Prejean spoke about her experiences April 19 at Southwestern University as part of the Shilling Lecture series.[/caption]
In 1984, Sister Helen Prejean walked with Patrick Sonnier to his death by electrocution at the state penitentiary in Louisiana.
Sonnier received the death penalty after he was convicted of killing two teenagers in 1977. After serving as his spiritual advisor and witnessing his execution, Prejean wrote the book “Dean Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate,” which inspired a play, an opera and a film starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon.
Prejean spoke about her experiences April 19 at Southwestern University as part of the Shilling Lecture series, a biennial event held at the university to bring internationally prominent speakers on topics related to ethics, public service and public policy, Southwestern President Edward Burger said.
“Sister Helen Prejean has been instrumental in sparking a national conversation on the death penalty, and in helping to shape the Catholic Church’s opposition to state executions,” he said.
Prejean told the audience about growing up in private Catholic schools.
“I [had always been] so protected and cushioned,'” she said.
She said it was not until she moved into the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans to work with the poor that she got to experience race and poverty.
During that time she became the spiritual advisor to Sonnier, and since then Prejean has walked with six men to death row. She referenced the exoneration of more than 200 people in Texas who were wrongfully convicted since 1989, and said she suspected some of those six men were also innocent. Her experiences inspired her second book “The Death of Innocents.”
Prejean told the audience that the justice system, and the death penalty in particular, disproportionally punishes people of color. She referenced the school-to-prison pipeline and said many people of color are unjustly affected by poverty, poor education in their area and drug laws, which keep many inside the criminal justice system. Instead of the death penalty, she told the audience she prefers life sentences and restorative justice, such as focusing on rehabilitating criminals back into communities.
“Having met [convicted criminals], I believe they are better than the worse thing they ever did,” she said.
She encouraged both church communities and members of the audience to get involved by reaching out to the victims of violence and to see convicted offenders as people by going into prisons.
Prejean said she wanted to speak at the university because Southwestern has been working to have a diverse student population, which she said will help increase educational opportunities and combat what she called a broken system.
“Because the true education is to be able to go to school with people who are different from us, because that’s the true America,” she said. “Not to always be with people who are just like us.”
Prejean spoke about her experiences April 19 at Southwestern University as part of the Shilling Lecture series.[/caption]
In 1984, Sister Helen Prejean walked with Patrick Sonnier to his death by electrocution at the state penitentiary in Louisiana.
Sonnier received the death penalty after he was convicted of killing two teenagers in 1977. After serving as his spiritual advisor and witnessing his execution, Prejean wrote the book “Dean Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate,” which inspired a play, an opera and a film starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon.
Prejean spoke about her experiences April 19 at Southwestern University as part of the Shilling Lecture series, a biennial event held at the university to bring internationally prominent speakers on topics related to ethics, public service and public policy, Southwestern President Edward Burger said.
“Sister Helen Prejean has been instrumental in sparking a national conversation on the death penalty, and in helping to shape the Catholic Church’s opposition to state executions,” he said.
Prejean told the audience about growing up in private Catholic schools.
“I [had always been] so protected and cushioned,'” she said.
She said it was not until she moved into the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans to work with the poor that she got to experience race and poverty.
During that time she became the spiritual advisor to Sonnier, and since then Prejean has walked with six men to death row. She referenced the exoneration of more than 200 people in Texas who were wrongfully convicted since 1989, and said she suspected some of those six men were also innocent. Her experiences inspired her second book “The Death of Innocents.”
Prejean told the audience that the justice system, and the death penalty in particular, disproportionally punishes people of color. She referenced the school-to-prison pipeline and said many people of color are unjustly affected by poverty, poor education in their area and drug laws, which keep many inside the criminal justice system. Instead of the death penalty, she told the audience she prefers life sentences and restorative justice, such as focusing on rehabilitating criminals back into communities.
“Having met [convicted criminals], I believe they are better than the worse thing they ever did,” she said.
She encouraged both church communities and members of the audience to get involved by reaching out to the victims of violence and to see convicted offenders as people by going into prisons.
Prejean said she wanted to speak at the university because Southwestern has been working to have a diverse student population, which she said will help increase educational opportunities and combat what she called a broken system.
“Because the true education is to be able to go to school with people who are different from us, because that’s the true America,” she said. “Not to always be with people who are just like us.”
