Our Common Ground with Janice Graham
THE WRONGFUL CONVICTION OF JAMIE AND GLADYS SCOTT
Original broadcast date: March 4, 2009
OCG ADVOCACY | THE SCOTT SISTERS
OUR COMMON GROUND with Janice Graham devoted significant attention to the case of Jamie and Gladys Scott—the Scott Sisters—whose extraordinary sentences and long imprisonment in Mississippi became the focus of a national campaign for justice.
OCG’s involvement went beyond reporting the story. In partnership with The SpiritHouse Project of Atlanta, OCG helped organize a protest and demand for justice at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., joining advocates calling national attention to the sisters’ imprisonment and demanding action on their behalf.
Months later, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour suspended the sisters’ sentences, allowing their release after 16 years in prison.
Following their release, Jamie and Gladys Scott came to OUR COMMON GROUND for a two-hour live conversation—their first national media and press appearance. They were able to speak for themselves about their case, their years of incarceration, their struggle for freedom and the extraordinary advocacy movement that had grown around them.
The archival broadcast presented here comes from OCG’s coverage of the case and examines the circumstances surrounding the prosecution, sentencing, and the formidable legal obstacles confronting the two women.
This was Alternative Activist Empowerment Talk Radio in practice: not simply reporting an injustice, but informing our audience, creating space for the voices most affected, and engaging the struggle beyond the microphone.
We did not simply report on the ground. We worked on the ground.
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ABOUT THE BROADCAST
The OCG broadcast below takes listeners inside the case—examining its history, the legal circumstances confronting Jamie and Gladys Scott, and the barriers advocates faced in seeking their freedom.
Listen not simply as an account of a case, but as a record of advocacy while the struggle was still unfolding.
Listen here
OCG March 04-2009 Scott Sisters with Nancy Lockhart
Our Common Ground with Janice Graham broadcasting from UStalknetwork.
PROGRAM NOTES
Our guest, Nancy Lockhart, Legal Analyst and volunteer for “The Committee To Free The Scott Sisters
Campaign” to influence the governor of Mississippi.
THE WRONGFUL CONVICTION OF JAMIE AND GLADYS SCOTT
THE CASE | JAMIE AND GLADYS SCOTT
Jamie and Gladys Scott were convicted in Mississippi in connection with a 1993 armed robbery and each received two consecutive life sentences. The case drew increasing national attention because of the severity of the punishment, questions surrounding the prosecution and testimony, and the extraordinarily small amount of money reportedly involved in the robbery.
The sisters maintained their innocence throughout their imprisonment.
Over the years, family members, community activists, civil-rights advocates, and organizations mounted a sustained campaign calling for their freedom. Their case came to symbolize broader concerns about racial inequity, excessive sentencing, prosecutorial power, and the treatment of Black women within the criminal justice system.
After the sisters had served approximately 16 years, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour suspended their life sentences in late 2010, and they were released in January 2011. Their release came amid growing national advocacy and serious concern about Jamie Scott’s health.
The Scott Sisters case remains an important example of the intersection of race, gender, poverty, and sentencing.
For more information, visit: www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com