Scott Sisters Must Lose Weight to Comply With Prison Release

Feb. 24, 2011 — -- The Scott sisters who were released from a Mississippi prison last month on the condition that one donate a kidney to the other will have to wait until they lose weight before they can perform an organ transplant.

Their doctor told Jamie Scott -- who is 38, 5-feet tall and weighs 254 -- that she has to lose about 100 pounds before she can receive her sister's kidney. Gladys -- who is 36, 4-feet-9 and weighs 185 -- has to lose about 40 pounds and quit smoking.

The sisters, who were convicted of robbing two men on a roadside and served 16 years in prison together, are now spending their days in aerobics classes and watching what they eat.

"I've cut out all fried foods," Jamie Scott said. "I want to live."

Jamie Scott, who is also a diabetic, has been on kidney dialysis for more than a year. She said the daily procedure leaves her so lethargic she winds up coming home to nap each day.

She said Gladys Scott had vowed to give her a kidney long before Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour suspended the sisters' life sentences on the condition that Gladys give Jamie a kidney. Barbour gave the sisters a year in which to complete the surgery.

"My sister and I we were going to do that regardless. They didn't need to make that a stipulation," Jamie Scott said. "When we were in prison, Gladys begged the guards to tell the supervisor that she wanted to be tested to see if she could donate a kidney to me."

It's unclear whether Gladys' kidney is compatible. Jamie said the doctor will not do any tests along those lines until she is physically ready to handle a transplant operation. The drastic weight loss is required because the kidney will be transplanted under the belly. Excess fat would interfere with the process, Jamie Scott said.

"Their spirits are high, and I see them every day," their mother, Evelyn Rasco said. "Jamie just wishes she could hurry up and have the surgery. She is working hard to lose weight, though. She's doing aerobics, and she is stiff and sore when she gets out."

Rasco said that if Gladys' kidney is not compatible, her son Willie James Scott, Jr., an army staff sergeant who is doing his second tour in Afghanistan, said he would would be willing to donate one of his.

It's not clear whether Gladys Scott will be sent back to prison if her kidney isn't compatible.