Kidney donation sisters to be freed

Two sisters whose life sentences for armed robbery were suspended last week on the condition that one donate a kidney to the other will be released today.

Jamie and Gladys Scott had been jailed for their involvement in a 1993 armed robbery during which as little as $11 was stolen, court records say.

After 16 years in prison, Jamie Scott, 36, is on daily dialysis, and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour agreed to release her on medical grounds. But 38-year-old Gladys Scott's release order says one of the conditions she must meet is to donate the kidney within one year.

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

The sisters are black, and their case has been a cause célèbre in the state's African-American community.

Jamie and Gladys Scott will be released from a state prison in Jackson, Mississippi and from there they will head to Florida, corrections commissioner Chris Epps said.

Jamie Scott was due to undergo a dialysis treatment yesterday. "I have been told by our medical staff that she would have no problem travelling by car to Pensacola," Mr Epps said.

The sisters' mother and their children live in Pensacola, Florida.

Mr Epps said the state will supply the sisters with 30 days of medication.