So, about Haley Barbour and Clemency...

[TW: Violence]

Last week I (following the lead of Bob Herbert and others) posted about the Scott sisters, who, without clemency from Gov. Haley Barbour, will die in prison for the heinous crime of supposedly asking some guys to steal $11. This weekend, Herbert wrote a column in which he explored Barbour's record on clemency. As the kids say, it's very, uh, interesting. In that he pardoned nice guys who happened to kill women. Really.

But before I go any farther, I have a confession to make. In addition to being a political junkie, I've also got a fair number of personal ties to the Magnolia State. So I know who Haley Barbour is. To be blunt, I don't much care for the guy.

Despite this, I really do hope he'd listen to me when it comes to the Scott sisters. Even though I'm a queer as fuck socialist, I do know a thing or two about politics.

Here's the thing: Regardless of what he does, Governor Barbour isn't going to score any points among the left, or in social justice circles, because he's Haley Barbour. But he's also not going to lose any points by, say, listening to the DA who feels that two life sentences is a bit harsh for supposedly having some kids rob some guy of $11. If we're going to reduce ourselves to "counting points", I don't see a real downside to not letting a couple of women die in prison for no particular reason. And Maude, I hope we're not deciding this on a point basis. Of course, technically, we're not deciding anything-- what I meant to say is that I hope Gov. Barbour is using some less cynical system to decide whether to let two women die in prison.

Barbour could let Jamie and Gladys Scott die in prison (and as I previously mentioned, Jamie has developed end stage renal failure, so time is of the essence here). Alternatively, he could do the thing (where potential adjectives Barbour may choose might include Christian, gentlemanly, or moral) and release the Scott Sisters after serving over 15 years in prison for a crime they may well have not even committed.

Who, precisely, is the constituency being served by this injustice? (Now is the point in the story where I mention that Jamie and Gladys Scott are black). Allowing this injustice to stand doesn't merely lose one followers, it's flat out scary; it's 'I'm going to think twice about visiting friends in Mississippi lest I run across the guy that for some reason is in charge of Mississippi State government' scary. What, precisely, is the counterbalancing upside?

Anyhow... Bob Herbert's update which is now also my update: Governor Barbour has pardoned or suspended the sentence of some guys before. Five guys, to be precise. As Herbert notes, all five guys were very guilty of very violent crimes. But, and here's the thing, they were all nice guys. No, really, I'll let you ponder that with your jaw on the ground as you sift through the archives of nice guydom:

"Radley Balko, in an article for Slate*, noted that none of the five men were given relief because of concerns that they had been unfairly treated by the criminal justice system. There were no questions about their guilt or the fairness of the proceedings against them. But they did have one thing in common. All, as Mr. Balko pointed out, had been enrolled in a special prison program “that had them doing odd jobs around the Mississippi governor’s mansion.”

The idea that those men could be freed from prison and allowed to pursue whatever kind of lives they might wish while the Scott sisters are kept locked up, presumably for the rest of their lives, is beyond disturbing."

Maud, who tipped me off to this update, also noticed an, uh, interesting trend amongst the newly freed men: four of the five killed one-time wives or girlfriends. But they were such nice guys. Wow.

One would like to think clemency also applies to people who were denied justice.

Gov. Barbour's office can be reached at 1-877-405-0733, or by mail at: P.O. Box 139, Jackson, Mississippi 39205. The email is: governor@governor.state.ms.us.

Free The Scott Sisters, a blog maintained in part by the Scott sisters' mother, Evelyn Rasco, has more information.

Mrs. Rasco asks that her daughters' many allies contact the parole board:

Shannon Warnock - Chairman

Bobbie Thomas - Board Member

Clarence Brown - Board Member

Betty Lou Jones - Board Member

Danny Guice - Board Member

State of Mississippi Parole Board
660 North Street
Suite 100A
Jackson, MS 39202
Fax: (601) 576-3528

H/t: Maud
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*Although it would be unwise to overlook (and Herbert didn't) the work of the Jackson Free Press on this story. They've been researching Barbour's pardon records since day one:

"At the Jackson Free Press, we believe it is vital for media, and especially women, inside the state to get these stories out there about violence against women and why it's not taken seriously enough. Barbour's unilateral pardoning of these murderers is one major reason. It is also disturbing when the women doing this difficult, and often thankless, enterprise reporting to reveal these truth about violence against women are not given the credit for their reporting, and it goes to men outside the state."