Helen Prejean ( ; born April 21, 1939) is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...

and a leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. She is known for her best-selling book, '' Dead Man Walking'' (1993), based on her experiences with two convicts on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ( ...

for whom she served as spiritual adviser before their executions. In her book, she explored the effects of the death penalty on everyone involved. The book was adapted as a 1995 film of the same name, starring

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...

and

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama '' Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televis ...

. It was also adapted as an opera, first produced in 2000 by the

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

. She served as the National Chairperson of the

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) is a large organization dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty in the United States. Founded in 1976 (the same year the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court of the Un ...

from 1993 to 1995. She helped establish The Moratorium Campaign, seeking an end to executions and conducting education on the death penalty. Prejean also founded the groups SURVIVE to help families of victims of murder and related crimes.

Early life and education

Helen Prejean was born in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of count ...

, the daughter of Augusta Mae (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

Bourg; 1911–1993), a nurse, and Louis Sebastian Prejean (1893–1974), a lawyer. She joined the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille in 1957. In 1962, she received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in English and Education from St. Mary's Dominican College,

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

religious education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to te ...

from

Saint Paul University Saint Paul University (french: Université Saint-Paul) is a bilingual Catholic Pontifical university federated with the University of Ottawa since 1965. It is located on Main Street in Canada's capital city, Ottawa, Ontario. Fully bilingual, i ...

, an affiliated college of the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

. She has been the Religious Education Director at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans, the Formation Director for the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille, and has taught junior and

senior high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondar ...

Death row ministry

Her efforts began in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

, in 1981. In 1982 an acquaintance asked her to correspond with convicted murderer

Elmo Patrick Sonnier Elmo Patrick "Pat" Sonnier (February 21, 1950 – April 5, 1984) was a convicted American murderer and rapist in Louisiana who was executed by electrocution at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Louisiana on April 5, 1984. Sonnier was sentenced t ...

, held on

in the

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

, known as Angola. Sonnier had been sentenced to death by electrocution. She visited Sonnier in prison and agreed to be his spiritual adviser in the months leading up to his

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. The experience gave Prejean greater insight into the process involved in executions, for the convict, families, and others in the prison, and she began speaking out against

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

. At the same time, she founded ''Survive'', an organization devoted to counseling the families of victims of violence. Prejean has since ministered to other inmates on

and witnessed several more executions. She served as National Chairperson of the

from 1993 to 1995. AngolaLAPrison

''Dead Man Walking''

She published '' Dead Man Walking'' (1993), an account of her relationship with Sonnier and other inmates on death row, and the factors related to her growing opposition to the death penalty. The book was adapted for a 1995 feature film of the same name; she was portrayed by

. Her book also was adapted as an opera of the same name, first produced by the

in 2000. The libretto is by

Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," ...

and the music composed by

Jake Heggie Jake Heggie (born March 31, 1961) is an American composer of opera, vocal, orchestral, and chamber music. He is best known for his operas and art songs as well as for his collaborations with internationally renowned performers and writers. Bio ...

. It has also been adapted as a play of the same name, which was first produced in autumn 2003. For her book, she drew from her experiences with Sonnier and with the convict

Robert Lee Willie Robert Lee Willie (January 2, 1958 – December 28, 1984) was an American serial killer who killed at least three people in Louisiana from the late 1970s to 1980. He was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 18-year-old Faith Hathaway and ...

. He had been sentenced to death after being convicted of kidnapping and murder in two attacks in May 1980. Prejean also explored the effects that conducting the death penalty has on attorneys, prison guards, other prison officials, and the families of both convicted murderers and their victims. Since then Prejean has worked with other men sentenced to death. In December 2010, Prejean donated all of her archival papers to

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

Campaigns, book, and awards

In 1996, she was awarded the

Laetare Medal The Laetare Medal is an annual award given by the University of Notre Dame in recognition of outstanding service to the Catholic Church and society. The award is given to an American Catholic or group of Catholics "whose genius has ennobled the ar ...

by the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

, the oldest and most prestigious award for

American Catholics With 23 percent of the United States' population , the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided i ...

. In 1999, Prejean formed Moratorium 2000, a petition drive that eventually grew into a national education campaign, The Moratorium Campaign, seeking to declare a moratorium to executions. It was initially staffed by Robert Jones, Theresa Meisz, and Jené O'Keefe. The organization Witness to Innocence, composed of death row survivors who were exonerated after being convicted for crimes they did not commit, was started under The Moratorium Campaign. Prejean wrote a second book, ''The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions'' (2004). She tells of two men, Dobie Gillis Williams and Joseph O'Dell, whom she accompanied to their executions. She believes that both men were innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. The book also examines the recent history of death penalty decisions by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

and the

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, wh ...

. In 1998, Prejean was given the ''Pacem in Terris'' Award, named after a 1963 encyclical letter by

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...

that calls on all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. ''

Pacem in terris ''Pacem in terris'' () was a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII on 11 April 1963 on the rights and obligations of individuals and of the state, as well as the proper relations between states. It emphasized human dignity and equality ...

'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

for "Peace on Earth." Prejean now bases her work at the Ministry Against the Death Penalty in New Orleans. She gives talks about the issues across the United States and around the world. She and her sister Mary Ann Antrobus have also been deeply involved at a center in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

called Friends of Batahola. In 2019 she wrote a memoir title
River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey
In it she talks about her spiritual journey leading her to engage in

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

work.

Awards and recognition

Prejean has given commencement addresses to more than 50 colleges and universities around the world. *2019: Blessed are the Peacemakers Award from

Catholic Theological Union Catholic Theological Union (CTU) is a private Roman Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English speaking world and trains men and women for lay and orda ...

*2016: Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Award from the Catholic Common Ground Initiative, housed at

*2013: Robert M. Holstein "Faith Doing Justice" Award from th
Ignatian Solidarity Network
*2006:

Christopher Award The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organizatio ...

*2002:

NUI Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

Honorary Doctorate (LLD) *1998: World

Pacem in Terris Award The ''Pacem in Terris'' Peace and Freedom Award is a Catholic Church, Catholic peace award which has been given annually since 1964, in commemoration of the 1963 encyclical letter '' Pacem in terris'' (Peace on Earth) of Pope John XXIII. It is awa ...

*1996: Pax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award *1996:

References

External links

* * * * * ''Angel on Death Row:'' Newspaper accounts of the crimes and executions of Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie,

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educa ...

br>
* "Sister Helen Prejean: The Real Woman Behind ''Dead Man Walking''", by John Bookser Feister, ''St. Anthony Messenger'', April, 199

* "Would Jesus pull the Switch?" by Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., ''Salt of the Earth'' 199

* "Conversation with Sr. Helen Prejean" by Marilyn Rodrigues, ''The Catholic Weekly'' August 17, 200

* ''The National Review'' and Sr. Helen Prejean, C.S.J., August 1, 200

* "Blood on our Hands: An Interview with Helen Prejean", by Shannon Presler, ''The Other Journal.com'' January 19, 200

* ''Walk the Talk Show'' with Waylon Lewis: "Sister Helen Prejean of ''Dead Man Walking'' Fame," May 200

* "The Death Penalty Nun," 2006 video biograph

Trinity Wall Street * "Late Night Live - Dead Man Walking (1993 Australian radio broadcast

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prejean, Helen 1939 births Living people Roman Catholic activists American anti-abortion activists Sisters of Saint Joseph American anti–death penalty activists Saint Paul University alumni People from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Laetare Medal recipients Prison reformers DePaul University Special Collections and Archives holdings University of Ottawa alumni Catholics from Louisiana 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns 21st-century American Roman Catholic nuns