Sisters freed on kidney donation promise

Two sisters who were serving life sentences for robbery in Mississippi thanked God after they were let out early on condition that one donates a kidney to the other.

Jamie and Gladys Scott,and their supporters, including theNAACP held a press conference Friday after their release fromthe Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl.

They had beenin jailfor 16 years over an armed robbery that netted between $11 and $200 US.They would have been eligibile for parole in 2014.

"Itold my sister we're going to make it," said Gladys Scott. "We're coming out of here. We're not going to die.I said [the] man gave us 2014, but God said no. You coming [out]today. Today is 2011 and me and my sister is here and I praise God for it."

Added Jamie Scott, "Itold the girls in prison Idon't know how God is going to do it butI do know God will show up.

"Now I'm out whereI can get me some decent medical treatment."

The sistersare moving to the Florida Panhandle, where their mother and grown children live.

Jamie Scott, 36,is on dialysis, which officials said costs the state about $200,000 a year.

Gov. Haley Barbour agreed to release her because of her medical condition. But 38-year-old Gladys Scott's release order says she must donate the kidney within one year.

The idea to donate the kidney was Gladys Scott's, and she volunteered to do it in her petition for early release.

The sisters' lawyer, Chokwe Lumumba, said the women hope to get government-funded Medicaid health insurance in Florida, and begin the needed steps to make the transplant happen.