URGENT UPDATE - JAMIE SCOTT MOVED TO NEW BLDG

9/1/09 -- UPDATE: JAMIE SCOTT has been moved to a new bldg. and placed under even stricter supervision than before, she is not permitted to go anywhere at all, not even church. The Scott Sisters' greatest fear is being separated and the worry right now is that the Deputy Warden is setting the situation up to send Jamie to another prison. We need an attorney who works in the civil rights area to look into what's happening to Jamie right now and your help is urgently needed in getting the word out!

We also continue to need your urgent support, please make those calls and send in your letters today and repost the action alert internet-wide!!


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CASE SUMMARY

THE COMMITTEE TO FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS

CONTACT:
Mrs. Evelyn Rasco
P.O. Box 7100
Pensacola, Florida 32534
E-mail: rqueenbee2222@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com
Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Free-Jamie-Gladys/index.html
Legal Transcripts: http://www.scribd.com/Scott%20Sisters
Legal Summary of the Scott Sisters Case
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21748684/Scott-Sisters-Opinion
Press and Media Coverage
http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/search/label/PRESS%20COVERAGE

CASE SUMMARY

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 recently returned from Iraq and has served in the US Army for 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.

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Jamie Scott / Nancy Lockhart interview on WJZD Mississippi:

Mrs. Evelyn Rasco, Mother of the Scott Sisters, was a guest on the WBAI Wakeup Call Show on July 9th at 6:00 a.m. Please tune it in at the archives at http://archive.wbai.org/

LETTER FROM JAMIE SCOTT

My name is Jamie Scott and I have asked that this is posted on the different web sites that have been created for my sister and me. I do understand there are many people out there that don’t understand a lot about prison and what someone goes through in a situation such as this. Please don’t get me wrong; IF you commit a crime, then you should be punished.

In the state of Mississippi, the crime chart is just crazy. I have met so many women here that their husbands were beating the living mess out of them and these ladies have legal action against their husbands, but as soon as she tries to stop him from killing her and she takes his life, she comes to prison. But keep in mind; they still do not receive two life sentences. Men are here for brutal raping of children and women, but yet they don’t have double life.

When I entered prison at the tender age of 22, I felt like my world was coming apart and life was not worth living. There were no more secrets and I had to strip naked in front of everyone, including men, because they thought it was funny. I was made to spread my buttocks and the officer looked. If I had a gun, I would have ended my life right then. I was placed in a 12x12 cell to be under observation because of the amount of time I had to serve. They feel, if you have a long sentence, then you may try to kill yourself. I cried day in and day out asking the question so many ask, “Why God, why did you allow this unjust thing to happen?” I could not understand how this loving God that my Big Mom had told me about as a child could allow those sworn in to serve and protect to come in and completely lie. I was let out of solitary in April 1995 and went to a unit filled with 100 females.

One bad part about this entire situation is the women I have encountered. I met this woman who told me she was driving down the highway and her baby would not stop crying so, she stopped and threw her child over the bridge. Guess what, she left me here. She has gone home. So many have killed their own children, but none have received the amount of time my sister and I have received. I truly believe that I would have come out better IF I had committed a crime of murder. I have never been one to judge someone and that is why so many come to me and share their thoughts. I must admit sometimes, I get so angry when it involves a child. I get angry with the Mississippi judicial system because here my sister and I sit with double life and this person took an innocent child’s life.

In the midst of all the hurt I have endured, nothing could prepare me for the times I went on funeral detail. My sister and I had to go to the funerals of our grandfather, grandmother, father and sister, who died on my birthday, shackled like dogs. 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. There were six of us children, now there are five. None of us has ever seen an angry day from her. My mother would make sure we always had and never had to go egging. I know it is only God keeping her alive. It breaks my heart when I call her and she tells me she has no money for gas. She had to bury her long time friend and soul mate of 30 years, and then she buried her oldest daughter... Yet, at times, Gladys and I feel dead to her because we are not there.

Some might say we only care about money. Let me set those who think that straight. I don’t give a damn about money. I would sign anything say I would not sue or discuss this case with anyone to gain my freedom and be with my family. Will money bring back 14 years of heartache and pain? Will money bring back all of my dead family members?

Never speak to me about gaining money from all the hurt and pain we have had to endure here.

One thing I do not have is hate in my heart concerning anyone who played a role in Gladys and me being here. After reading our transcript over and over, I have come to realize that the Patrick men were really trying to help us but to also save themselves during trial. That is why they said they never wrote the statements and that the statements were written out for them. They were trying to tell the jury that these statements were written out before we were arrested. Then, they tried to tell them how they were threatened, but it did not work. I am not bitter or angry with them. If I were to see them now, I would hug them and tell them I love them. They were just young victims as well. They got played by the system, just as we did.

For all that don’t know, slavery in Mississippi has changed names. It is still very much active and alive in Mississippi. Its new name is called the LAW! So, if there is anyone out there that thinks this cannot happen to their child or family, think about Gladys and Jamie Scott. We were not criminals nor were we drug addicts. I worked everyday. I have a right to be bitter, angry, mad as hell at the United States of America, but I choose not to because I know a higher power and Gladys and I WILL walk the streets again.



Gladys and I have completed the following classes while incarcerated: Active Parenting, Parent Education, The Mississippi Life Skills Project, Computer Literacy and numerous Bible study classes. I earned by GED and Gladys is still working on hers. I was a tutor helping the other offenders in Literacy class to learn how to read and write. Since 2004, Gladys and I have been tour speakers and guides for the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) tours. On the tour, different churches and schools come and bring their troubled teens and we talk with them and tell them what goes on in prison. I do that because I truly believe if I can help just one teenager from coming through here, someone would help my children. Gladys has been trough Adult and Adolescents, Survivors of Abuse, Inc., Conquering Chemical Dependency and numerous other classes. We both have gained all these certificates and are still working on more at this moment. There are many days that I have had to go to the kitchen here and bit into a bug or roach. There are many days when I have had to use the bathroom on myself because some silly guard told me to stay on my rack and would not let me go to the bathroom, or I had to use a drink bottle to urinate in. There are many days I wanted to save up my diabetic medication and take them all and just sleep and never wake up. People cannot understand my praise today. They see me wake up smiling each day and think it has bee a walk in the park. If only they knew the reason behind my praise. I have a right to praise God, and for those that say it is jailhouse religion, well it worked for me. If it were not for those twins called Grace and Mercy, I, Jamie Scott would not be here today. I am wiser and I am stronger this day. I knew one day God would send an angel to help my sister and me. Thank you for your time.

I give special thanks to Sister. She is not receiving one dime for this. She has read and investigated and found everything we have shared with her to be truthful. Everything Sister does for us comes out of her pocket because my mother has no money. I know it is not easy on Sister because she is not rich, but yet she is working for freedom on our behalf. I pray she will be blessed beyond her imagination. Thank you so much for your time in this. If you have any questions for my sister or me, you can write us at the addresses below.

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

NOTE: References to "Sister" are to Nancy Lockhart.

TWO DOUBLE-LIFE SENTENCES FOR $11.00!

Print-out from here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/30178263/Scott-Sisters-Press-Release

(PLEASE HELP US BY SENDING THIS TO MAJOR NEWS OUTLETS)

PRESS RELEASE

THE COMMITTEE TO FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS

CONTACT:

Mrs. Evelyn Rasco
P.O. Box 7100
Pensacola, Florida 32534
E-mail: rqueenbee2222@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com
Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Free-Jamie-Gladys/index.html
Case Summary: http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/2009/08/case-summary_19.html
Legal Transcripts: http://www.scribd.com/Scott%20Sisters

MISSISSIPPI INJUSTICE: A DOUBLE-LIFE SENTENCE FOR $11.00!

Scott County, MS ---- In a trial fraught with legal malpractice, lack of evidence and witness coercion, Mississippi Judge Marcus Gordon sentenced sisters Gladys and Jamie Scott to double-life each in an armed robbery. No matter the veracity of testimony; the lack of physical evidence and the absence of any previous criminal activity of the accused; in a questionable crime, where no one was murdered or harmed and the amount alleged to have been taken as a whopping $11.00, one has to ask if this is Mississippi, the state in the United States of America ? And, how does a court abdicate the national principles of justice and fair judicial process ?

On December 24, 1993, the Scott County Sheriff’s Department arrested the Scott sisters for armed robbery even though three persons confessed to committing the crime. The Mississippi sheriff used coercion, threats, and harassment to compel these individuals to become state’s evidence against the Scott sisters. His motive ? A long-standing vendetta against the Father of the sisters. Later a local teen, without benefit of counsel would testify that he was pressured to sign a written statement that he did not read and was prepared by the sheriff. No weapon was ever recovered in this case.

During the course of the short trial only one witness was called and the sisters at the direction of questionable legal advice, never testified or spoke for themselves during the course of their trial.

Jamie, now 38 and Gladys, 34 are now entering their 16th year of incarceration. Jamie has lost function of both kidneys and is gravely ill, being provided inadequate medical treatment may very well see her sentence as a death sentence unless the Mississippi Prison Commission relents in its rigid negligent medical care decisions for her. Recently, Jamie Scott was diagnosed by an outside physician as being at Stage 5 (end stage) of this illness, the next stage being death. Should Jamie Scott die in prison for an alleged robbery of $11.00 almost 16 years ago?

A national campaign has been undertaken by their elderly Mother, Mrs. Evelyn Rasco, to gain justice for her daughters and their family. Nationwide support for Jamie and Gladys is building increasingly louder and active.

Nancy Lockhart, the young woman who has acted as the spokesperson of the Free the Scott Sisters Campaign, and the Mother of Jamie and Gladys Scott are available for live and telephone interviews. They have been featured guests on the Warren Ballentine Show ( XM Radio The Power); Our Common Ground with Janice Graham ( USTalkNetwork); The Mark Thompson Show ( Sirius Radio The Left Side); The Rip Daniels Show, WJZD Mississippi; and their comments are featured in many newspapers across the country and throughout the blogosphere.

In June, 2009, Dr. Lenore J. Daniels, PhD of the Editorial Board of BlackCommentator.com wrote about the wrongfully conviction of Jamie and Gladys Scott in a featured editorial, titled, “Represent Our Resistance” and Mother Jones magazine's investigative reporter, James Ridgeway, did an exhaustive piece entitled, "Cruel and Unusual Health Care -- How Mississippi Prisoner Jamie Scott's Life Sentence Could Turn Into a Death Sentence."

Links to the Case Summary and archived Transcript of the trial are provided above.

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POCC MOI JR INTERVIEWS JAMIE SCOTT'S SON!

Once again, POCC Minister of Information JR serves as the voice of the people as he interviews Terrance Scott, son of Jamie Scott, who along with her sister, Gladys, has been unjustly held captive for 14+ years on an unheard of double life sentence!!

Please check out Bro. JR's interview at http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/jamie-scotts-son-18-fights-to-free-the-scott-sisters-in-mississippi" and GET INVOLVED!

“Talk about injustice. How do you wind up in prison serving two life terms for a robbery that netted 11 dollars? That question has haunted first time offenders Gladys and Jamie Scott for the past 15 years,” wrote Anthony Papa in the Huffington Post. And it haunts Jamie’s son too, who was only 2 when his mother and auntie were snatched away from him.

Now 18, Terrance Scott tells Minister of Information JR in this gripping interview: “Seeing what they did to my mother, it put a rage inside me like, if you have anything to do with law enforcement, I don’t want to talk to you. … Sometimes I just look up at the stars at night and I just wonder what this world done become. Any time someone can lock you up for a double life sentence for nothing, what else can they do? What else can the crooked court system and the crooked justice system do?”