Hayley Barbour looks to commute sentence if convicted woman donates kidney

A tale of two kidneys
Mark A. Graber, MD
January 05, 2011
Years ago, a particularly talented science fiction writer by the name of Larry Niven wrote a disturbing story about a dystopia in which those convicted of crimes were forced to donate organs as a punishment. The Governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour, has recently taken a step toward making this a reality.

The scenario is this: two sisters were convicted of robbery and given particularly heinous sentences. One sister is on dialysis at state expense, and the other has two healthy kidneys. In a misguided attempt to save the taxpayers of Mississippi money, Governor Barbour agreed to commute the sentences of both women if one would donate a kidney to the other. This decision was applauded by the NAACP, who had been lobbying to get the unfair sentences reduced.