strange about this story!

The Jackson County Branch rewards Christopher Epps for his outstanding community work! People have to be congratulated for their community work - in this post-racial era! That’s strange considering that surveillance teams are watching and recording a good many of them!

Immigrant communities, particularly Latino/as and Haitian communities, are working to organize resistance to the legalization of racial profiling and racial terror. Native Americans are working to organize resistance to the effort of the government to run bulldozers over their lands and their lives. Muslim communities are working to organize resistance to the targeting of their mosques and community organizations.

While community organizations, focusing on the fallout of war waged against Black Americans, organize to tackle housing, unemployment, gentrification of neighborhoods, and high infant mortality rates, the Black community isn’t organized to confront the U.S. Empire that perpetuates these conditions. On the contrary, mainstream Black organizations fear losing their credibility with Empire and, in turn, they fear losing economic and political support.

These organizations can’t identify themselves as critics of the U.S. Empire. So banquets - out of reach of Jamie, her sister, and their mother - are organized to do what? Honor whom? Collaborators, obedient servants - who are also intended to serve as symbols of Black success? Look at the number of Black Americans who can afford to attend the awards banquet! Look at the “exceptional,” outstanding professional Blacks honored for their work.

In the meantime, NAACP representatives aren’t knocking on Black residents’ doors to urge them to come out, stand together to engage in civil disobedience. The NAACP won’t organize troops of people from the communities of Red, Black, Brown, and Muslim to appear in Washington D.C. and demand an end to the laws and policies that have incarcerated 2.3 million Americans.

Be practical! How could we remain the NAACP without government funding?

But the question should be - how do members of the NAACP continue to tell themselves that its organization represents Black Americans, including the poor, imprisoned, and working class in the tradition of Black solidarity?

Do they know that the Black community is collapsing from without and well as from within? Or is the NAACP an organization that does what is safe for the NAACP to sustain its life. It’s safe to honor Epps, but it’s not safe to free the incarcerated like Jamie and Gladys.

When the NAACP planned a study on the effects of prison in the lives of juveniles, Nancy Lockhart approached the regional director about the Scott Sisters’ case. Lockhart was told that the Sisters “didn’t qualify” for the study, but he would refer their case to the “criminal division of the NAACP” and recommend that the division treat the case in the same manner they are treating the Troy Davis case! Lockhart: “How long was Troy Davis in prison before the NAACP responded to his wrongful conviction?” Other legal organizations did the work to free Davis long before the NAACP took note of his imprisonment.

Is it that Davis’ case like Mumia’s case has received international support and it is therefore safe enough for the NAACP?

As Michelle Alexander writes in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, “mass incarceration depends for its legitimacy on the widespread belief that all those who appear trapped at the bottom actively chose their fate.” No group believes this fallacy more than the Black middle class. While a few more Blacks per year are seated at banquet tables, oblivious to the day-to-day plight of Blackness in the U.S., there’s a steady increase of Black children and young people hurdled into the criminal justice system each year. Unfortunateenvironment! Wrong parents! The judgment of a divine mind! Jamie and Gladys Scott are just not - exceptional--they’re just common.

Overlook them! They can’t vote! They don’t count!

The system has regulated our relations with one another to its benefit and our detriment.

Consequently, we no longer, as a collective, heed Martin Luther King's warning that, to quote from Alexander, “racial justice requires the complete transformation of social institutions and dramatic restructuring of our economy, not superficial changes that can [be] purchased on the cheap.” Work that contributes to the continuation of U.S. Empire’s practice of aggression can’t transform or dramatically restructure the institutions that enslave the majority of humanity.

The horrors of Empire are more easily recognized when on display over there. But the horrors of U.S. Empire are here. Palestine is here. The West Bank and Gaza are here in the U.S. in the barrios, on the reservations, in urban communities, and in rural prisons. We don’t see it, but the War on Drugs and immigrant laws lock away Black and Brown people here. Unarmed young men are shot 20, 30, and 41 times for being Black while they hold a cell phone, or ride a subway, or attend a bachelor’s party. The re-settlement scheme, otherwise known as gentrification, forces people to sleep on park benches and in public library sitting rooms. Systemic unemployment and low wages create conditions of impoverishment for thousands of children here. Racial profiling and militarized borders and neighborhoods subject people to fear and shame. Here in the U.S., millions of people for whom the political and economic domestic policies resemble the foreign policies enforced over there, these conditions are too close for Americans to see.

It’s sad to see Black organizations lacking the will and desire to break free and work on behalf of those abused, tortured, imprisoned, killed by the Empire. It’s hard to see how such organizations can direct a movement that would bring about structural transformations in the U.S. Consequently, we can’t put the spotlight on the kind of work that only strengthens aggressive strategies, except to condemn that work as inhumane.

But we shouldn’t have to see Jamie die before we remember that the U.S. has never played fair with Black Americans. If we recall our ancestors, we’ll remember the meaning of work. Let Malcolm and King be pleased for a change!

Mrs. (Rasco) isn’t getting any younger. “She’s an elderly woman, and Gladys needs to be able to care for her sister,” Lockhart said.

Let’s give Jamie Scott the spotlight and honor her with compassion. Free Jamie and her sister Gladys!

SEE:

Appeals Court Affirms that Mississippi Death Row Conditions are Unconstitutional http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/appeals-court-affirms-mississippi-death-row-conditions-are-unconstitutional
Civil Rights Lawyers and Mississippi Department of Corrections Agree to Overhaul Violent Supermax Unit http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/civil-rights-lawyers-and-mississippi-department-corrections-agree-overhaul-violent-

Contact: www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com

Mrs. Evelyn Rasco - rqueenbee2222@yahoo.com
Nancy Lockhart thewrongfulconvictions@gmail.com or call 843 217 4649
Christopher B. Epps, Commissioner cepps@mdoc.state.ms.us (601) 359-5600

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Lenore Jean Daniels, PhD, has been a writer for over thirty years of commentary, resistance criticism and cultural theory, and short stories with a Marxist sensibility to the impact ofcultural narrative violence and its antithesis, resistance narratives. With entrenched dedication to justice and equality, she has served as a coordinator of student and community resistance projects that encourage the Black Feminist idea of an equalitarian community and facilitator of student-teacher communities behind the walls of academia for the last twenty years. Dr. Daniels holds a PhD in Modern American Literatures, with a specialty in Cultural Theory (race, gender, class narratives) from Loyola University, Chicago. Click here to contact Dr. Daniels.

CHECK IT: 5/5 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2010-05-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings all,

Mrs. Rasco received word that last evening a 13 yr. friend of Jamie Scott's took a few steps toward her and fell down dead. The guards ran to her aid and tried CPR and everything that they could, but the woman had passed away. Jamie became hysterical, vomited blood and began losing breath. The guards there calmed Jamie, prayed with her, and stayed with her until her heart rate returned to normal. This woman had issues with her medication and health care in the prison for years, and was just questioning her medication earlier that day. The consensus among the inmates was that this woman's death was just another example of the poor medical care in that hellhole.

The issue remains of Jamie vomiting blood, as well as reporting that there are large, infected knots spread in various parts of her body which are painful and full of pus and blood. Jamie is terrified that she will be the next one to die and reports that her body is again full of infection. She has also been told that she has become anemic and that her blood sugars are only checked on a once weekly basis!

Please support by participating in two action requests!
--

1. ACTION

Jamie needs to be hospitalized and cleared of these infections! There also needs to be a determination about the level of medical care she is receiving as it is apparent that she is not being monitored carefully as these infections continue to thrive and remain untreated until there is a demand from the outside.

Please contact these officials and let them know that Jamie Scott, #19197, needs to be hospitalized ASAP as she has infections throughout her body that need immediate treatment!

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Dr. Gloria Perry, Medical Department (601) 359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

Christopher Epps
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

==================

2. ACTION

Please e-mail, the following persons at The American Bar Association in support of the Scott Sisters. Please blind Copy (bcc) and paste in all e-mail addresses. A 1-800 number is also included below. Our goal here is to have thousands contact the ABA as there is power in numbers.

PilchenI@staff.abanet.org
KEnglehart@staff.abanet.org
CurdB@staff.abanet.org
windsorp@staff.abanet.org

American Bar Association
Attention: President Carolyn Lamm
321 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60654-7598
800.285.2221

Dear President Lamm:

I would like to bring your attention to the Case of The Scott Sisters. In the state of Mississippi, Jamie and Gladys Scott were convicted of armed robbery. A jury found the sisters guilty in 1994, transcripts conflictingly state that $11 dollars was netted. The sisters received double life sentences each for this crime, had no prior criminal records, and no one was injured in any way. A 14 year old testified that he was coerced and threatened to be sent to Parchman Penitentiary if he did not lie on the sisters by signing a statement. Other witnesses stated that the sisters were not involved in this crime. Jamie and Gladys Scott were convicted with no physical evidence.

The sisters are in need of a pro bono criminal law attorney. Currently, an attorney is handling Jamie Scott’s medical issues as she has had kidney failure and is receiving sub standard medical care via the MDOC and Wexford Health Sources, Inc.. Jamie Scott is in stage 5 of kidney failure, which is the final stage.

I am requesting that you assist in securing a criminal attorney to review their prior appeals process and determine additional ways to re enter state or federal court. Above all, the sisters should be immediately exonerated.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Sincerely,

(Your name)

Case Summary: http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/search/label/Case%20Summary
Legal Transcripts: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21748820/Scott-transcript

============

Jamie and Gladys want to thank all of the supporters so much for everything that's being done on their behalf, they are so happy to receive mail and to know that we are out here fighting for them and want to make sure that you know how grateful they are!

Gladys Scott, #19142
CMCF/B-Bldg.
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8550

Jamie Scott, #19197
CMCF/2A-B-Zone
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8550

Please help spread the word to the media, Mrs. Evelyn Rasco is available for interviews and can be reached at rqueenbee2222@yahoo.com. We need the Scott Sisters case to be known worldwide! HELP SPREAD THE WORD!!

4/25 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2010-04-25T17:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings all,

Mrs. Rasco recently learned that Jamie's condition is unchanged and that when last they spoke she was being worked up for a possible urinary tract infection. She was mentally strong, however, and very grateful that her mother and supporters are sticking by she and Gladys through all that they have suffered.

MDOC Commissioner Christopher Epps, whom we've been contacting for months regarding the disastrous level of Jamie's care and who's been steadily misinforming people that she's not as sick as we've regularly documented, even after she had to be hospitalized several times for high toxicity and infections that almost took her life, is being HONORED as the KEYNOTE SPEAKER by the Jackson County, MS NAACP at their upcoming banquet on April 30, 2010!

Link: http://www.gulflive.com/sendthispage/sendthispage.ssf?http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-living/2010/04/christopher_epps_to_speak_at_freedom_fund_banquet.html

How could this branch, which is actually portrayed as an activist branch that has courageously taken on the police dept. and most recently the fire dept., completely ignore the sickeningly outrageous case of the Scott Sisters! And to add insult to injury, laud Christopher Epps, who covers up the low-budget, some-timey care that denies Jamie Scott regular medications, regular dialysis, and the specific diet she has been told repeatedly that she needs to maintain any semblance of health. The medical care is said by inmates there to be abysmal on every level, and particularly so for Jamie Scott, with end stage kidney failure!

This is a smack in the face to Mrs. Rasco, to whom Epps made false promises of relief for Jamie, as well as Jamie and Gladys Scott, their supporters, and the community at large! This organization should be fighting on the front lines for justice for the Scott Sisters and not inviting Christopher Epps to some banquet! And what of the national NAACP, why are they NOT responding to the many requests that have been made of them for the past 15 years to become involved in this case!

This is the final indignity and must not go unchallenged. This bureaucrat should not pompously sit up there picking his teeth and pontificating while Jamie Scott lay suffering in one of the very prison cells that he oversees, a prison cell that she (nor her sister) should even be in!

Please contact the president of the Jackson County, Mississippi NAACP, Curly Clark, and ask him:

* Why is the NAACP distinguishing a man who would allow a woman to deteriorate in a prison on his watch until she is now at end stage of kidney failure?

* Why does the NAACP want to hear from a man that won't permit this same, very seriously ill woman to be housed in the Medical Bldg. on the grounds of that facility so that she can be cared for by her sister and instead has her housed in a mold-infested, damp, breeding ground for the infections which have repeatedly threatened her life?

Ask Jackson County NAACP President, Curly Clark, and State President, Derrick Johnson, why they are not involved in the fight for justice for the Mississippi Scott Sisters, a shocking and internationally known atrocity occurring right in their own backyard!

This entire event should be protested if Epps remains on the program and attendees given refunds for their $30 tickets!

Curly Clark, President, Jackson County NAACP
228-762-9692

Derrick Johnson, State President
Mississippi State Conference NAACP
1072 West J.R. Lynch Street
Jackson, MS 39203
Phone: 601.353.6906
Fax: 601.353.1565
Website: http://www.naacpms.org

4/19 JAMIE SCOTT CALL/HELP NEEDED WITH PRESS!

2010-04-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: 4/19 CALL FROM JAMIE

Jamie Scott called her mother this morning and informed her that Warden Holman woke her from sleep, demanding to know what her mother was posting on the internet regarding mold on the walls and leaking in her unit. She got up and showed him the mold all over the walls as well as sewage that was coming up out of the toilets and the spiders overrunning the unit.

The warden then told Jamie (who only has the use of one arm) to scrub down the walls, to which she refused! Jamie told him that her mother is posting the truth and would continue to post about the disgusting conditions of the unit and how it was making her sicker and more prone to infection, and that all of those years of mold would need more than scrubbing anyway. She told him if she was allowed to lay there and die that he hasn't seen anything yet and would never hear the last of her mother!

The other women were awakened by the Warden and told to scrub the mold off of the walls and they also refused! They told the Warden that they were glad that everybody is finding out about their horrible living conditions and that the building needs to be torn down! No matter how the prison tries to hide it, the truth will continue to be told!

One prison doctor has diagnosed Jamie with an infection and another has not, but she has the discoloration that is a hallmark of recurrent infection. She clarified that it was determined that she was only on Heparin while in the hospital and that it had been discontinued.

PLEASE PARTICIPATE in e-mailing our press release to at least three press contacts as often as possible! It's at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30178263/Scott-Sisters-Press-Release
Many newspapers can be reached by e-mail or contact form at http://www.usnpl.com/ - please also contact other forms of media that you can easily find info for. We need a whole lot of help to attract as much attention to this case as possible to truly make a difference!

Thank you all, don't let up!!

4/15 JAMIE SCOTT MEDICAL UPDATE!

2010-04-16T06:16:00.000-07:00

Greetings all,

Jamie is still on the regular prison unit, she is not in the infirmary, nor has she been moved to the hospital. She is tired, weak, and ill. She has been vomiting at least twice a day and yesterday she vomited four times and has not been able to keep
anything down. A possible cause mentioned involves phosphates, but the prison refuses to carry out the necessary blood test nor provide her with the proper nutrition indicated for dialysis patients as their care is notoriously cut-rate!

Her left arm, where the shunt is placed, is painful with lack of mobility and she has not been followed up by a doctor regarding that surgery as of this time. She received dialysis yesterday via the catheter in her groin and was given Heparin to insure that the catheter would not clog, however no mention has been made of the green pus or prior bleeding. She also is restarting insulin today and is on blood pressure medicine. It has been Jamie's past experience that mismanagement of her medications has contributed to her illnesses many times.

Jamie needs to be released so that her family can follow-up with proper care for her. We have a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in the prison medical system and believe that she will die in there if she is not released! She's in end stage kidney failure and is being housed in a unit where there is mold and leaking water whenever it rains and is a breeding ground for infection. Jamie should be in the Medical Bldg. where her sister, Gladys, can care for her or better yet be hospitalized until she is completely stable. In fact, Jamie and Gladys have no business in that prison to begin with!

Many have asked about Gladys, as you can well imagine her prior depression has taken a downturn in her constant distress about her sister's rapidly declining condition. She has also lost considerable weight in worrying about Jamie's issues as well as her own unjust incarceration and all that entails. She definitely could use a card or a letter, as could Jamie, although Jamie's address fluctuates:

Gladys Scott, #19142
CMCF/B-Bldg.
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8550

Jamie Scott, #19197
CMCF/2A-B-Zone
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8550

We need everyone to use your contacts and networks to make something happen for these women. Please stretch out and send the press release, case summary, and flyer links out to everyone you know, post them to websites, blogs, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, everywhere there is an audience to view it. Please sign, help distribute and mail-in the letter
at the website to Chokwe Lumumba's office in the 10,000 letters campaign. We really you all to do whatever you can do to help us get the word out and to take initiatives on behalf of these women. We need to pump this up like never before. Let's try our very best to make sure that everyone we can think of is aware of this case.

Thank you all! Keep the pressure on!

4/13 URGENT JAMIE SCOTT MEDICAL UPDATE!

2010-04-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

Jamie Scott is again in medical crisis and we are asking everyone reading these words to push the prison to hospitalize her!

Jamie woke up last night in a puddle of blood from the painful catheter in her groin area. The catheter had green liquid, showing signs of infection. The guard called the doctor and was told to clean her up, change her bandage, give her a Tylenol, and send her back to her unit without anyone examining her at all! When she arrived back at the building she began vomiting uncontrollably and is still unable to keep anything down as far as we know. The most recent update today is that she is in the prison clinic and not in the hospital.

We need the prison to know that we are on top of what's going on and that Jamie Scott needs to be hospitalized now.

More updates will be sent out as soon as they come available.

Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Emmitt Sparkman, Deputy Commissioner
(601) 359-5610
esparkman@mdoc.state.ms.us

Margaret Bingham, Superintendent of Central Mississippi Corrections Facility
(601) 932-2880
mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
FAX: (601) 664-0782
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, Mississippi 39208

Dr. Gloria Perry, Medical Department (601) 359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax

PLEASE CONTACT POLITICIANS AND MEDIA

A complete list of politicians to send Scott Sisters info to is at:
http://www.commoncause.org/siteapps/advocacy/search.aspx?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4860375

A complete list of the media that we have listed (feel free to send to any others that
you wish to!) is at http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/2010/01/119-emergency-update.html

SUPPORT 10,000 LETTERS TO LUMUMBA EFFORT

2010-04-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Please copy and paste the below, sign and return to Atty Lumumba's office as instructed, this is very important so PLEASE participate!!

FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS NOW
Information Line: 1-888-600-5311

Governor Haley Barbour
P. O. Box 139
Jackson, MS 39205

RE: The Scott Sisters

Dear Governor Barbour:

I would like to bring your attention to the case of Jamie and Gladys Scott. These sisters have served more than 15 years of a double life term where no one was murdered or injured. State’s witnesses have testified to their innocence. Jamie Scott’s kidneys have failed and her health is fading fast. We need your help now. Mississippi needs to know that those of us who believe in justice and human rights are prepared to take a stand for the Scott Sisters.

FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS NOW!!!!!

Signed,

_____
Truly Concerned

Name:

Address:

Please forward this letter of support ASAP to:
Free the Scott Sisters
c/o Attorney Chokwe Lumumba
440 N. Mill Street
Jackson, MS 39202

4/5 JAMIE SCOTT MEDICAL UPDATE

2010-04-05T15:11:00.001-07:00

Greetings all,

Jamie Scott was returned to her regular jail cell at CMCF in 2A B Zone on approximately March 30. A permanent fistula was placed in her arm, however she still has the painful catheter in her groin area. Jamie was told this will remain there for about 6 more weeks as her arm heals and her veins become strong enough to take the dialysis. After surgery her potassium spiked and she had vomiting and seizure. She has been stable since that time as far as we have been able to determine.

One of the doctors who examined Jamie told her that she is at stage 5 kidney failure, which is the worst and considered end stage, and that in the "free" world she would qualify to be on the list for a kidney transplant. Other testing confirmed this and concur that it is the fault of MDOC because they should have caught it much sooner than when it reached stage 5, especially in light of Jamie's constant medical complaints and their denial or shuffling of her medications. MDOC should not have been placing those temporary catheters into her neck instead of placing a shunt in her arm before now, but they were basically taking the cheap way out. Jamie needs to be RELEASED because the prison cannot be trusted to give her ANY SEMBLANCE of adequate medical care, particularly in her advanced stage of disease! As has been posted previously, Dr. Gloria Perry stated that Jamie is not a candidate for transplant! Jamie's sister and other family members have offered to be tested for compatibility, yet been denied by MDOC.

In a Mississippi Clarion Ledge article on March 18, Commissioner Epps was quoted as stating:

"We've got a lot of sick people in Mississippi," he said. "Prison is just a subculture of the culture. When they come in to us, unfortunately, many times they haven't gotten treatment until we get them." All told, Epps said MDOC has 258 male and female inmates with HIV or AIDS. But it doesn't end there. Altogether there are 5,621 inmates with medical conditions ranging from failing kidneys to heart disease. "Those are some staggering numbers for a population of 21,000 people," he said. He said he hopes the department can "get by" spending $50 million this year on medical costs. Some inmates with complicated medical problems are released, he said. "I just signed off on 72 persons for medical release," he said.

Jamie nor Mrs. Rasco have received any information to indicate whether or not Jamie's name might be on this list.
======

Free The Scott Sisters Now in Mississippi is collecting 10,000 signatures on the below letter, so please support and pass them on! Please copy and paste the below, sign and return to Atty Lumumba's office as instructed, this is very important so please participate!!

FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS NOW
Information Line: 1-888-600-5311

Governor Haley Barbour
P. O. Box 139
Jackson, MS 39205

RE: The Scott Sisters

Dear Governor Barbour:

I would like to bring your attention to the case of Jamie and Gladys Scott. These sisters have served more than 15 years of a double life term where no one was murdered or injured. State’s witnesses have testified to their innocence. Jamie Scott’s kidneys have failed and her health is fading fast. We need your help now. Mississippi needs to know that those of us who believe in justice and human rights are prepared to take a stand for the Scott Sisters.

FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS NOW!!!!!

Signed,

_____
Truly Concerned

Name:
Address:

Please forward this letter of support to:
Free the Scott Sisters
c/o Attorney Chokwe Lumumba
440 N. Mill Street
Jackson, MS 39202
~~~~~~~~~~~~

JAMIE SCOTT NEEDS TO BE HOUSED IN THE MEDICAL BUILDING. Someone as seriously ill as Jamie needs to be somewhere that she can get assistance in better living conditions, and that's not in the infirmary and definitely not in her original cell. The Medical Bldg. would give her access to her sister, Gladys, who would help her with her activities of daily living and monitor her condition, just as other family members incarcerated together there are permitted to do with less life-threatening illnesses than Jamie suffers.

We must keep pushing for media attention to what's going on and are continually pressing for nationwide press. A complete and in-depth examination of this travesty of justice must be exposed!! Please forward the Press Release http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/search/label/press%20release and Case Summary http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/2009/08/case-summary_19.html far and wide, the Scott Sisters need to go prime-time to apply enough pressure to make this Gov. do the right thing.

Jane Velez-Mitchell should do an entire segment on the Scott Sisters now that she is aware of the case, please contact her and urge her to follow-up her brief mention of the Scott Sisters on her 3/6 "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell" with a more significant segment that will focus on Jamie's serious medical condition and the Scott Sisters case period. The contact form is at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/newstips.html

----------------------------

TELL GOVERNOR BARBOUR TO GRANT INMATE JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, CMCF, AND GLADYS SCOTT, #19142, CMCF, PARDON AND RELEASE FROM PRISON. Neither sister is a threat to anyone and Jamie has a supportive family willing to care for her and obtain the medical care that she has not adequately received while in prison. These women are first-time offenders who have served 16 years in prison and are not a risk for recidivism, particularly with the gravity of Jamie's declining health. They must be released AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

Thanks to everyone, please help to really spread the word as far as you can & ACT!
---------------------

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS -- NO YELLING OR CURSING!
IT WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW MINUTES, PLEASE PARTICIPATE!

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE: 202-353-1555
PHONE: 202-514-2000
202-307-6777 fax

PLEASE CONTACT POLITICIANS AND MEDIA

A complete list of politicians to send Scott Sisters info to is at:
http://www.commoncause.org/siteapps/advocacy/search.aspx?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4860375

A complete list of the media that we have listed (feel free to send to any others that
you wish to!) is at http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/2010/01/119-emergency-update.html

3/30 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2010-03-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings, all,

Mrs. Rasco and family safely returned from Mississippi on Saturday and Jamie has been returned to the hospital. She's been told that Jamie is scheduled for surgery this week to remove the painful and dangerous shunt in her groin and implant a permanent fistula into her arm to receive dialysis. Infection remains a concern, as well, and that is supposedly being dealt with. Jamie is still very weak and needs a great deal of assistance.

The leader of the 3/26 press conference activity in MS was a no-show and the entire event was disorganized. This debacle was partially rescued only because of the people of Mississippi who were there. Mrs. Rasco and 11 family members came in to support this event. Approximately 50 people were in attendance and several supporters spoke, including Mrs. Evelyn Rasco, Jonette Primm, Chokwe Lumumba, Earnest McBride, Jaribu Hill, Mr. Powell, Bro. Clarence from Gloria's Kitchen and Gladys Scott's daughter, Olivia. Thanks to those who stepped in and handled things at the last minute and under great duress, the family is deeply appreciative. Part of the rally was aired on Mississippi Fox News and pictures will be posted here as soon as they become available. Mrs. Rasco wants to especially thank Gloria's Kitchen for feeding all of the children as well as Rip Daniels and Charles Evers for their continuous support.

Free The Scott Sisters Now in Mississippi is collecting 10,000 signatures on the below letter, so please support and pass them on! Please sign and mail one in as instructed.

FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS NOW
Information Line: 1-888-600-5311

Governor Haley Barbour
P. O. Box 139
Jackson, MS 39205

RE: The Scott Sisters

Dear Governor Barbour:

I would like to bring your attention to the case of Jamie and Gladys Scott. These sisters have served more than 15 years of a double life term where no one was murdered or injured. State’s witnesses have testified to their innocence. Jamie Scott’s kidneys have failed and her health is fading fast. We need your help now. Mississippi needs to know that those of us who believe in justice and human rights are prepared to take a stand for the Scott Sisters.

FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS NOW!!!!!

Signed,

_____
Truly Concerned

Name:
Address:

Please forward this letter of support to:
Free the Scott Sisters
c/o Attorney Chokwe Lumumba
440 N. Mill Street
Jackson, MS 39202
~~~~

BLOGGERS IN SUPPORT OF THE SCOTT SISTERS!

2010-03-28T12:35:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in the days of blogging for the Scott Sisters on 3/18 and 3/25. These blogs will go a long way toward helping spread the word of the desperate and very serious need for help for these courageous women and their embattled family online and around the world. It's never too late to join in and blog about the case, please do and encourage all those who link to you to follow suit, we need the support as this is truly an each one, reach one effort!

Each week we would like to feature a supporter's blog so if your blog isn't listed, please send your link to nattyreb@gmail.com so that it can be.

FEATURED BLOG:

WHERE ARE THE MARCHES FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS? ARE THEY TOO FEMALE FOR THE JENA 6 TREATMENT?

My heart breaks for these women, their children and their families. Yet, I remain hopeful that we can do something. My only question is WHY haven't we done something yet?

Bloggers were instrumental in creating and pushing the Jena Six (or Jena 6) movement which culminated in some modicum of fairness for the six teens who were going to be royally hosed for some old bullshit.

I know that we can make that kind of change happen, but the response in regards to these two sisters has been "cool." Is it because they are women? I hate to say it, but I think so.

Mind you, I don't want to take on the tone of "Us vs. Them" as it relates to black men and black women, but I am pointing out that once again, black women are shown to be the least protected, least cared about group in this country (and the world in general). Maybe it's age old stereotypes about us that have helped to doom the Scott Sisters, what with people clutching to those as truth and eventually believing this two women were up to no good.

People are asking to "Free Weezy" but there's little fanfare from us as a black community to "Free the Scott Sisters" and that is being watched.
(Continued at http://www.rippdemup.com/2010/03/where-are-marches-for-scott-sisters-are.html#ixzz0kSQEynor)

FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS BLOGGERS! PLEASE JOIN THEM BY BLOGGING AND HELPING TO SPREAD THE WORD!

http://www.blackperspective.net/index.php/upcoming-day-of-blogging-for-scott-sisters/

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/african-american-political-pundit/665824572837e2e97d24c2dc6a1ddcb3

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/my-brown-eyed-view/aa018adc8afaef43eade79608347ad92

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/the-intersection-of-madness-and-reality/d29eb17e8dc8d4a55d7fd959a806fcca

http://conversations.blackvoices.com/entertainment/99435682aaea4564b24369ed6fc90973/free-the-scott-sisters/4a55e29dc2b84cd0b8e1b91eb7b55fec

http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/2010/03/sister-jamie-scott-dying-in-prison.html

http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/2010/03/25/free-the-scott-sisters/

http://frozenjustice.blogspot.com/2010/03/help-free-scott-sisters-wrongfully.html

http://hannington-hd.blogspot.com/
http://inheritingthetrade.com/blog/?p=1720

http://jessemuhammad.blogs.finalcall.com/2010/03/day-of-blogging-for-scott-sistersblack.html

http://lifeanddeathmatters.blogspot.com/2010/03/travesty-of-justice-in-mississippi.html

http://luckyrooster.net/2010/03/25/reblog-from-luckyrooster-net-scott-sisters-injustice-in-mississippi-2/

http://marenda.biz/2010/03/mississippi-injustice-inadequate-medical-treatment-jamie-scott-needs-your-help/

http://nothingwillstandinourway.blogspot.com

http://ourcommonground-talk.ning.com/profiles/blogs/free-the-scott-sisters?xg_source=msg_mes_network

http://peace4missing.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2153128%3ABlogPost%3A108165&commentId=2153128%3AComment%3A108196&xg_source=activity

http://prisonabolitionist.blogspot.com/2010/03/scott-watch-international-day-for.html

http://www.reformingjustice.com/blog/Default.aspx

http://www.rippdemup.com/2010/03/where-are-marches-for-scott-sisters-are.html#ixzz0kSQEynor

http://rustbeltradical.wordpress.com/

http://www.solidarity-us.org/current/node/2747

http://streetvisuals.typepad.com/blog/2010/03/free-the-scott-sisters-325-day-of-blogging-for-the-scott-sisters.html

http://terryhowcott.com/greenspace.asp?id=1296

http://thefreshxpress.com/2010/03/fxp-alert-free-the-scott-sisters/

http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2010/03/tha-artivist-open-letter-to-bro-tavis.html

http://womenoftheafricandiaspora.com/2010/03/18/day-of-blogging-for-the-scott-sisters/

3/25 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2010-03-25T04:04:00.000-07:00

NOTE: If reading this before 10:00 a.m. EST on 3/25, please tune into http://www.wjzd.com for a possible live Scott Sisters update from Mrs. Rasco on the Rip Daniels "It's a New Day" show if she's able to call in; she's been suffering from hoarseness as well as a poor telephone connection which may interfere with her ability to do so. Rip Daniels is a very dedicated supporter who starts each show off at 10 a.m. daily counting down how long Jamie and Gladys have been wrongfully locked down and tormented in that prison and will even discuss the case during some mornings on his program, so please check in as regularly as you can.

Mrs. Rasco and her entire family are in Mississippi to visit Jamie and Gladys as well as to participate in the 3/26 MWM/BWDL Press Conference scheduled for 12 noon in front of the Jackson, MS Capitol Bldg. at 400 High St. The organization is asking for letters of support for their campaign by 12 midnight 3/25 to be sent to nationalmwm@aol.com or officialmwm@yahoo.com. For more info call: 267-636-3802.

THE VISIT

Jamie has been in the hospital since 3/15 with a very serious infection, severe weakness, extreme pain and swelling. Jamie stated that she was "kicked out" of the hospital on Tuesday to prevent Mrs. Rasco from coming up in there and asking a lot of questions, in fact an extra guard had been placed there to make certain that Mrs. Rasco didn't come in there to see her. Jamie told Mrs. Rasco that she couldn't believe how her 4' tall momma caused so much worry among those prison officials!

She was abruptly moved to her old cell in the prison to await the visit with her mother and family to take place Wednesday for an hour, after which her family was to visit with Gladys for an hour. However, the Assistant Warden met them at the entrance and stated that some of the children weren't on the list to come in. After much wrangling and his personally searching the young men he permitted everyone to visit both women together BUT for one hour total, which actually ended up being less than an hour due to all of the wasted time spent being searched and with the Asst Warden on the phone rechecking names in the waiting area.

The family watched in tears as Jamie climbed off of a bus and limped slowly and weakly to the visiting area and questioned staff as to why she wasn't given a wheelchair, to which they had no answer. Jamie and Gladys grabbed onto each other and their family membersfor a very emotional reunion, especially for the children. Both women had lost quite a bit of weight, Gladys from extreme stress and depression and Jamie due to her serious illness. Jamie stated that she was told by the doctor that 6 catheter infections was much too much and that she never should have had so many temporary catheters, which blew out all of her veins where they were placed. She currently has a shunt in her groin which is extremely painful and must be surgically removed next week. She is scheduled to stay in her old cell until Friday, at which time she is told that she will be returned to the hospital.

Both Jamie and Gladys want all of their supporters to know that our activities are very greatly appreciated and that they want us to keep on! Mrs. Rasco and family are also very thankful and hopeful that together we can get those women released from this horrific situation soon! If we keep pushing and use our creativity to call attention to this case, it will happen! If you write, then write about it; if you sing, sing about it; poet about it; creatively perform about it; print out flyers and distribute them at programs and events, however you can do it, please help get the word out about the plight of these women, there's something that every one can do!

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The Days of Blogging for the Scott Sisters that happened on 3/18 and is so wonderfully happening again today will really help get the word out on the case in wider and broader areas of the internet and hopefully lead to much more support and national attention! Thanks so much to all of the participants and we will be posting links to all of the blogs that participated at the Scott Sisters site, so please send them in so that you can be acknowledged! Of course everyone is encouraged to continue blogging beyond today and please do!

We still don't trust that Jamie will receive adequate medical care once these hospitalizations are completed, which was proven by the fact that as soon as she was returned from the hospital yesterday she was put right back in that moldy building where she was originally housed! JAMIE SCOTT NEEDS TO BE HOUSED IN THE MEDICAL BUILDING. Someone as seriously ill as Jamie needs to be somewhere that she can get assistance in better living conditions, and that's not in the infirmary and definitely not in her original cell. The Medical Bldg. would give her access to her sister, Gladys, who would help her with her activities of daily living and monitor her condition, just as other family members incarcerated together there are permitted to do with less life-threatening illnesses than Jamie suffers.

We must keep pushing for media attention to what's going on and are continually pressing for nationwide press. A complete and in-depth examination of this travesty of justice must be exposed!! Please forward all of the info at the site to anyone, anywhere that can help to make that happen, the Scott Sisters need to go prime-time to apply enough pressure to make this Gov. do the right thing.

Jane Velez-Mitchell should do an entire segment on the Scott Sisters now that she is aware of the case, please contact her and urge her to follow-up her brief mention of the Scott Sisters on her 3/6 "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell" with a more significant segment that will focus on Jamie's serious medical condition and the Scott Sisters case period. The contact form is at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/newstips.html

PLEASE TELL GOVERNOR BARBOUR TO GRANT INMATE JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, CMCF, AND GLADYS SCOTT, #19142, CMCF, PARDON AND RELEASE FROM PRISON. Neither sister is a threat to anyone and Jamie has a supportive family willing to care for her and obtain the medical care that she has not adequately received while in prison. These women are first-time offenders who have served 16 years in prison and are not a risk for recidivism, particularly with the gravity of Jamie's declining health. They must be released AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Thanks to everyone, please help to really spread the word as faras you can & ACT!

CHARLES EVERS INTERVIEW EXCERPTS W/MRS. RASCO

2010-03-22T06:37:00.001-07:00

2/17 INTERVIEW EXCERPTS (INCLUDES HLN "ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL" MENTION) EDITED BY DARRYL MCCLAIN

3/25 DAY OF BLOGGING FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS!

2010-03-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

PLEASE PARTICIPATE AND SPREAD THE WORD!

Thanks to the many excellent bloggers who participated in our initial Day of Blogging for the Scott Sisters on 3/18!! The notices didn't reach everyone in a timely manner and so we are happy to announce a new date for bloggers to unite around this case of Mississippi injustice and particularly to intervene in theprison's medical malpractice being suffered by Jamie Scott!

In early January both of Jamie Scott's kidneys shut down and she has been swiftly declining due to unprofessional medical care that is inadequate, cut-rate and frighteningly inept. Jamie was rushed to the hospital last week due to severe infection and the need for prolonged medical attention. However, Jamie continues to require ongoing close monitoring as when she is returned to the prison it is well documented that the medical staff there has provided abysmal health care in filthy conditions that have put Jamie's life at risk far too many times to be acceptable. Jamie needs to be released from prison,period!

We ask that bloggers put out calls for students, clubs, churches/temples/mosques, organizations, creative artists, media, politicians, community leaders, journalists, etc. to become aware of the case of the Scott Sisters and to make certain that all of their contacts are informed, as well. There is something that each person can do and we need to get Jamie home while she still has time to be with her family!

Thanks to all who will participate in this and help to raise the call to FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS throughout the blogosphere 3/25 and beyond! In the spirit of International Women's Month, please support our women! Please send notification of anyblog postings to nattyreb@gmail.com!

In conjunction with: http://www.blackperspective.net
For Immediate Release
Afrosphere Action Coalition – March 22, 2010
Contact: Marpessa Kupendua of the Committee to Free the Scott Sisters at nattyreb@gmail.com

Wrongly Convicted In Dire Health Situation
3/25 DAY OF BLOGGING FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS

On 12/24/93, the Scott County Sheriff’s Department arrested Jamie and Gladys Scott for armed robbery even though three young males, ranging from ages 14 to 18, confessed to committing the crime and the women have unwaveringly maintained their complete innocence. Despite this, the corrupt Mississippi sheriff used coercion, threats, and harassment to compel the young men to turn state’s evidence against the Scott Sisters due to a long-standing vendetta against a family member. In 10/94 the Scott Sisters were sentenced to extraordinary double-life terms each, despite the facts that no one was harmed, neither sister had prior convictions, no weapon was ever recovered, and the amount alleged to have been taken was approximately $11.00. Even if they were guilty as charged, this sentence is completely outrageous and cruel.

Jamie Scott, who entered the prison system as a healthy young woman, is now suffering from complete kidney failure and other life-threatening medical conditions. Since January, 2010 Jamie has endured almost weekly severe health setbacks that the state has either outright refused to address or handled in a slipshod manner. Jamie has had weeks of serious infections that could have taken her life, has gone into shock, been given sporadic dialysis treatments, and suffered the state's refusal to provide her with adequate nutrition as required for her serious medical condition.

The Scott Sisters are now in their 16th year of incarceration and their five children and grandchildren are being raised by their now ailing mother. The defendants and their family are wholly dependent on support from the press, organizations, and all those dedicated to justice in making this debacle as public as possible. The lengthy incarceration of these women to date and their draconian sentences are completely shocking and must be challenged, enough is enough!

Mrs. Rasco and Afrosphere Bloggers are calling on the public to press the governor's office to pardon the Scott Sisters and release them, particularly Jamie who needs to be at home with her family during her very serious illness. Please ask that the media and politicians do an investigative inquiry about this tragic situation and the outrageous case of the wrongfully convicted Scott Sisters!

MRS. RASCO GRANTED VISITATION

2010-03-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Rasco would like to thank everyone for all calls and e-mails into the prison. The prison has approved a special visit!

She thanks you ALL for your tremendous support!

Stay tuned for more updates...

MRS. RASCO DENIED VISITATION!

2010-03-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

THIS JUST IN (3/16):

Dr. Gloria Perry at CMCF where Jamie Scott is an inmate just denied her mother, Mrs. Rasco, her three children and her two grandchildren from coming to visit Jamie this weekend. All six were denied by this doctor even though she knows they're highly upset at what's happening to Jamie and are extremely anxious to see her, and now with this surprise are even more worried than before!

Mrs. Rasco asks that everyone contact her office and ask why she is denying Jamie visitation with her family during such a critical time:

GLORIA PERRY, MD, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
(601) 359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

Thank you!
------
FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS!

3/16 JAMIE SCOTT MEDICAL UPDATE

2010-03-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Rasco received word last evening that Jamie was rushed to the hospital in terrible pain with the intention of getting her pain stabilized and returning her directly back. She was examined by a doctor who determined that infection had spread through her entire body and that the veins in her neck had collapsed. He said he would not treat her pain and then release her back to the prison as they wanted because she would die from the blockages and the constant catheter infections. The doctor angrily stated that the MDOC had dropped the ball when it came to Jamie's medical care. He said she should have been admitted long-term to clear up her infection when she was previously sent there instead of quickly returning her back to the prison on antibiotics. He scheduled her to have emergency surgery to insert a shunt into her groin for the purposes of dialysis.

As of the time of this posting Mrs. Rasco doesn't know if Jamie is still in the hospital or back at the prison, as usual the prison is not forthcoming with information and the family is in a constant state of anxiety and extreme worry. All we can say with certainty is that the behavior of the prison is what is truly criminal when it comes to the medical care of Jamie Scott. The prison is well aware of everything that has been happening and is taking far too many risks with Jamie's life.
------------

PLEASE CONTACT POLITICIANS AND MEDIA

Congressman Bennie Thompson
3607 Medgar Evers Blvd.
Jackson, MS 39213
601-946-9003(ph)
601-982-5337 (fx)
Benniethompson@mail.house.gov

Congressman John Conyers
2426 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
Ph: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

(More listed at http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/2010/01/119-emergency-update.html)

3/14 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATES!

2010-03-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Jamie Scott still is suffering with infection in her catheter and her weakness has progressed to the point that she once again can barely walk. She was taken to the hospital where her neck was cut at least 3 times, which was extremely painful as the anesthetic did not kick in properly during the procedure. Proper catheter placement was unable to be obtained after approximately 2 hours of what was supposed to be a 30 minute surgery. She was given dialysis but her catheter remains infected. She was put on antibiotics and returned to the prison infirmary! Jamie was told that they would return her to the hospital on Monday to try once again to move the catheter and unplug it.

Jamie did want it to be known that during a particularly rough period for her where she was crying in the prison last Thursday, one of the nurses came in and rubbed her head and prayed over her and she and Mrs. Rasco wanted this to be noted in order to thank her for showing some kindness. Jamie is very grateful for everyone's support and asks that we keep fighting for her and her sister Gladys to be freed from prison!
===================

The MWM is spearheading a Press Conference on 3/26 outside of the Capitol in Jackson, MS at 12 noon. Details are available by contacting them at 267-636-3802 or e-mail: nationalmwm@aol.com or BWDL7@aol.com. Many people in the area are excited and ready for this to happen, so please do make plans to attend if you're able to be in the area on that day!
==============

Thanks again to Bro. Rip Daniels of WJZD radio (http://www.wjzd.com) for dedicating the first hour of Friday's show to the Scott Sisters, as well as all of his regular coverage of this case. Check into the station weekdays from 9-11am EST for future coverage and to call-in on the Scott Sisters' behalf!
~~~~~

Mrs. Rasco and Nancy Lockhart are scheduled for the Warren Ballentine Show at 10:15 a.m. Monday 3/15, please tune in at http://www.thetruthfighters.com/ and check it out!
===============

Please flood the office of Rep. Bennie Thompson with e-mails and calls to push for
medical help for Jamie Scott. Phone is (601) 946-9003.

TO: Benniethompson@mail.house.gov

Dear Representative Thompson:

Mrs. Evelyn Rasco, the mother of Jamie and Gladys Scott has asked me to contact you and formally request your involvement in the case of her daughters. I realize that you are aware of the wrongful conviction of The Scott Sisters, so I will not go in depth regarding that issue. The issue at hand is a medical crisis!

Jamie Scott's temporary catheter (for the purpose of dialysis) has been moved to her chest and is plugged up with green fluid and pus. Her hands and feet are swollen and she is in tremendous pain. She is very, very weak. This is at least her fourth catheter infection and this one is extremely bad. Jamie is doing very poorly. The prison is aware of her current condition yet, she remains in the prison infirmary. Jamie needs to be carried to the hospital and she needs to remain there until this infection is cleared.

Please assist Mrs. Rasco in getting the proper medical attention for her daughters Mr. Thompson. You may reach Mrs. Rasco at rqueenbee2222@yahoo.com

Jamie is in constant pain, her hands and legs/feet are swollen and she needs to go to the hospital. This is a medical crisis!

Respectfully Submitted,
(Your name)
=============

Jane Velez-Mitchell should do an entire segment on the Scott Sisters now that she is aware of the case, please contact her and urge her to follow-up her brief mention of
the Scott Sisters on her 3/6 "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell" with a more significant segment that will focus on Jamie's serious medical condition and the Scott Sisters case period. The contact form is at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/newstips.html

PLEASE CONTINUE THE PUSH FOR MAINSTREAM MEDIA THIS IS VITALLY IMPORTANT TO WINNING THEIR FREEDOM!
----------------------------

Today and until Jamie is released, PLEASE ASK GOVERNOR BARBOUR TO GRANT INMATE JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, CMCF, COMPASSIONATE RELEASE DUE TO SERIOUS MEDICAL ILLNESS. She is not a threat to anyone and has a supportive family willing to care for her and obtain the medical care that she has not adequately received while in prison. She is a first-time
offender who has served 15 years in prison and is not a risk for recidivism, particularly with the gravity of her declining health. We are asking for her release AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

The compassionate release request is at Mrs. Rasco's site:
http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com for your reference and information.

Thanks to everyone, please help spread the word & ACT!
---------------------

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS -- NO YELLING OR CURSING!
IT WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW MINUTES, PLEASE PARTICIPATE!

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Dorothy Kuykendall
Personal Assistant to Gov. Barbour
(601) 359-3150
DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us
P. O Box 3150
Jackson, MS 39205

Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Emmitt Sparkman, Deputy Commissioner
(601) 359-5610
esparkman@mdoc.state.ms.us

Margaret Bingham, Superintendent of Central Mississippi Corrections Facility
(601) 932-2880
mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
FAX: (601) 664-0782
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, Mississippi 39208

Dr. Gloria Perry, Medical Department (601) 359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

ALERT! 3/11 JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE!

2010-03-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Rasco received word this evening that Jamie Scott's temporary catheter has been moved to her chest and is plugged up with green fluid and pus. Her hands, legs and feet are swollen and she is in tremendous pain. She is very, very weak. This is at least her fourth catheter infection and this one is extremely bad. Jamie is doing very poorly. The prison is aware of Jamie's current condition yet Jamie remains in the prison infirmary.

Mrs. Rasco is asking that everyone please call into the governor and Commissioner Epps to release her from the horrible conditions she is in and the poor medical care that she is receiving. Mrs. Rasco believes that Jamie is going to die in the prison if something doesn't happen soon and is calling out for all of the support that she can get.

CONTACT GOV. BARBOUR'S OFFICE
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

CONTACT CHRISTOPHER EPPS
Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

LET THEM KNOW THAT JAMIE SCOTT IS SUFFERING WITH PAIN, SWELLING, INFECTION AND WEAKNESS & NEEDS IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION OUTSIDE OF THE PRISON!

We also need to continue pushing for national media attention on the case, some focus has been achieved & we need to strike while the iron is hot! Jamie's condition is very serious and we need for as many people as possible to get involved with raising the demand for her release as soon as possible. THIS CASE DEMANDS NATIONAL ATTENTION.

Jane Velez-Mitchell should do an entire segment on the Scott Sisters now that she is aware of the case, please contact her and urge her to follow-up her brief mention of the Scott Sisters on her 3/6 "Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell" with a more significant segment that will focus on Jamie's serious medical condition and the Scott Sisters case period. The contact form is at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/newstips.html

Today's Newsweek blog ran a piece called: "Left Wing: Pardon Me, Governor Barbour" at http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2010/03/11/left-wing-pardon-me-governor-barbour.aspx Many of these blogs where the Scott Sisters are getting attention have comment sections that supporters can use to put out
updated information on Jamie's downward spiraling condition, there's only so much her body is going to be able to take and this needs to be emphasized!

PLEASE ACT AND REPOST BROADLY, THANK YOU!

3/9 MEDIA UPDATE!

2010-03-09T13:57:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

Here's some brief media updates, thanks to everyone for keeping their ears and eyes open and for continuing to put out information on the case of the Scott Sisters and especially the medical emergency that Jamie Scott is enduring within that prison hellhole.

TheGrio.com is an NBC site which also features an article on the Scott Sisters! The site describes itself as "the first video-centric news community site devoted to providing African Americans with stories and perspectives that appeal to them but are underrepresented in existing national news outlets."

The piece they did is at: http://www.thegrio.com/news/mississippi-women-fight-to-appeal-life-sentences-for-11-robbery.php so please check it out and enter your comments, there is a bit of a debate happening and your input would be great! Let's maximize this to the fullest!

This brief article has already led to another media source, the radio show "Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton" which today featured Bro. David Wilson who heads up TheGrio.com and is best known for the film "Meeting David Wilson" which aired last year on MSNBC. Hopefully this will lead to even more supporters and continue to build the momentum to a national demand for the release of these women!

Now that Al Sharpton cannot deny that he is aware of the case, there's no reason for him to not act on this knowledge on their behalf: http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net/contact.html

The hugely popular blog destination, The Intersection of Madness and Reality, also featured the case of the Scott Sisters today:

Where Are The Marches For The Scott Sisters? Are They Too Female For The Jena 6 Treatment?

Forward ever to more and more mainstream media coverage!

SCOTT SISTERS IN JACKSON ADVOCATE NEWSPAPER!

2010-03-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Bro. Earnest McBride wrote an excellent article on the 3/5 Scott Sisters rally held in Jackson, MS which is featured on the FRONT PAGE of the current (3/4-3/10) issue of the Jackson Advocate newspaper! Many thanks to Bro. McBride for this article as well as his top-notch and very informative blogtalk radio duties on the Empowerment Hour Online University along with Bro. Kermit Eady, which has featured the case of the Scott Sisters several times and together are broadcasting regularly towards their freedom! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/eadyassociates

The Jackson Advocate newsclippings can be viewed at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/28041786/JACKSON-ADVOCATE-1A-FRONT

http://www.scribd.com/doc/28041845/JACKSON-ADVOCATE-10A-CONT

Forward ever to more and more mainstream media coverage!

3/6 HLN ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL

2010-03-08T03:07:00.000-08:00

PLEASE USE THIS MEDIA TO GET MORE MEDIA, SPREAD FAR AND WIDE!

3/5 SCOTT SISTERS MEDIA UPDATES!

2010-03-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

This is a Scott Sisters media report, let's keep sending info into mass media outlets and shine the light worldwide on this travesty of justice!
~~

From: http://www.my601.com/news/local/story/Ailing-Pearl-Inmate-Out-of-Hospital/c_ZJKUQBC0K-HxCnNp33Vg.cspx

Ailing Pearl Inmate Out of Hospital

Reported by: Kathy Times
Email: kathytimes@jxntv.com
Last Update: 3/04 8:19 pm

UPDATE - An inmate at the center of a state capitol protest is out of the hospital and back at the state prison in Pearl.
Last week, supporters of Jamie Scott demanded her release.

They say she needs a kidney transplant, and she is not getting adequate treatment at the state prison.

Suzanne Singletary of the Mississippi Department of Corrections says Scott went to the hospital last week for tests and “everything is normal.”

Scott is back at the prison.

The spokesman says inmates must be terminal or totally disabled before they're considered for medical release.

Scott and her sister Gladys Scott have been in prison for 15 years. Their supporters say they should not have been convicted for a questionable robbery that netted eleven dollars.

To follow the Scott sisters' case, click here. (Freethescottsisters.blogspot.com)
~

And this fantastic piece by James Ridgeway!

From: http://solitarywatch.wordpress.com/about/for-jamie-scott-an-11-robbery-in-mississippi-may-carry-a-death-sentence/

For Jamie Scott, an $11 Robbery in Mississippi May Carry a Death Sentence

On February 25, a small crowd gathered outside the state capitol in Jackson, Mississippi, to push for the release of sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott, who are serving two consecutive life sentences apiece for a 1993 armed robbery in which no one was injured and the take, by most accounts, was about $11. Supporters of the Scott sisters have long tried to draw attention to their case, as an extreme example of the distorted justice and Draconian sentencing policies that have overloaded prisons, crippled state budgets, and torn families apart across the United States. But in recent months, their cause has taken on a new urgency, because for Jamie Scott, an unwarranted life sentence may soon become a death sentence.

Jamie Scott, 38, is suffering from kidney failure. At the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) in Pearl, where Jamie and Gladys are incarcerated, medical services are provided by a private contractor called Wexford, which has been the subject of lawsuits and legislative investigations in several states over inadequate treatment of the inmates in its care. According to Jamie Scott’s family, in the six weeks since her condition became life-threatening, she has endured faulty or missed dialysis sessions, infections, and other complications. She has received no indication that a kidney transplant is being considered as an option, though her sister is a willing donor.

Jamie Scott’s family and legal advisors believe the poor health care she is receiving in prison places her life at risk. They have sent pleas for clemency or compassionate release to Governor Haley Barbour, whose tough-on-crime posturing and dubious record on issuing pardons do not bode well for Jamie. The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) has a provision for what it calls “conditional medical release,” but Scott is not a candidate, department spokesperson Suzanne Garbo Singletary said in an email last week, because “MDOC policy provides that an inmate must have a condition that is ‘incapacitating, totally disabling and/or terminal in nature’ in order to qualify.” So Jamie Scott appears to be caught in a deadly Catch-22: In order to be released from prison, she must convince the MDOC that her illness is terminal or “totally disabling”; but the only sure way for her to prove this is to die in prison.

Cruel and Unusual Health Care

In telephone interviews earlier this week, the Scott sisters’ mother, Evelyn Rasco, described the treatment Jamie has received at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF), based on her own observations and information provided by her two daughters. Jamie, who has diabetes and bouts of high blood pressure, said that medical staff at the prison first diagnosed possible kidney problems in 1997–but until recently, she received minimal treatment outside of her regular insulin. Jamie’s physical and mental health suffered last fall when she spent 23 days in solitary confinement (for being found in an “unauthorized area” in the prison gym) and was cut off from her routine of work, classes, church, and occasional visits with her sister. Then, in mid-January, Jamie became seriously ill when both her kidneys began shutting down. She was sent to the prison infirmary and, after a week’s delay, taken to the hospital. There, doctors inserted a shunt in Jamie’s neck to allow her to receive dialysis through a catheter, and she was promptly returned to prison.

Rather than letting Jamie Scott leave the prison regularly for dialysis, prison authorities chose to truck in dialysis machines. About three times a week, Jamie has received hemodialysis in a trailer on the prison grounds—if the machines are working properly, which she reports isn’t always the case. At one session, Jamie told her mother, the blood was flowing out of her through a catheter into the dialysis machine—but it wasn’t flowing back in, so the treatment had to be stopped. At the end of January, another inmate looked in on Jamie, who was locked up alone in her cell, and found her unconscious. She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors told her there were problems with the shunt inserted into her neck. They made adjustments, and she was again taken back to prison.

Evelyn Rasco lives in Pensacola, Florida, where she cares for her daughters’ five children while they are behind bars. Since Jamie and Gladys went to prison, Rasco’s husband of 30 years died of a heart attack; another daughter died of congestive heart failure; and her oldest son was away for several years serving with the Army in Iraq. In a letter to supporters last year, Jamie Scott wrote: “When I think of the word ‘strongest,’ I think of my mother. She is 4 feet 9 inches tall and has the strength of Job in the Bible.”

Rasco lacks the time and financial resources to visit her daughters often, but in mid-February, she managed to make the trip to Mississippi. When she visited the prison on February 18, along with Jamie’s 18-year-old son, Jamie was feeling sick but was able to make it to the visiting room. When Rasco returned two days later, she found Jamie in a cell attached to the infirmary. “She was real weak,” Rasco said. “She couldn’t walk.” An infection appeared to have developed at the site of Jamie’s catheter, which had filled with blood and pus. Nurses reportedly told Rasco that Jamie should be in the hospital, but the paperwork hadn’t been done.

Rasco said that when she entered her daughter’s cell, Jamie was sitting on the edge of a hospital bed with dirty linens, near a toilet and wash bowl that had not been cleaned. Prison staff arrived with a plate of food—a hamburger swimming in grease, some side dishes, and a cookie–but Jamie said it looked so bad she couldn’t eat it. The doctors at the hospital had given her a list of foods she should eat, including meat, fish, and vegetables, but they were not available, and she did not have permission to purchase food at the prison commissary. (That permission has since been granted.) So Jamie sat on her grimy bed eating a Snickers bar. “She sat right there with me,” Rasco said, “and tried to give me a piece.” Knowing it was the only nourishment her daughter was likely to have, her mother declined.

(Cont'd)

FULL ARTICLE IS ALSO HERE: http://www.scribd.com/doc/28142096/solitwatchjmp

2/17 CHARLES EVERS INTERVIEW W/MRS. EVELYN RASCO

2010-03-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

INTERVIEW EXCERPTS (INCLUDES HLN "ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL" MENTION) EDITED BY DARRYL MCCLAIN

3/5 DAY OF ACTION FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS + MORE!

2010-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

Mrs. Rasco has not received any updated information from either of her daughters to report, but as soon as we learn something that we can share we will most definitely make everyone aware of Jamie's condition. Your phone calls, e-mails and support continue to be very much needed as not knowing what's happening day to day is extremely hard on the family.

There has been a lot of activity going on in Mississippi in support of the Scott Sisters, which is fantastic! There was a little mainstream ink achieved last week after the rally:

Rally at state capitol to free Scott sisters
Posted: Feb 26, 2010 11:59 AM
By Julie Straw

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=12047900

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - For nearly 16 years the Scott sisters have been behind bars serving double life sentences. Their crime? Two counts of armed robbery. Thursday dozens rallied at the state capitol and voiced that in this case the punishment does not fit the crime. They wanted both sisters released.

34 year old Gladys Scott and 38 year old Jamie Scott have been behind bars for more than 15 years. The women were convicted of two counts of armed robbery from an incident back in December 1993. Three males were also involved in the robbery. Two of them were teenagers that testified against the Scotts.

Only $11 was stolen and no one was hurt, but a jury decided the sisters should serve two life sentences each. "The crime that these allegedly young ladies does not merit the double life sentences that they were given," said District 28 State Senator Alice Harden.

Both women are mothers. A blog, complete with pictures of their children and grandchildren, pleads for help. "This case has been through trial. It has had an appeal. It has actually had a post conviction. Usually after you get finished with all of that you're dead and buried. It's almost impossible to do anything, but we have to make the impossible possible," said attorney Chokwe Lumumba who is representing the Gladys and Jamie Scott.

Jamie Scott is in the hospital due to kidney failure. Charles Evers who organized the rally said a compassionate release from Governor Haley Barbour is the Scott sisters' last hope. "The Governor and I happen to be political friends. And I feel like if I have any influence with a man that's a friend of mine I'll ask him to release these young ladies because they deserve it," said Evers.

©2010 WLBT. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

=============

GET READY AND SPREAD THE WORD FOR THE FRIDAY MARCH 5 DAY OF ACTION FOR JAMIE AND GLADYS SCOTT!

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is faced with the possibility of releasing 3,400 inmates because of budget overruns in his state. There is no reason on this earth that Jamie and Gladys Scott should not be among the very first considered, particularly with Jamie's rapidly declining health!

On Friday we are asking everyone to CALL and FAX GOV. BARBOUR, give your name and state (country if from overseas) and
let them know that the whole world is watching and that he needs to PARDON Jamie and Gladys Scott now! Please be courteous and leave a VM if there is no answer. WE WANT TO RING THOSE PHONES OFF THE HOOK!!

COMPASSIONATE RELEASE FOR JAMIE SCOTT, #19197!
PARDONS FOR BOTH SCOTT SISTERS!
PLEASE MOVE JAMIE SCOTT TO THE MEDICAL BUILDING!

Please continue to sign-on to the Change.org petition for the compassionate release of Jamie Scott at
http://tinyurl.com/yfrj5g6 and pass the word!

Empress Chi, coordinator of the MWM/Black Women's Defense League, is organizing a Free the Scott Sisters Demo and Rally in Mississippi on March 26, 2010. To get involved in planning this and for more information call 267-636-3802 or e-mail:
nationalmwm@aol.com or BWDL7@aol.com.
======================

Thanks to everyone, please help spread the word & ACT!

PLEASE CALL, FAX, AND WRITE AS OFTEN AS YOU ARE ABLE!

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS -- NO YELLING OR CURSING!
IT WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW MINUTES, PLEASE PARTICIPATE!

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Dorothy Kuykendall
Personal Assistant to Gov. Barbour
(601) 359-3150
DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us
P. O Box 3150
Jackson, MS 39205

Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
HOTLINE - 202-353-1555

Emmitt Sparkman, Deputy Commissioner
(601) 359-5610
esparkman@mdoc.state.ms.us

Margaret Bingham, Superintendent of Central Mississippi Corrections Facility
(601) 932-2880
mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
FAX: (601) 664-0782
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, Mississippi 39208

Dr. Gloria Perry, Medical Department (601) 359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

WE NEED NATIONAL MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVERAGE!!

Please take a moment and fill out Oprah's Contact Form and tell her she must do a show on the plight of Jamie and Gladys Scott at https://www.oprah.com/plugform.jsp?plugId=220 Please include a link to Mrs. Rasco's website, http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com

CLICK FOR COMPLETE PRISON/MEDIA/POLITICAL CONTACT LIST

2/28 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2010-02-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

Thanks so much to all of the supporters of Jamie & Gladys Scott! Jamie reported that she was taken to a vascular clinic last Monday and an attempt was made to correct the displaced catheter in her neck, but the doctor had a problem getting into her vein. Tests were also run to determine whether she had remaining infection in her body. She is being told that she will return there next week to see her regular doctor, who was not present at the time of this visit. She was not given any information regarding any of the findings by staff.

On Wednesday she began having chest pains following her dialysis and was taken to the hospital. No blockage was detected following ultrasound and catheterization of her heart. She was returned to the prison on Thursday before she was told of any results.

Jamie sounded a bit stronger and her family and your activism have helped her to regain some of her fighting spirit! She was told by staff that she will be allowed to purchase some food on Monday and she is grateful for the donations she has received to be able to do so! Also, she has been told that the chaplain will be coming by a couple of days a week to do her laundry.

Jamie should not be in the prison infirmary, locked in a cell on a hospital bed on the mens' side of the prison, where the care is absymal and frighteningly inadequate, she has had more than enough medical emergencies! There is a medical building on the prison grounds where the environment is greatly improved and where Gladys can help her tend to her activities of daily living, as other incarcerated family members are permitted to do with their ailing relatives. We need the prison officials to know that we want Jamie to be in the environment most conducive to her health and well-being as she struggles with her many life-threatening medical conditions.

Please continue to sign-on to the Change.org petition for the compassionate release of Jamie Scott at
http://tinyurl.com/yfrj5g6 and pass the word!

The 2/27 Empowerment Hour Online University radio show hosted by Bros. Kermit Eady and Earnest McBride featured Mrs. Evelyn Rasco, Marpessa Kupendua (nattyreb), Nancy Lockhart, and Shakeerah Abdul al-Sabuur. There was a whole lot of good info put out and the archive is available to all at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/eadyassociates/2010/02/27/the-empowerment-hour-online-university

Empress Chi, coordinator of the MWM/Black Women's Defense League, is organizing a Free the Scott Sisters Demo and Rally in Mississippi on March 26, 2010. To get involved in planning this and for more information call 267-636-3802 or e-mail:
nationalmwm@aol.com or BWDL7@aol.com.

PULLING OUT ALL THE STOPS! -- We definitely appreciate every initiative that anyone can take to help win freedom for these
women and Sis. Agnes Johnson gave a perfect example of exactly what we mean by pulling out all the stops. She not only has been able to speak to John Conyers and get info on the Scott Sisters directly to his office, but here are excerpts of a report she gave on Friday, 2/26:

"I moved thru the snow and slush to get to Columbia Univ to attend the Obama Admin's NY Universal Periodic Review (UPR). These sessions are being convened across the country to solicit information and recommendations regarding the US Gov. fulfillment of its obligation to protect human rights. Every four years, the UPR assesses each country's adherence to its human rights obligations under the U.N. Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), human rights treaties ratified by the country, its voluntary commitments, and applicable international law. Reviews are conducted by the UPR Working Group, which consists of 47 members of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

"I spoke during the comment time in both the Health Section and the Criminal Justice Section. In the Health Section I demanded that those in US custody had a right to proper and life saving measures and what Jamie Scott was going thru was not just a barrier but a crime. Both times the comments were well received and people actually joined in to say Free the Scott Sisters now.The panel for Criminal Justice was even more cleansed of any of the lightning bolt cases of police brutality or political prisoners or even the presence of historical prison reform advocates.

"I would like to suggest that wherever this national listening event happens that folks attend to keep the Scott Sisters on the floor and even get on the panel to do a presentation. On the phones were reps out of DC Justice Dept and we should be hitting their emails and phones as well. They are:
Julie Fernandes, Deputy Asst Attorney General, Civil Rights Div, USDJ
Daniel Baer, Deputy Asst Sec, Bureau of Dem,Human Rights & Labor, USDJ
Christopher Camponovo, Senior Adv, Bur of Dem, Human rights & Labor, USDJ
Georgina Verdugo, Dir, Office of Civil Rights, US Dept of Health and Human Serv.
The UPR website is at http://www.ushrnetwork.org/campaign_upr."
~~~~

If possible please tune into Bro. Rip Daniels' radio show weekdays from 9a-11a MS time. He gives regular Scott Sisters updates and conducts hard-hitting interviews with prison officials, politicians, and many others concerned with the case of Jamie and Gladys Scott. Access this show any morning at http://www.itisanewday.com/

2/25 BRIEF UPDATE & RALLY REPORT!

2010-02-25T16:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Mrs. Rasco received an unconfirmed report that Jamie had been rushed to the hospital due to chest pains and today that information has been confirmed. To the best of anyone's knowledge Jamie is still in the hospital and Mrs. Rasco has been told that she is "resting comfortably." She has been given no information regarding Jamie's diagnosis or condition. We will post updates as soon as they become available.

Today was dedicated to the Scott Sisters by Mississippi Radio's Rip Daniels, where a ton of information has been regularly aired and today even a song was dedicated to them. It was stated that now, after 15 years, Mississippi is finally hearing Mrs. Rasco's pleas for justice for her daughters. Mrs. Rasco is very grateful to Bros. Rip Daniels and Charles Evers for doing such a fantastic job raising this case to a high level in Mississippi.

Mrs. Rasco was interviewed by WLBT Mississippi TV 3 reporter Julie Straw for a 10pm story they are working on covering today's rally. Bro. Earnest McBride's report on the rally follows. Please continue to support however you are able!

FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS NOW!

------------

REPORT ON RALLY FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS THURSDAY AT THE MISSISSIPPI STATE CAPITOL

The rally opened Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. sharp. Charles Evers, the brother of civil rights martyr Medgar Evers hosted the rally inside the first floor rotunda of the Mississippi State Capitol. Evers, the general manager of radio station WMPR 90.1 FM said that he got involved because of the work Rip Daniels was doing on the air with his show, "It's a New Day." Daniels broadcasts out of Gulfport, but the daily program is simulcast on WMPR in Jackson. It's all on the Internet, too.
Daniels has been promoting the Scott Sisters' more than any of the other media in Mississippi.

Jackson Advocate Publisher Alice Tisdale asked that we remember her late husband, Jackson Advocate Charles Tisdale,the first person who actually took up the cause way back in 1993 and 1994 when the two sisters were first brought to trial. The Jackson Advocate shared the same building with Attorney Chokwe Lumumba at the time and Tisdale and Lumumba shared the same burning interest in cases like the Scott Sisters' injustice.

About 10 black state legislators appeared and spoke. Attorney Chokwe Lumumba, the attorney who handled the Scott Sisters appeal that was denied by the Mississppi Supreme Court, spoke on the injustice of the case. He urged people to flood the Governor Haley Barbour and Prison Commissioner Christopher Epps with emails and prepare to stage more and more demonstrations near the Scott County site of the miscarriage of justice.

At least five female lawmakers spoke and said they would not let the case rest. They led the cry of "Let my sisters go!" Next action is to get the Legislative Black Caucus on board. Black Caucus Chairman Billy Broomfield, a very competetent and savvy leader, was caught up with other legislative business and was unable to attend. But he will rally the entire Black Caucus. He is personally committed to the Scott Sisters' cause, but he will have to bring the issue before the entire Black Caucus in order to take a specific action in the name of the Black Caucus.

Three Local television channels and the Jackson Advocate were on hand to cover the event for the media. Earnest McBride, the Jackson Advocate contributing editor, also co-hosts the Empowerment Hour and will give a full report on the event this Saturday on BlogTalk Radio. (Check the Empowerment Hour Website for more information.)

None of the Rasco family was present. Mrs. Rasco rushed to Mississippi twice during the last two weeks on word that Jamie Scott's condition was critical. She does not have the money to travel back and forth to important events such as Thursday's rally. For this reason, Charles Evers and the rally organizers urged people to send money donations to Mrs. Evelyn Rasco, P.O. Box 7100, Pensacola, Florida 32534.

Rallies of this sort, while generating a lot of enthusiasm, and getting word out about the cause, tend not to get to the heart of the issues, to the real hurt and damage and suffering inflicted on the victims and the families of the victims.

Although just about everybody there truly sympathized with the Scott Sisters and Mrs. Rasco, their mother, and the children, other sisters and whoever, it is a difficult to say exactly how many of the rally attendees truly empathized with them. Please call us on the Empowerment Hour Saturday 6- 8 p.m. Eastern Time at: 646-716-7472.

Earnest L. McBride

Addendum: The Rally was held at the Rotunda in the Capitol Bldg. and about 200 people gathered at it's peak. One television station did a brief report at http://www.my601.com/default.aspx --(Scroll thru the videos til you see Charles Evers with the grey hat on).

CONTACT REQUEST FOR SCOTT SISTERS

2010-02-24T10:03:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Rasco is still trying to get updated info on Jamie, so i unfortunately can't confirm whether or not she was taken to the hospital yesterday. We will definitely give an update on Jamie as soon as we get word and do an official Scott Sisters posting.

This is my personal request that i hope that you'll participate in. Today, 2/23, i watched a portion of the Oprah Winfrey Show as she tearfully embraced the family of American student Amanda Knox, sentenced to 26 years for killing her roommate in Italy. She lavished such great empathy and seemingly heartfelt support that all i could do was think about all the ways that the case of the Scott Sisters completely trumped this one and should engender even more concern. Unlike Amanda Knox, this is a case where no one was killed or injured; the best years of two women's lives have been stolen by an extremely draconian double-life sentence each; they've already served 15 yrs for a first-time offense; they were wrongfully convicted in a trial where witnesses and two alleged victims stated that they had nothing to do with the robbery; they're from her home state of Mississippi, and one of them is suffering kidney failure and miserable medical care in deplorable conditions!

i'm not naive by any stretch, i'm hip to the world of ratings, celebrity-worship, salaciousness, etc., and that neither i nor Mrs. Rasco or the Scott Sisters particularly fit into Oprah's "putting a pot roast in the oven" suburban demographic. Still, i can't find fault in at least flooding her website with Scott Sisters information, particularly since it's so quick and easy and we are trying everything we can think of to do.

If we all did this activity together, perhaps we could catch the attention of one of her staffers who may at the very least put a bug into her ear. Surely this case could be a ratings grabber, it has all the mystique and intrigue of anything else she's got happening!

Below is what i've plugged in there & i hope you'll take just a few moments to try to see if we can get this case on her radar, using part of this and putting your own flavor in there, or completely using something totally different, please just be sure to include the link to Mrs. Rasco's website, thanks so much! The link to Oprah's contact form is at http://www.oprah.com/ownshow/plug_form.html?plug_id=220

"i watched your interview with the family of Amanda Knox today and am writing to ask that you give the same consideration to the Mississippi Scott Sisters, Jamie and Gladys, who have been incarcerated for 15 years of an astonishing double-life sentence (each) for an alleged robbery which was said to have netted approximately 11 dollars! No one was killed or injured during this alleged robbery and this was the first offense for both of these young women, who have maintained their innocence. Witnesses and the two alleged victims testified that Jamie and Gladys had absolutely nothing to do with this robbery and that the sheriff coerced and threatened them to lie on them at the original trial. After 15 hard years of prison life both women suffer from chronic depression and at just 38 years of age, Jamie Scott has a myriad of health issues and most recently suffered complete renal failure! Her thrice weekly dialysis is complicated by machine breakdowns, infections and lack of adequate nutrition resulting from miserable medical care and deplorable living conditions. NATIONAL ATTENTION TO THIS CASE COULD LITERALLY SAVE HER LIFE. These young women's children and grandchildren are all being cared for by their long-struggling mother, Evelyn Rasco, who single-handedly has cared for as many as 10 children at once, all while worrying about her son serving in Iraq and her daughters subsisting in the prison. All of the necessary information is online at http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com. Please take the time to review it and you will agree that this shocking and horrific injustice absolutely must be exposed! We need to hear from you."

Thanks to everyone and please pass this on!

Sis. Marpessa Kupendua

2/20 JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE!

2010-02-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

Mrs. Evelyn Rasco has been going non-stop in Mississippi advocating on behalf of her daughters since the 2/17 update, she is absolutely incredible and a force to be reckoned with!

Mrs. Rasco was able to get into see both of her daughters on 2/18. Gladys reports that she is doing OK but is of course greatly concerned about Jamie. Jamie was able to come to the visiting room and visit with her mother and son but was very obviously not doing well medically. She has lost weight and is extremely weak. The temporary catheter in her neck has been replaced twice but is still malfunctioning with infection in her neck and breast area, which she was able to show her mother evidence of.
One of her medications is being denied to her because the state won't pay for it. Jamie's blood pressure and diabetes are not under control.

As soon as Mrs. Rasco left the prison she attended a meeting of the legislature in the Capitol Bldg. in Jackson dealing with prison budget cuts and other prison-related issues. She recognized Commissioner Epps from his photo at the prison and walked right up to him and told him all about Jamie's poor condition and shoddy medical treatment. He stated that he was getting messages from all over the world (thanks to all of you!). He stated that he was going to do everything that he could to obtain clemency or pardon for the Scott Sisters and that he was giving his word on this, although he had no power to actually make it happen himself. Dr. Gloria Perry was also there and defended the medical care that Jamie Scott is receiving despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

Mrs. Rasco has done several MS radio shows and even spoke at a high school last night. She was preparing to return home today but received a call in the middle of last night telling her that she needed to get back to the prison today (2/20) and see about Jamie. Since today is Jamie's regular visiting day she was able to go right down there to see her. This a.m., however, Jamie was too weak to walk to the visiting room, but Mrs. Rasco was able to go to the infirmary where Jamie is being kept on a hospital bed inside of a cell.

She was horrified at Jamie's living conditions in the infirmary, she could not believe what she saw there. She stated that there was trash all over the floor. Jamie's bedding was dirty and her facebowl and toilet were filthy. Jamie's floor had bags of dirty clothes. The paint was peeling and the infirmary was nasty. Jamie told her that the dialysis machine broke down again, this time during her last treatment and that she only received one hour on there.

The nurse said that Jamie needs to be hospitalized RIGHT NOW because of a huge knot of infection that has amassed in her neck. The catheter has drifted and is again non-functional. The nurse is giving her antibiotics and said she should have been hospitalized yesterday but that the paperwork had not been completed. She is hoping that Jamie will get sent back to the hospital on Monday. The food in the tray that was delivered to Jamie while Mrs. Rasco was there was swimming in water and unfit to eat. Jamie refused it and said she has not been receiving the nutrition that dialysis patients are supposed to have.

One of Mrs. Rasco's legal advisers, Chokwe Lumumba, urged that we strive to get support from a medical foundation or institution that can help to get Jamie moved into a medical facility ASAP in order to save her life. The infections and her horrible living conditions, her lack of consistent dialysis, medications, and nutrition and her serious illnesses have left Jamie barely able to walk. If you are able to help Jamie purchase her food, or even would like to put money on Gladys' books, please go to http://www.inmatedeposits.com and register for Access Corrections to help them.

Please continue to contact the Governor, prison officials, politicians and media, there is a lot of renewed focus on the case of the Scott Sisters and Mrs. Rasco said that information is going out all over Mississippi radio.

There are some upcoming events for the Scott Sisters, including a gathering at the Capitol in Jackson, MS being organized by Bro. Lumumba for next week. The MWM/Black Women's Defense League rally is being organized by Empress Chi for March 26, 2010. The "FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS" Protest Demonstration and Rally will also help to further the building of the "FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS" DIRECT ACTION TASK FORCE that is being coordinated by the BWDL To get involved with the FTSS-Task Force or for more information call 267-636-3802 or e-mail: nationalmwm@aol.com or BWDL7@aol.com.

Please subscribe to the mailing list and check the website and Facebook Group for updates. Mrs. Rasco is still unable to respond to e-mails as she is away from her computer, so please send urgent messages to nattyreb@gmail.com until she returns.

Thanks to everyone, please help spread the word & ACT!

2/13 Chokwe Lumumba on Jamie and Gladys Scott

2010-02-13T17:56:00.000-08:00

Very informative interview w/hosts Kermit Eady & Associates and guest Chokwe Lumumba, legal supporter to the Scott Sisters, which goes deep into the struggle to save Jamie Scott's life and gives a good overview of the case of the Scott Sisters. Please check it out when you have the chance, it's well worth the time and we need to be as informed as possible when engaging this cold-blooded system in the struggle for Jamie's life. Please don't forget to sign the petition! Thank you!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/eadyassociates/2010/02/13/the-empowerment-hour-online-university

2/12 KEEP THOSE CALLS COMING FOR JAMIE!

2010-02-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

Mrs. Rasco has finally made it to Mississippi. She won't be able to drive to the prison to try to get the officials to let her in to see her daughters until Tuesday, 2/16 due to there being several inches of snow on the ground at the time of this update and then the prison being closed for the Monday holiday. She is thankful to everyone and wants anyone who wrote her to know that she is going to be there for the next few days and won't be able to respond until she returns. Will post any updates from Mississippi as they come in!

PLEASE keep on blasting Governor Haley Barbour's office & sign the petition, as of now there are less than 300 signatures and we are shooting for 1,000.

Saturday, February 13th (6pm EST/5pm CST), The Empowerment Hour Online University has scheduled attorney and MS Councilman Chokwe Lumumba as their guest, who is currently acting as an adviser and supporter in helping obtain medical assistance for Jamie Scott. This program is at http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/eadyassociates, call-in Number 646-716-7472.

SPECIAL THANKS TO RIP DANIELS AT WJDZ Radio Station, Gulfport, MS, for his consistent broadcast journalism around this case!

A few sites of note:

Heidi 'Raw" Phillips-West has dedicated part of her website to support the call for Compassionate Release for Jamie Scott at
http://concretemuse.webs.com/justusforjamie.htm and is working to try to get artists together to put on an event! Please be in contact if you are in the Indiana area.

Midge Hough of http://mergeleft2010.wordpress.com/ has dedicated
a page of her site entitled "A Cry for Help" to Jamie Scott in the midst of her own personal tragedy and given us space to place updates.

The SF Bay View has added much more to the piece at:
http://www.sfbayview.com/2010/compassionate-release-for-jamie-scott/

Today and until Jamie is released, PLEASE ASK GOVERNOR BARBOUR TO GRANT INMATE JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, CMCF, COMPASSIONATE RELEASE DUE TO SERIOUS MEDICAL ILLNESS. She is not a threat to anyone and has a supportive family willing to care for her and obtain the medical care that she has not adequately received while in prison. She is a first-time offender who has served 15 years in prison and is not a risk for recidivism, particularly with the gravity of her declining health. We are asking for her release AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

Thanks to everyone, please help spread the word & ACT!
---------------------

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS -- NO YELLING OR CURSING!
IT WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW MINUTES, PLEASE PARTICIPATE!

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Dorothy Kuykendall
Personal Assistant to Gov. Barbour
(601) 359-3150
DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us
P. O Box 3150
Jackson, MS 39205

Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Emmitt Sparkman, Deputy Commissioner
(601) 359-5610
esparkman@mdoc.state.ms.us

Margaret Bingham, Superintendent of Central Mississippi Corrections Facility
(601) 932-2880
mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
FAX: (601) 664-0782
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, Mississippi 39208

Dr. Gloria Perry, Medical Department (601) 359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

2/10 IMPORTANT ORGANIZING UPDATES FOR JAMIE!

2010-02-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

PLEASE keep on blasting Governor Haley Barbour's office! Jamie Scott was taken by ambulance to the hospital yesterday and returned to the prison thereafter and we've been told that she is very severely depressed. We have no official report on what was done to her there but believe that it could at the very least have included her having a dialysis treatment performed. We have some important organizing updates to share, so please forward and ACT!

Peggy Plews of Mississippi Prison Watch did an outstanding appeal to the Mississippi Kidney Foundation at http://mississippiprisonwatch.blogspot.com/2010/02/mississippi-kidney-foundation-appeal.html, which includes the following powerful statement: "It may well be that Jamie's crisis is the catalyst that gets so much needed focus on the critically and terminally ill in prison; without her voice, countless others may suffer in invisibility. And her example of survival and resistance is an inspiration to other women living and dying there, too." Check it out, she was very thorough!

The Women Behind the Wall blogtalk radio program hosted by Mary Ellen and Gloria on 2/9 provided a lot of education and insight from those who could personally testify to being sick inside of those hellholes and the lack of caring offered by the corporations which dole out what passes for medical care, some of which has to come directly from the inmates' own pockets! This program featured Mrs. Rasco and Shakeerah Abdul al-Sabuur, paralegal, and is archived at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/4justicenow/2010/02/09/women-behind-the-wall?autm_source=remail&utm_medium=listener

The fantastic San Francisco Bay View continues to be our leading print resource and has posted a wonderful new piece today at the site: http://www.sfbayview.com/2010/compassionate-release-for-jamie-scott/

We've added in a new link to the Govs' assistant and ask that folks please CALL into the governor's office for maximum effect, but additionally follow-up with e-mails, letters, faxes and anything possible. **Please do something rather than nothing at all!

Thank you so much, everyone!

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS -- NO YELLING OR CURSING!
IT WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW MINUTES, PLEASE PARTICIPATE!

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Dorothy Kuykendall
Personal Assistant to Gov. Barbour
(601) 359-3150
DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us
P. O Box 3150
Jackson, MS 39205

CLICK FOR COMPLETE PRISON/MEDIA/POLITICAL CONTACT LIST

MRS. RASCO RADIO INTERVIEW W/BLOCK REPORT RADIO

2010-02-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Rasco had a great interview with Bro. JR on 1/22/10, the first time Jamie was taken to the hospital and the temporary catheter was initially placed. This interview took place before we were aware that Jamie had already been thrown back into the prison that very same day. Thanks to the Block Report for always supporting those who need it most!

2/7 COMPASSIONATE RELEASE FOR JAMIE SCOTT!

2010-02-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

2/8 Addendum -- Mrs. Rasco reports that the building Jamie is in has had no heat or hot water all weekend! Still no word of if/when she will be taken to the hospital.
-------------

Greetings all,

Please continue to call and write to support the Scott Sisters and particularly Jamie Scott during this period of medical emergency. Specifically this week we are asking that a special focus be placed on COMPASSIONATE RELEASE for Jamie Scott through the governor's office. As was reported on 2/5/10 the level of medical care that she is receiving in that prison is ATROCIOUS, she missed a dialysis treatment!, has a possibly infected and malfunctioning temporary catheter, and just prior to that went into shock due to malpractice on the part of the prison medical staff!

Jamie was told that she would be going back to the hospital for surgery to have a permanent shunt installed on Monday or Tuesday, but we don't know that this will occur or if it will even be appropriately used given the circumstances surrounding the failures of the prison to properly care for her to date. The family and legal supporters are pressing to get Jamie released based on her frighteningly declining health ever since her initial imprisonment!

Executive Paralegal with Advocate Associates, Sis. Shakeerah Abdul al-Sabuur, has filed for Compassionate Release for Jamie and we need to request that Gov. Haley Barbour act on that and immediately release JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, from CMCF. He is under a budget crisis, has stated that releasing inmates from the prisons are a possibility, and has released inmates in the past. Jamie Scott must get the medical care that she needs to survive OUTSIDE of those prison walls! The link to the paperwork that was submitted is at http://www.scribd.com/doc/26252282/COMPASSIONATE-RELEASE-FOR-JAMIE-SCOTT.

The other contacts are definitely still very important, particularly mainstream media, but we absolutely must make certain that the governor's office hears and reads from a whole lot of people to bolster the efforts of our legal advisers. PLEASE PASS THE WORD AND HELP TO LIGHT UP THAT OFFICE THIS WEEK!

Thank you so much, everyone!
---------------------

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS -- NO YELLING OR CURSING! IT WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW MINUTES, PLEASE PARTICIPATE!

CLICK FOR PRISON/MEDIA/POLITICAL CONTACT LIST

2/5 JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE!

2010-02-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

Jamie Scott got word out about 3:00 EST that she was told that her dialysis for today was cancelled because the machine at the prison was broken! As if that isn't bad enough, she reports that her temporary catheter is full of blood and pus and appears to be infected. Of course she and her family are terrified of any complications happening to her as she is still suffering with extreme weakness and other ill effects from her serious medical condition.

Atty. Chokwe Lumumba visited Gladys and Jamie yesterday to collect data on Jamie's physical treatment at the prison. He is presently exploring options on how to legally proceed with getting Jamie the medical care that she desperately needs.
~

Jamie also recently wrote a letter to her supporters, excerpts of which follow:

"First let me thank you for the prayers, strength and consideration you have displayed for me and my sister. This ordeal with my kidneys has truly broke me down. I am tired, but I know I cannot give up, because of my family and many supporters.

It was first determined that I had protein in my urine in 1997. Throughout the years it went uncured and untreated and I wasn't hurting so I thought nothing of it. They would take tests and never receive results. I had a kidney biopsy done around 1997, but once again never received any results. My uterus fell and was removed in 2005. Once again, I never received results of tests on my kidneys.

Now what we must not do is lose our temper and make things worse. Please, you cannot call up here and use abusive language. That will not solve anything. About my dialysis treatments, I go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The set up is inside a trailer.

It is hard and I want my life. The only thing as a whole we can do is try to get the Governor to do something right and release me and Gladys.

I want to thank each one of you for everything you have done.

-- Jamie."

Mrs. Rasco did a wonderful Interview with Bro. JR of Block Report Radio/POCC on 1/22 when Jamie was first taken to the hospital, his interview is about 3/4 of the way thru the program at http://aud1.kpfa.org/data/20100128-Thu1700.mp3 . This was before we knew that Jamie had already been returned back to the prison that same day.

Mrs. Rasco is scheduled to be a guest on the Empowerment Hour Radio Show tomorrow 2/6 at 6pm EST, which is accessible at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/eadyassociates and anyone can call (646) 716-7472 to join in the conversation or just listen.

In light of this most recent emergency, we need to start ASAP on trying to get someone to assess and treat Jamie Scott. We need to contact the prison, governor's office and as much mainstream media as we can! We have to put pressure on Mississippi to get Jamie the medical attention she needs and to get she and Gladys released from their unjust imprisonment! Thank you very much!
~~~~

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS

CLICK FOR PRISON/MEDIA/POLITICAL CONTACT LIST

2/1 INMATE SAVES JAMIE'S LIFE!!

2010-02-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

Jamie Scott called home last night to the relief of her mother and family!

Following dialysis treatment at the prison last week Jamie was locked in a cell and was not checked on at all by anyone for a very long while. When an inmate stopped by Jamie's cell to speak to her, the inmate was alarmed that she was not moving and was completely unresponsive. It was because of this inmate yelling out for help that Jamie was found to be in shock and rushed by ambulance to the Central Mississippi Medical Facility, where she had been a patient during the entire time the prison refused to give her mother or legal supporters any information at all.

If not for this inmate's intervention Jamie may not have survived. Her heart rate and blood pressure were way off, as well as her magnesium levels. Her treatment had not been carried out properly and the doctor had to send back written instructions on how to care for her. The doctor alerted Jamie that there was a problem with the insertion of the temporary catheter in her neck and that it's placement could lead to infection, stating that the doctor who placed it needed to be contacted. As of last night Jamie was in the prison infirmary.

We are more concerned than ever about Jamie's medical care and are still pushing for mainstream media coverage to shine a bright light on her steady, perilous decline due to CUT-RATE medical care with the prison's rule of thumb being whatever is quickest, cheapest (whether or not it's actually the right treatment) or nothing at all!

Although Mrs. Rasco has a legal advisor, Atty Jaribu Hill, she is still in dire need of a criminal attorney. There are many issues that need to be addressed and we are actively seeking any information that would help her obtain a lawyer. We are extremely fortunate to have a fantastic and heavily experienced paralegal recently volunteer to work with us and who would be of great assistance to any attorney that would help to right the very egregious wrongs the Scott Sisters have suffered these many years.

Jamie Scott nor her sister should even be locked down in that prison in the first place, this case is galling beyond belief and calls into question every platitude this nation applies to itself when falsely lauding itself as a human rights champion! Please continue to make as many contacts as possible on the Scott Sisters' behalf, we are interested in all of your ideas and creativity to get this story out there!

------------

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

MAYOR OF PEARL, MISSISSIPPI (Where Jamie is incarcerated):
Brad Rogers
Phone Number (601) 932 3575
Fax Number (601)932-3568

Congressman Gregg Harper
2507-A Old Brandon Road
Pearl, MS 39208
Phone: (601) 932 2410
Fax: (601) 932 4647

U.S. Senator Thad Cochran
United States Senate
Wash., D.C. 20510-2402
JACKSON 601-965-4459
Contact Form: http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

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URGENT: JAMIE SCOTT RUSHED TO HOSPITAL!

2010-01-30T16:17:00.001-08:00

1/30/2010

Mrs. Evelyn Rasco has confirmed through a sergeant and nurse at the prison that Jamie was rushed to the hospital due to a decline in her condition earlier today. The prison will not confirm anything further, whatsoever, not even whether Jamie is still alive or where specifically she has been taken (the hospitals will not confirm whether Jamie is a patient at any of them either).

We had received a report a few days ago that Jamie should have been returned to the Medical Bldg. at the prison due to severe weakness and difficulty carrying out her activities of daily living, however this did NOT happen.

Jamie Scott should have remained hospitalized long ago due to her kidney failure and other health issues that are impacted by such a serious development!! The prison has played games with Jamie's life long enough and should have never moved her back from
the hospital to begin with!

We need to know Jamie Scott's condition and what is happening to her. She must not, once again, be returned to the prison to continue to deteriorate, her medical care must be taken out of the prison's hands!

Updates will follow as soon as they are available! Please keep checking in as much as you are able!

1/27 JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE!

2010-01-27T06:29:00.000-08:00

Jamie Scott's situation remains unchanged. Our legal experts are working on a variety of different angles to make things happen for her. Our legal adviser, Jaribu Hill, wants to thank all of the supporters and asks that anyone contact her with information that may help the case at jaribuhill@yahoo.com. She advises that we continue to focus on the governor's office with calls, faxes and e-mails as this will complement the work that is happening. In 2009 this governor pardoned a man that killed his wife after the woman was continually complaining about him to the police and so there is no reason that he not release Jamie and Gladys Scott who are guilty of no crime and not even charged with any violence!

Mrs. Rasco did an excellent interview on WJZD Mississippi radio yesterday to call out for help from those listeners. Please help us to push for more national media coverage to get this case the attention it needs!

There is a major problem with some callers cursing and yelling when calling the prison. Please control yourself when speaking to these people as these outbursts are not helping but instead are actually harming our efforts. Thanks for keeping it together and being polite.

Please use the below in your mailings and postings where a general overview is needed. Thanks so much to all of you who have answered the call to fight for Jamie's life and freedom for the Scott Sisters!

-----------
Jamie Scott #19197: Prisoner in Urgent Need of Hospitalization
1/25/2010

Jamie Scott is a 38 year old inmate in the Central Mississippi Corr. Facility, Pearl, MS. She entered the prison as a young, healthy woman 15 years ago but has suffered with many medical ailments that were never properly diagnosed nor treated.

Jamie suffered kidney failure approximately two weeks ago and was being held in the prison infirmary while the prison stubbornly refused to move her to a hospital for treatment. Calls went out worldwide demanding that action be taken to save Jamie's life, yet the prison refused to budge. The prison has known that Jamie was sick for some time, yet her condition was allowed to manifest and deteriorate to this level. Jamie was informed by one of the kidney specialists that the medicines that the prison was giving her could have triggered her kidneys to shut down.

On 1/22/2010 Jamie was abruptly taken to Central Mississippi Medical Center at 5:00 am and a temporary catheter was inserted into her neck, returning back to the prison around noon that same day. She was told that her body was full of toxins and that she had to be treated to help to clear them from her body and would need a permanent shunt placed in her body at a later date.

Jamie Scott is presently locked down in a cell at the prison, even though she is still seriously ill and should be hospitalized! Jamie, her family and supporters do not trust the prison to provide her with sufficient medical care at all, their track record is horrible with her and her current condition is proof of it. It is the prison's intention to carry out her dialysis treatments in a trailer and then return her to a rain-soaked and mold-infested prison ward that is not fit for human habitation. Jamie needs to be fully assessed as the condition of her other organs are still yet unknown and are now jeopardized as a result of her kidney
failure. She needs to be monitored in a hospital where she can finally get all her illnesses correctly diagnosed and addressed, including depression, as this is a life and death situation and must not be taken lightly! Please address this matter urgently.

More info is available at: http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com
------------

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

MAYOR OF PEARL, MISSISSIPPI (Where Jamie is incarcerated):
Brad Rogers
Phone Number (601) 932 3575
Fax Number (601)932-3568

Congressman Gregg Harper
2507-A Old Brandon Road
Pearl, MS 39208
Phone: (601) 932 2410
Fax: (601) 932 4647

U.S. Senator Thad Cochran
United States Senate
Wash., D.C. 20510-2402
JACKSON 601-965-4459
Contact Form: http://cochran.senate.gov/contact.htm

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

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1/25 JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE!

2010-01-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

Jamie Scott is presently locked down in a cell in the infirmary on a hospital bed on the men's side of the prison. She has had some of the toxins removed from her body through a temporary catheter, but she is still seriously ill and should be hospitalized! The prison has known that Jamie was sick for some time, yet her condition was allowed to manifest and deteriorate to this level and we do not trust them to provide her with sufficient medical care at all, their track record with Jamie is horrendous!

Jamie Scott was a healthy young woman in 1993 when she was snatched away from her family for no good reason and locked down in tortuous conditions for 15 yrs, now her condition is life-threatening, must this horrific injustice now become a death
sentence?!

Gladys Scott is extremely upset by all of this, as you can well imagine. As reported earlier, she has offered one of her own kidneys for Jamie and was told that as a state prisoner she doesn't qualify. With each passing day she is becoming more and more alarmed and could really use some cards/letters from supporters:

Gladys Scott #19142
CMCF/B-Bldg.
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8550

Please continue to contact the governor's office, we cannot rest or believe that our efforts are in vain. Call into talk radio, enter info on as many blogs, Ning groups, etc., as possible, we need to really make a very loud NOISE in order to be heard! We need all of your ideas and talents, thank you all!

JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, IS SUFFERING CRUEL AND INHUMAN PUNISHMENT!

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters

CLICK FOR MEDIA/POLITICAL CONTACT LIST

JAMIE SCOTT TAKEN BACK TO PRISON!

2010-01-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

SICKENING ROLLER-COASTER RIDE FOR JAMIE SCOTT!!

Mrs. Rasco was informed at 6:00 a.m. that Jamie Scott was returned to the prison infirmary after having been told that her body was full of toxins and that the medication she had been receiving at the prison contributed to the condition she is in today! In typical sadistic fashion, the prison told Jamie that they are not paying for her to have a special diet and that they will be moving her back to the horrible, leaky and moldy building where she was living. As if all of that wasn't bad enough, she was further informed that she will be taken to a trailer to receive dialysis instead of the hospital!

While our legal adviser, Jaribu Hill, is working on legal support for Jamie, we MUST continue to advocate for her. Mrs. Rasco wants us to flood the governor's office as he has released inmates in the past who have been convicted of far worse crimes than which Jamie and Gladys are accused. Mississippi is also making deep budget cuts which have included discussions around the release of inmates, and there is no reason on this earth why Jamie Scott should continue to be locked down in her serious
medical condition, it is cruel, inhumane, and DEADLY, she has many aggravating conditions, is severely depressed, and there
must be COMPASSION!

If you work in the medical field please make that known when calling/writing so that it can be made plain that there are medical professionals aware of this prison's culpability in this previously healthy young woman's deterioration into such a serious condition, which they continue to downplay to this very moment!

We also continue to feel strongly that if we could put the light of mainstream media on this case that it would make a huge difference. PLEASE include calls and e-mails to the media. If you're from overseas, please make sure that they know that fact.

Thanks again to you all, we have an enormous fight on our hands and we need all of the help we can get! We know that they
expect us to give up, but we must push even harder!
----------------------

JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, IS SUFFERING CRUEL AND INHUMAN PUNISHMENT!

BE DIRECT BUT PLEASE BE COURTEOUS

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

(FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ANY AND ALL MAJOR MEDIA YOU HAVE INFORMATION FOR, DON'T BE LIMITED BY THESE LISTINGS AT ALL!)

CLICK FOR MEDIA/POLITICAL CONTACT LIST

1/22 JAMIE SCOTT MOVED TO HOSPITAL!

2010-01-22T18:15:00.000-08:00

BREAKING NEWS!!!

JUST CONFIRMED THAT JAMIE SCOTT IS IN CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CENTER,
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI!!

Gladys Scott called their mother, Mrs. Rasco, and told her that Jamie was moved earlier today and had surgery to place a shunt where she will begin to receive dialysis. According to one of the guards she is doing OK at this point in time. We will definitely keep everyone updated every time we are aware of a new development.

The outpouring of love that was showered on Jamie and Mrs. Rasco from around the world was truly incredible, fantastic and wonderful; thank you doesn't begin to express the gratitude that this family feels for what you've accomplished.

Mrs. Rasco wants everyone who called, faxed or e-mailed to know that it was due to your ceaseless efforts that this happened, and she is very, very grateful to each and everyone of you that participated in this call to action!

Together we can bring them home to their families where they belong!!

CHECK IT: 1/20 JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE

2010-01-20T13:33:00.000-08:00

ALERT -- JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE!

The prison chaplain arranged for Jamie to call Mrs. Rasco today and in that phone call Jamie confirmed that both of her kidneys have shut down and that she is in the prison ICU. She told her mother that she will be taken to the hospital sometime next week to have a procedure performed so that she can begin dialysis. She did not know why this is being delayed and neither does the family!

Jamie Scott, at age 38, has aged tremendously since her 15+ years of unjust incarceration and now suffers from severe medical problems which have led to her kidneys shutting down. She needs immediate hospitalization for treatment, proper diagnoses and pain relief. Jamie also has mental health needs which need to be evaluated and treated, as well!

WE FEEL STRONGLY THAT TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.

DON'T CURSE OR YELL INTO THE PHONE. STATE PLAINLY AND CLEARLY THAT WE WANT JAMIE MOVED OUT OF THE PRISON
AND INTO A HOSPITAL WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, THIS IS CRUCIAL!

JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, MUST BE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL IMMEDIATELY! Her physical and mental state require the highest levels of professional care.

Dr. Gloria Perry, Medical Department (601) 359-5155
gperry@mdoc.state.ms.us

Margaret Bingham, Superintendent of Central Mississippi Corrections Facility
(601) 932-2880
mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
FAX: (601) 664-0782
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, Mississippi 39208

Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Emmitt Sparkman, Deputy Commissioner
(601) 359-5610
esparkman@mdoc.state.ms.us

CLICK FOR MEDIA/POLITICAL CONTACT LIST

MEDIA/POLITICAL CONTACT LIST

2010-01-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

MISSISSIPPI MEDIA:

WLBT
(601) 960-4426 newsroom
(601) 355-7830 newsroom fax
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=241208&nav=menu119_8_8
"Stribling, Wilson" , ( Asst News Director )

WAPT TV
601-922-1607-- To report news tips, call 601-922-1652.
to submit news to the MGR, news anchor or anyone use this link
http://www.wapt.com/contact/index.html

WJTV
Phone: (601) 372-6311
Fax: (601) 372-8798
http://www2.wjtv.com/jtv/online/site_information/contacts/

FOX40
601-922-1234
http://www.my601.com/content/contactus/default.aspx

NBC TODAY SHOW: Today@NBCUNI.com
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS: Nightly@NBC.com
Listing of NBC/MSNBC Show e-mails at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10285339/

NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10112
Phone: (212) 664-4444
Fax: (212) 664-4426

CBS FEEDBACK FORM: http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.php
CBS NEWS
524 W. 57 St., New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-975-4321
Fax: 212-975-1893

ABC NEWS CONTACT FORM: http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&cat=Good%20Morning%20America
ABC NEWS
77 W. 66 St., New York, NY 10023
Phone: 212-456-7777

CNN NEWS TIP FORM: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/newstips.html
CNN
One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
Phone: 404-827-1500
Fax: 404-827-1784

Inside Edition
VIEWER COMMENTS
PO Box 1323
Radio City Station
New York, NY 10101
E-mail us at: tips@insideedition.com
Call us at: (212) 817-5555

Oprah Contact Form: https://www.oprah.com/plugform.jsp?plugId=220

Joe Madison: Joe.Madison@xmradio.com

Geraldo Rivera: atlarge@foxnews.com

USA Today
7950 Jones Branch Dr., McLean, VA 22108
Phone: 703-854-3400
Fax: 703-854-2078

Associated Press
450 West 33rd St., New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-621-1500
Fax: 212-621-7523
General Questions and Comments: info@ap.org

Congressman Bennie Thompsom
Washington, D.C. Office
2432 Rayburn HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-5876
(202) 225-5898 (Fax)
Jackson, Mississippi Office
3607 Medgar Evers Blvd
Jackson, MS 39213
(601) 946-9003
(601)-982-5337 (Fax)

Congressman Alcee L. Hastings
Washington Office
2353 Rayburn Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515
Tel: (202) 225-1313
Fax: (202) 225-1171

Congressman Jeff Miller
Washington D.C.
2439 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4136
Fax: (202) 225-3414
Toll Free Phone Number to District Office
Pensacola, Florida
Phone: 866-367-1614

1/18 URGENT SCOTT SISTERS ALERT!!

2010-01-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT!

Mrs. Rasco just received a phone call from Gladys Scott that both of Jamie Scott's kidneys have shut down and that she has been in the prison infirmary since last Saturday hooked up to IV fluids with a heavy build-up of toxins in her body. Jamie has yet to be sent to a hospital due to "paperwork." Jamie pleaded that Gladys not contact their mother because she didn't want to burden her with anymore worry on top of caring for all of the children.

Gladys has offered to donate a kidney to Jamie and was told that she cannot because she is a state prisoner and that it would be too expensive. The greatest heartbreak of all is that Jamie has asked to be allowed to die because she wants to come home so badly and no longer believes that it will ever happen.

JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, MUST BE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL IMMEDIATELY! Her physical and mental state require the highest levels of professional care.

Margaret Bingham, Superintendent of Central Mississippi Corrections Facility
(601) 932-2880
mbingham@mdoc.state.ms.us
FAX: (601) 664-0782
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, Mississippi 39208

Christopher Epps, Commissioner of Prisons for the State of Mississippi
601-359-5600
CEPPS@mdoc.state.ms.us
723 North President Street
Jackson, MS 39202

Emmitt Sparkman, Deputy Commissioner
(601) 359-5610
esparkman@mdoc.state.ms.us

Add'l Contacts for 1/18:
Health Svcs. Admin Paxton Paige (the one we're being told has the power to move her) (601) 932-2880, Ext. 6647
SDO Tina Lander (in charge today) (same phone #)
Captain Fillyaw (next in authority today) (same phone #)

We've been told that all of these people are out for the holiday today, but are able to leave VM's and also talk w/the prison operators so that it's known that we're calling about Jamie Scott.

Please reply back to us and let us know of every response you get so that we can keep track of what people are being told.

1/7 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2010-01-07T16:57:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU FOR REPOSTING THIS INFORMATION!!

Warm Greetings all,

Happy New Year to you all and may this be the year that the Scott Sisters are AT LONG LAST reunited with their family! Thanks to all of you who have written, called and e-mailed on their behalf, as well as spread the word of this case by forwarding and reposting, we need that to happen! We've received messages from as far away as Germany and as near as the smallest of towns here in the U.S. of people in support of these women, this is about as grassroots of an effort as it gets, we are counting on each person reading these words to ACT.

It's been reported that there was a recent article on the case featured in the Jackson Advocate (Mississippi) for which we are real grateful and will send out as soon as we receive it. Mainstream publicity largely continues to elude us, as you know they would rather focus on Tiger Woods or Mariah Carey instead of the wrongfully convicted who are suffering and dying behind the walls of the prisons in this country! It's gonna take hundreds of letters to these entities to get them to say a mumbling word about this atrocious case, so we're really calling on everyone to contact as many media outlets as possible with the information at our website.

With the help of legal adviser Jaribu Hill, the prison has agreed to allow the Scott Sisters to visit each other for two hours this month! This will mean the world to them as they have been terribly upset about not seeing one another. Both women suffer from depression, Jamie is in poor health, and they need to be in regular contact with one another and their family who love and miss them so much. There's a new photo at the website of the children and grandchildren of Jamie and Gladys so that you can see how much they are needed at home instead of being tormented in captivity like this, it is truly cruel and inhuman punishment!! This situation is really abysmal, it's just gotta get solved!

Please continue to send in your ideas and spread the word about this case, we need you!! Let us know when you contact media so that we can keep up with who has received the info. Also please bear in mind that we are still looking for a criminal attorney to work on this case, please share this information with any leads at all that will assist this family!

Don't forget to send in your letters and to ask others to do so as well! We can make anything happen, we have the power, we just need the MASS NUMBERS of people TO ACT!

------------

SAMPLE LETTER:

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

The Honorable Attorney General Holder:

I am writing to request that you investigate the cases of Jamie and Gladys Scott. The Scott Sisters were given double life sentences each in October of 1994 for armed robbery in the state of Mississippi. No one was injured or murdered. One witness states that about 11 dollars was netted in the armed robbery. All witnesses and victims of this crime have testified that the Scott Sisters were not involved in the robbery. Witnesses testified that they were coerced and threatened to lie on the Scott Sisters.

A 14 year old witness testified that he signed a statement which was prepared for him before he entered Deputy Sheriff Marvin Williams’ Office. This statement was signed by the 14 year old without an attorney present. He was told that he would be released from the local jail the next morning if he signed it. He was not released.

This is an egregious wrongful conviction and the Scott Sisters and their family has suffered now 15+ years.

Jamie and Gladys Scott are housed in Pearl, Mississippi at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. Their ID numbers are Jamie Scott #19197 and Gladys Scott #19142.

Sincerely,
(Your Name)
----

Please also send a letter to Governor Haley Barbour:

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oprah's last year is coming up and she should be pressured to do a show on this case from her home state, there's a contact form for her that you can fill in online at https://www.oprah.com/plugform.jsp?plugId=220. Imagine if she received 1,000 forms to do something on the Scott Sisters, perhaps she would be moved to do so, who knows? Also, please make sure to print some flyers out and stick them in your bag the next time you are going out among the people to spread the word, we can do this, we MUST! http://www.scribd.com/doc/22154749/Scott-Sisters-Flyer

12/20 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2009-12-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone!

Mrs. Rasco has done several very excellent Blogtalk interviews of late and is working hard to get mention of this case in the mainstream, please help spread the word to anyone who may cover this story. We need y'all to link to and steer people to the website and distribute flyers as broadly as you are able to, even religious and spiritual houses should very definitely be involved in the struggle to bring these women home, this is madness!! One supporter recently suggested sticking flyers in the bulletins/programs, on the bulletin board, or in common areas of these facilities.

Gladys Scott wrote this update for you all: "Peace to all my supporters and friends for believing in me and Jamie's freedom. I would like to thank everyone! I'm so glad whenever I get mail and I will try to answer everybody when I have stamps. My life here has been bad, but I work and go to school and am trying to stay strong. Right now I speak to kids from different schools and try to tell them how prison is and so I am trying to turn a negative situation into a positive outcome. I miss Jamie so much. I wish that she was with me, but this prison is so wrong. The only thing I can do is pray and ask God to give me peace through all that goes on in here. I have seen so many people make it out and pray to God that I live long enough to make it out to be with my kids and grandkids, and I want to take care of my mother who I owe so much. She has been there with us since day one and I am so proud to be her daughter. She makes me not want to give up and I know that I have to stay strong for her, she is the inspiration of my life. Scott County told me that I was going to rot in prison but I know that's a lie. Justice will come, the truth will come out that we are innocent and the system is corrupted. We are going to keep on fighting until someone hears our voice for justice. Happy holidays to all our supporters and may God's peace keep you. Love, Gladys."

MORE...

CHECK IT: 12/6/09 UPDATE!

2009-12-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

Mrs. Rasco, Jamie and Gladys Scott want to thank everyone who has called, written, faxed and e-mailed on their behalf!! It truly is making a difference, as has already been reported! Gladys Scott was recently told by the warden of that prison that calls and letters continue to come in, a testament to the perseverance of all of you who are letting these officials know that there are people worldwide watching what goes on with her and Jamie, which is very important as we agitate for their release!

Legal adviser Jaribu Hill is working with Mrs. Rasco to advise us on next best steps. One is that we undertake a greater and more consistent campaign of making Atty. General Holder and Gov. Haley Barbour recognize our resolve to have these women freed from prison hell with letters from around the country and world, the demand must be massive in order to make any impact at all. So please, EVERYONE, pass the word to send mail to these two officials ASAP.

MORE...

11/17 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2009-11-17T14:44:00.000-08:00

Warm Greetings,

Jamie Scott and others have reported that last week there were protestors out in front of the capitol building with signs on local TV talking about the conditions in their prison!! For two days there were news reports about the lack of medical care,
the way that they live, and their treatment by staff.

The hot water has now been fixed in the building and Jamie wants to very sincerely thank everyone for everything they are doing, not only to help support the Scott Sisters, but also the women of that building. They want someone in authority to come and visit there during a rainy day so that they can witness for themselves the way that the rain pours into the unit.

MORE...

SCOTT SISTERS FLYER DISTRIBUTION CAMPAIGN!

2009-11-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

PLEASE BRING SCOTT SISTERS FLYERS WITH YOU THE NEXT TIME YOU GO OUT!!

With the level of activities picking up, the Scott Sisters need to have a voice and be represented as fully as possible!

We're calling on everyone to please participate in helping to distribute Scott Sisters flyers at upcoming marches, rallies, speaking events, and wherever people will be at so that their case can receive as much publicity as possible.

But don't stop there!

Keep some flyers in your car and/or bag to hand to people or even to send out. Drop some off at churches, temples, hair shops, and even your local clubs and hangouts, wherever you can imagine!

With no resources, our mission has to be to do everything that we can so that we know within ourselves that we did our best to make sure that we informed as many people as we could possibly reach that this truly atrocious case exists. These women have been suffering in prison for 15 years and counting for no good reason while they watch people around them be released who were convicted of murder!!

The flyer is at http://www.scribd.com/doc/28847395/Scott-Sisters-Flyer-Black-23-Mar-2010-20

There's also a press release at the blogspot site that can be printed out and sent to publications, radio stations, tv shows, the gamut.

Thank you so much for your support of these women, this horrific, terrible wrong will get right with all of your continued responses, ideas, and action!

Together we can make their freedom a reality!! And what a fantastic day that will be!

11/2/09 SCOTT SISTERS UPDATE!

2009-11-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Jamie Scott has written extensively about the conditions of her unjust incarceration and recently submitted an update to share on behalf of herself as well as all of the women in the bldg. where she is being housed.

First, she remains grateful for all of the calls, e-mails and letters that went out on her behalf before, she is in a slightly improved situation. She is now under a warden who is treating her more fairly and has a job in the kitchen and so is finally able to at least get some time off of the unit.

Her main concern is the building itself, and states that it's the worst conditions she has ever lived in. She and others are in the part of the prison called "quickbed" because it was built so fast. It was only supposed to be built to empty the county jails and is not fit for humans to live in. When it rains, it rains directly into the unit. Mold is knee deep in the showers and they are unsafe with rain everywhere. The building has not had hot water for over a month and some of the women do not bathe at all. Jamie, herself, is sick with a bad cold as a result of bathing in cold water. They are supposed to have two microwave ovens there but don't have any, so they are unable to even heat up water to bathe with. When they ask the warden about this terrible situation, they are told that it is being worked on. Furthermore, she reports that the beds are not five feet from each other, when the policy states
they are supposed to be farther apart.

The "quickbed" is located at CMCF2/A-Bldg.

MORE...

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS!

2009-10-28T06:37:00.000-07:00

1. LET OTHERS KNOW ABOUT THIS CASE. We need PEOPLE POWER and the only way to get that is to make sure as many people as possible know about the case of the Scott Sisters.

A. Subscribe to receive updates by e-mail by sending a blank e-mail (click here) and forward them out to your e-mail lists, post on message board forums, Facebook and MySpace friends, etc.

B. Print out and use the flyers to post in church bulletins, hand out at clubs, barbershops and public gathering places of every sort, you should only be limited by your imagination! Keep some in your car and/or your bag so that you can just grab one and hand it to someone wherever you are at, include one in your next mailing, please go to http://www.scribd.com/doc/28847395/Scott-Sisters-Flyer-Black-23-Mar-2010-20 and print some out!

2. WRITE ATTY GENERAL HOLDER & GOV. HALEY BARBOUR. Mrs. Rasco's attorney has advised us to flood these offices with letters calling for the release of the Scott Sisters and we need everyone to contact them at least once and let as many others know to do so as well.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

The Honorable Attorney General Holder:

I am writing to request that you investigate the cases of Jamie and Gladys Scott. The Scott Sisters were given double life sentences each in October of 1994 for armed robbery in the state of Mississippi. No one was injured or murdered. One witness states that about 11 dollars was netted in the armed robbery. All witnesses and victims of this crime have testified that the Scott Sisters were not involved in the robbery. Witnesses testified that they were coerced and threatened to lie on the Scott Sisters.

A 14 year old witness testified that he signed a statement which was prepared for him before he entered Deputy Sheriff Marvin Williams’ Office. This statement was signed by the 14 year old without an attorney present. He was told that he would be released from the local jail the next morning if he signed it. He was not released.

This is an egregious wrongful conviction and the Scott Sisters and their family has suffered now 15+ years.

Jamie and Gladys Scott are housed in Pearl, Mississippi at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. Their ID numbers are Jamie Scott #19197 and Gladys Scott #19142.

Sincerely,
(Your Name)
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Please also send a letter to Governor Haley Barbour:

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
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3. SIGN THE PETITION FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS. This is quick, easy and something that you can easily do and instruct others to follow suit. We're sending these out to the White House, the UN, Amnesty Int'l, and others, so please go over there and sign onto it today! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Free-Jamie-Gladys/index.html

4. WE NEED MAINSTREAM MEDIA FOCUS. Please freely send in requests for radio/tv/print media to do stories on the Scott Sisters, we need that attention badly! For example, Oprah's last year is coming up and she should be pressured to do a show on this case, there's even a handy contact form for her that you can fill in online at https://www.oprah.com/plugform.jsp?plugId=220 that only takes about 10 seconds to fill out. Please let us know whenever you contact any media at all so we can keep track of how many people are actually doing this very crucial activity and can follow-up with continuing to apply pressure!

5. Finally, please write to the Scott Sisters and encourage them. Both women are suffering from depression and need to hear from you, it will only take a few moments of your time:

Jamie Scott #19197
CMCF2/A-Bldg.
B Zone, Bed 196
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8550

Gladys Scott #19142
CMCF/B-Bldg.
P.O. Box 88550
Pearl, MS 39288-8550

VISIT, FOLLOW AND LINK TO OUR WEBSITE: http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com

JOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUP at Free the Scott Sisters

Thank you very much for your support!

NOT ONE MORE YEAR OF UNJUST INCARCERATION FOR THE INNOCENT SCOTT SISTERS!!

"The case of the Scott Sisters is a travesty of justice," Bro. Chokwe Lumumba, Jackson, MS City Council.

Let's get 'em free, y'all!