Mississippi has new medical examiner - WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS:

I certainly hope that this works out! It's been nearly 3 years since there has been an official "licensed" Forensic Medical Examiner in the state and more than 10 years since there was someone in that position that was actually paid by the State. Allegedly, Dr. Hayne was not board certified in forensic pathology and the state has had a backlog of cases for years. Finally since the debacle of Stephen Hayne, I hope that this will be a step in the right direction for MS. For more information on what happened with Dr. Hayne and his friend, Dr. Michael West, read Radley Balko's article "CSI Mississippi" in a prior post. The question remains, however, how many innocent people are sitting in prison based on faulty testimony of these 2 individuals and what is the state going to do to look into this?

Mississippi has new medical examiner - WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS:

Eligible for a Pardon Application???

No, not if you are still incarcerated, according to the staff at the Governor's mansion. I'm told for anyone to receive an application, they must be eligible and to be eligible they must not be incarcerated. They also need to be free for 7 years and no longer on parole. Well, that pretty well means that no one is eligible to be pardoned based on this Governor's, Haley Barbour, policy. How does that policy apply to the men he has pardoned who were working at the Governor's mansion when pardoned? It doesn't because the Governor can do what he wants to.

How does it affect the women who are incarcerated? Terribly because they don't get to work at the Governor's mansion.

To summarize, the Governor has broken his own policy by pardoning men (see the information here) who work at the Governor's mansion AND women are discriminated against because they aren't afforded the same opportunity to work at the Governor's mansion. Yes, he pardoned the Scott sister's but that in and of itself has many people wondering about his reasons for doing so. Hmmm, any thoughts on that?

Graduation at CMCF

I attended a graduation Friday at CMCF and must admit I was pleasantly surprised. The staff was very friendly. The atmosphere was completely different than on visitation days. I'm grateful that MDOC gives this opportunity to the individuals who have chosen to further their education under these circumstances. We all know that continuing education can be hard anywhere but to do so in a prison where the noise would be overwhelming when trying to study is truly an accomplishment. I am very proud of all the graduates.

Free the Scott Sisters

Please continue to contact the Governor and the Parole Board to support the Scott Sisters request for a pardon. Jamie and Gladys Scott were convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to double life sentences each for armed robbery of less than $11.

Jamie is in renal failure and requires dialysis 3 times a week. The dialysis machine stays broken and she misses dialysis a great deal. Please don't let this woman, who by accounts of those who were involved with this armed robbery, had nothing to do with it, die in this prison. Don't allow her sister to stay incarcerated either. There are too many innocent people in prison and we need to help those we can.

You can help. Send an e-mail or write Haley Barbour at the following addresses:

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Dorothy Kuykendall
Personal Assistant to Gov. Barbour
(601) 359-3150
DKuykendall@governor.state.ms.us
P. O Box 3150
Jackson, MS 39205

You can get more information about this case by joining the Scott sisters blog here.

Thank you for your help with this injustice; there are many more and I will be blogging about those as well in the near future!

Mississippi: Re-Open Trial Cases involving testimonies of Drs. Steven Hayne and Michael West Petition

Mississippi: Re-Open Trial Cases involving testimonies of Drs. Steven Hayne and Michael West Petition

Cruel and Unusual HealthCare

http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/cruel-and-unusual-health-care/

Women behind the Wall

Women behind the Wall