NEWSPARDONS

Like the United States, Yemen has treaty obligations to follow when it comes to children and the criminal justice system. And like the U.S. -- and, to be fair, a whole lot of other countries -- it doesn't much seem to care.

Signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – like the U.S. and Yemen – are not supposed to (emphasis on supposed) to execute people who committed crimes as juveniles. Indeed, Article 6 of the treaty states as clear as day that the death penalty “shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age.”

But as Amnesty International reports, the Yemeni government is poised to execute Muhammed Taher Thabet Samoum, using a firing squad, for a murder he allegedly committed as a minor in 1999. Amnesty says the government recently barred Samoum from receiving visitors, which is generally a sign a prisoner is about to be put to death.

"We urge President Ali Abdullah Saleh to show clemency in this case and prevent the state killing of Muhammed Taher Thabet Samoum," says Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's director for the Middle East and North Africa. "The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and it must never be applied to juvenile offenders."

William Macumber is 75 years old. He’s been in prison for the last 35 years. And if Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has her way, he will die there. This despite the fact that the Arizona Clemency Board (made up of members appointed by Brewer herself) recommended he be released and in an unprecedented move stated there were “significant doubts” he was guilty.

It’s not unheard of for a clemency board or similar entity to recommend an inmate’s pardon or release—it’s rare, but it happens. They might do so  for a variety of reasons: the age of the inmate, questionable handling of a case, a seemingly disproportionate sentence, or illness. But rarely, if ever, does such an entity step forward and question the guilt of the offender. They typically assume that an issue such as guilt/innocence would have been ironed out in the initial trial courts.

In the case of William Macumber, however, the Arizona Clemency Board saw some glaring problems. Unfortunately for Macumber and his supporters, however, Gov. Brewer is refusing to budge. Not only has she given no reason why and offered no explanation for the disregard of the Clemency Boards’ recommendation, she’s refused to respond to Macumber’s son (his biggest advocate) and virtually ignored the nearly 3,000 letters from Change.org members regarding this case.

You did it.

Jamie and Gladys Scott, sisters who had spent 16 years in Mississippi prisons for a robbery where no one was hurt, will be set free any moment now. And it took the voices of people from across Mississippi and around the world -- including more than 10,000 Change.org members who signed a petition posted by the Action Committee for Women in Prison -- to make it happen. The Scott sisters were severely oversentenced and they were suffering in prison (Jamie undergoes daily dialysis and needs a kidney transplant -- Gladys plans to donate her kidney, more on this below). They weren't eligible for parole until 2014. But Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour heard the groundswell and took (clumsy) action, suspending the women's sentences last night.

The Scott sisters were convicted in 1994 of allegedly playing a secondary role in an armed robbery of two men. The women claim innocence, but even if they committed the crime the sentence was too severe. They allegedly led two men into an ambush by other armed men, who stole $11 from the victims. No one was hurt.  The armed men aren't in prison. But the Scott sisters got double-life sentences for being (alleged) accomplices.

Betsie Gallardo, a 24-year-old Haitian-American, is dying. And unless the state of Florida grants her parole or medical clemency, she's likely to pass away in a prison cell – all because she spat on a cop.

As we reported here last week, Betsie was born with HIV and grew up in extreme poverty in Haiti before her adoptive mother Jessica brought her to the United States. Last year, after crashing her car while under the influence of Xanax, Betsie -- who was reportedly raped by a cop as a child -- spat at a police officer who arrived at the scene.

Betsie was then sentenced to five years behind bars, as Florida considers the saliva of an HIV-infected person to be akin to a deadly weapon, despite the fact that the virus cannot possibly be transmitted that way.

Things only got worse for Betsie when she went to prison, as she was diagnosed with stage IV gallbladder cancer. Doctors say she doesn't have much longer to live.

Brian Aitken will be spending New Year's Day with his family this year, a surprise to him and his family alike as they expected him to spend the next several holiday seasons behind bars. His release came last Tuesday after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) announced he would be commuting Aitken’s seven year prison sentence on gun charges. Spurred by activists on the left and gun rights advocates on the right, Christie took a noble step and exercised his power in a manner not seen very often these days.

Aitken’s case was one of confusion and misunderstanding. He had recently moved to New Jersey from Colorado and was transporting his small gun collection from his parent’s house to his own. The guns were locked and unloaded in the trunk of his car. But Aitken didn’t have a carry permit, as required by New Jersey statutes. So despite good intentions, he was arrested.

Aitken had just left his parents house, making some despondent comments to his mother on his way out. His ex-wife had denied him a visit with his son and he was upset. His mother, being a typical mom and also a mental health worker, was worried and called police as a precautionary measure. At the direction of the police, Aitken turned his car around and returned to his mother’s home. It was when he got there that they searched his vehicle and found his guns.

Kemba Smith Pradia was 7 months pregnant when, at just 24 years of age, she was sentenced to a quarter-century behind bars for playing a minor role in her abusive boyfriend's scheme to sell crack cocaine. Though she didn't sell any drugs herself, she knew that her boyfriend did – and when he was murdered, prosecutors decided to blame her for his stash.

But Pradia was one of the lucky ones. After her story gained national attention, spurring widespread calls for her release, she was released after serving 6 ½ years when in 2000 President Bill Clinton commuted her sentence. Now that she's free, she's working to help those she left behind -- the thousands of other victims of harsh mandatory minimum sentences not as fortunate as her to attract a president's attention.

“On December 22, the anniversary of my release, I will join others in a fast for justice to honor those in prison who deserve the same relief from their long sentences for low-level drug offenses,” Pradia writes today in a piece for CNN. Since winning her freedom a decade ago, Pradia has gone on to law school and to raise the son she give birth to while incarcerated. She's also started her own foundation. ”But also since my release, an estimated 5,000 men and women have gone to federal prison each year for a crack cocaine offense.”