Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET

A week ago, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour had drawn the ire of the NAACP for insensitive comments about growing up during the 1960s civil rights era.

Today, the potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate is being hailed by the leader of the nation's oldest civil rights group as a "shining example" of a governor.

Why the change? Barbour on Wednesday decided to free two sisters who have been imprisoned on life sentences since 1994 on armed robbery charges. The plight of Jamie and Gladys Scott had long been championed by the NAACP. Gladys Scott was released on the condition that she donate a kidney to her 38-year-old sister, who requires daily dialysis.

In a statement, Barbour said, "The Mississippi Department of Corrections believes the sisters no longer pose a threat to society. Their incarceration is no longer necessary for public safety or rehabilitation, and Jamie Scott's medical condition creates a substantial cost to the State of Mississippi."

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous called Barbour a "shining example" at a news conference just a few minutes ago in Mississippi. He urged governors to use their powers to commute prison sentences or grant pardons to correct what he considers to be social injustices.

"We need more days like this in Mississippi. We need more days like this in this country," Jealous said, adding a special thanks to Barbour.

One organ donation expert said Barbour was wrong. "This is clearly a violation of federal law, which prohibits the exchange of 'valuable consideration' in return for an organ," Dr. Michael Shapiro, chairman of the ethics committee for the United Network for Organ Sharing, said in a statement.

Shapiro said commutation of a prison sentence would "clearly" fall into the category of "valuable consideration" under the law.

Barbour said the Mississippi Parole Board has accepted his advice that the Scott sisters "should be granted an indefinite suspension of sentence, which is tantamount to parole."

Barbour caught flak last week for telling The Weekly Standard that while growing up during the 1960s in Yazoo City, Miss., as many Southern cities were torn apart over race relations, that he didn't "remember it being that bad." In the same magazine profile, he also endorsed the actions of the white Citizens Council in his hometown for the way it dealt with the Ku Klux Klan.

He eventually issued a statement clarifying his remarks, saying the Citizens Council was "totally indefensible, as is segregation."

(Posted by Catalina Camia)