Mississippi Governor Frees Sisters Serving Life Sentences for $11 Robbery

04:34

December 30, 2010

Civil rights activist Dorothy Benford of Jackson, waves a sign with $11 in singles hanging from it to protest the life sentences Jamie and Gladys Scott received for a robbery that netted that same amount, during a rally at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., in September. (AP)

Gladys and Jamie Scott were sentenced to life in prison in 1994 for an armed robbery which netted $11, while their three male accomplices received lesser sentences and have since been released.

Civil rights groups have been lobbying Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi to release them, and yesterday he did. We have details of the case from James Ridgeway of Mother Jones Magazine. He also writes the Solitary Watch blog about prisons.

Here & Now: How ‘Freedom Summer’ changed Mississippi and America

This segment aired on December 30, 2010.