Sisters out of prison, next face transplant

An afternoon news conference for the sisters in Jackson was attended by dozens of supporters. Many cheered. Some sang. A few cried.

The sisters — Jamie wearing pink, Gladys wearing purple — sat smiling at a table, their hands clasped before them as their attorney, Chokwe Lumumba, thanked a list of advocacy groups who worked for their release.

“It’s been a long, hard road, but we made it,’’ Gladys Scott said.

Jamie Scott said she looked forward to moving on her with her life and doubted at times she’d ever be free, but she leaned on her faith.

“My sister been saying all day, ‘You don’t look well,’ ’’ she said. “I haven’t woke up. It’s like a dream.’’

She said the reality of the situation will probably sink in when she sees her grown children, who were young when they went to prison.

The sisters are moving to Pensacola to live with their mother. They hope to qualify for government-funded Medicaid insurance to pay for the transplant and for 38-year-old Jamie Scott’s dialysis, which officials said had cost Mississippi about $200,000 a year. A few doctors have expressed interest in performing the transplant, but there are no firm plans.

Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi agreed to release Jamie Scott because of her medical condition, but 36-year-old Gladys Scott must donate the kidney within one year as a condition of her release. The women weren’t eligible for parole until 2014. The supporters who fought for the sisters’ release insisted that Jamie Scott may not live that long without a new kidney.

Barbour has not directly answered questions from the Associated Press about whether he would send Gladys Scott back to prison if she changes her mind or if she is not a suitable donor.