Helen Prejean

Helen Prejean (2006)

Sr. Helen Prejean CSJ (born April 21, 1939 in Baton Rouge , Louisiana ) is an American religious and activist against the death penalty .

Life

In 1957 Prejean joined the St. Joseph Sisters . She studied for teaching in English and religion. Since 1981 she has looked after death row inmates like Elmo Patrick Sonnier, who was executed on the electric chair in 1984 , initially through pen pals . She processed her experiences in the book Dead Man Walking , which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. The book was 1995 Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn filmed . Prejean made a brief guest appearance as a woman on the Night Watch. In 2000 the opera Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie was created. In 2012 the theater version by Martin Jürgens was premiered at the Vagantenbühne in Berlin .

The nun has become a symbol of resistance to the death penalty in the United States.

Dead man walking. His last course. Goldmann, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-442-43542-0 .
The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions. Random House, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0-67-944056-7 .

personal data
SURNAME	Prejean, Helen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Prejean, sister Helen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American nun and activist against the death penalty
DATE OF BIRTH	April 21, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH	Baton Rouge , Louisiana , United States