Sister Helen Prejean, Author of Dead Man Walking, Visits USF
In March, under the direction of Brad Beauchamp, the School of Creative Arts performed Tim Robbins' play, Dead Man Walking. The play was produced by Special Arrangement with Tim Robbins and the DEAD MAN WALKING SCHOOL THEATRE PROJECT and is based on the book Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean. In this gripping tale, a convicted murderer on Death Row is befriended by an empathetic Catholic sister, Sister Prejean. As the hours tick away to the condemned man's execution, powerful emotions are unleashed. Scenes from the brutal crime reveal the truth about what transpired.
After the March 22 performance, a panel from the Indiana Information Center on the Abolition of Capital Punishment and Journey of Hope shared their ideas about capital punishment. The IICACP provided information on capital punishment in the state of Indiana, and speakers from Journey of Hope talked about coping with the murders of their loved ones while protesting capital punishment.
Sister Prejean served as the Commencement speaker on Saturday May 2, 2009, where she gave a speech to a large audience of graduates, families and faculty. She spoke of her experiences working with prisoners on death row and offering condolences to their families as well as the families of murder victims. She participated in a formal book signing following the ceremony.
That evening, SOCA hosted a dinner and talk with Sister Prejean and the cast of Dead Man Walking. The group revisited their performance through a slide show of imagery and listened to Sister Prejean's first-hand accounts of the events that surrounded her novel and subsequent play and movie. Students at the dinner were very impressed with Prejean's lecture.
Prejean got involved in social injustice in the 1980s when she became the pen pal of death row inmate Patrick Sonnier. She was his spiritual adviser and friend until he was executed in the electric chair, which inspired her first book. "Very few people get to witness social injustice. I had to tell the story; I was a witness," she said. Since writing "Dead Man Walking," Prejean has traveled the world speaking to anyone who will listen about the injustice of the death penalty in the United States.
She continues her work with inmates and their families and has started a group for families coping with the murder of a loved one called "Survive." She has also written a second book, "the Death of Innocents," which tells the story of prisoners on death row who have been proven innocent.
"The profound moral question is not, ‘Do they deserve to die?' but ‘Do we deserve to kill them?'" -Helen Prejean
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