Online Video: Sister Helen Prejean - Dead Man walking

Video documentaries of Peninsula Peace and Justice Center's
varied programs, including speakers, panels, and protests.

Dead Man Walking: The Continuing Effort to End the Death Penalty

Sister Helen Prejean
Roman Catholic Nun and Anti-Death Penalty Activist
Author of Dead Man Walking
 

Recorded November 23, 2008.  1 hour 10 minutes

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For over twenty years, Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun, has worked to educate the public about the death penalty. She has been spiritual adviser to eight death row inmates, turning her experience visiting one into the best-selling book "Dead Man Walking". In 1995, the book was made into a film starring Susan Sarandon, winning the actress an Oscar for her performance.

"If we believe that murder is wrong and not admissable in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just individuals but governments as well." "I'm more of a storyteller than a lecturer. So I bring people with me, in my experience -- somebody who knew nothing about the death penalty, who got involved with poor people in New Orleans and started writing to somebody on death row. Two and a half years later I am witnessing as the state of Louisiana pumps 1900 volts of electricity through his body and kills him. And I walk out of that execution chamber and I'm never the same again. And the realization that came to me was that people are never going to see this. Executions are a secret ritual, so people don't have any close-up experience and they never will. I help people navigate across the poles and I give them a few pertinent facts about how the death penalty is actually practiced." ~ Sister Helen Prejean

This program was recorded on November 21 in Palo Alto, CA by Peninsula Peace and Justice Center.