On air: What would you give for parole?
| 15:59 UK time, Friday, 31 December 2010
This topic was discussed on World Have Your Say on 31 December 2010. Listen to the programme here.
Two sisters are being given early release from prison on the condition that to the other. The sisters are serving life in prison in Mississippi for armed robbery. Gladys and Jamie Scott have already served 16 years of their sentences.
Mississippi Governor has agreed to suspend their sentences because of Jamie Scott's poor health. In a statement on Thursday Governor Barbour said:
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. . . . Gladys Scott's release is conditioned on her donating one of her kidneys to her sister, a procedure which should be scheduled with urgency.
But his decision has not been welcomed by everyone.
, chief of organ transplantation at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, said:
While Governor Barbour probably meant nothing nefarious by this decision, what he did was unethical and possibly illegal. He is unaware of the procedures of transplantation that include making sure donors are not coerced.
This says:
The Scotts' case underscores the vulnerability of the incarcerated - society's pariahs - to government direction.
Barbour's spokesman, , said
She wanted to do it. That wasn't something we introduced
, President of the NAACP, which has been fighting the sister' case said
This is a shining example of how governors should use their commutation powers.
What do you think? Would you donate an organ if it meant early release from prison? Is this a fair way to negotiate parole? Or is it setting a dangerous precedent
