Posted on Jun\u00a019,\u00a02013<\/h4>\n\n<\/p>\nBy Amy Goodman<\/p>\n
Thirty years ago, a Catholic nun working in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans was asked if she would be a pen pal to a death-row prisoner. Sister Helen Prejean agreed, forever changing her life, as well as the debate on capital punishment in this country.<\/p>\n
Her experiences inspired her first book, \u201cDead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States,\u201d which has just been republished on its 20th anniversary. She was a pen pal with Patrick Sonnier, a convicted murderer on death row in Louisiana\u2019s notorious Angola prison. In her distinctive Southern accent, she told me of her first visit to Sonnier: \u201cIt was scary as all get-out. I had never been in a prison before. … I was scared to meet him personally. When I saw his face, it was so human, it blew me away. I got a realization then, no matter what he had done … he is worth more than the worst thing he ever did. And the journey began from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sister Helen became Sonnier\u2019s spiritual adviser, conversing with him as his execution approached. She spent his final hours with him, and witnessed his execution on April 5, 1984. She also was a spiritual advisor to another Angola death row prisoner, Robert Lee Willie, who was executed the same year. The book was made into a film, directed by Tim Robbins and starring Susan Sarandon as Prejean and Sean Penn as the character Matthew Poncelet, an amalgam of Sonnier and Williams. Sarandon won the Oscar for Best Actress, and the film\u2019s success further intensified the national debate on the death penalty.<\/p>\n
The United States is the only industrialized country in the world still using the death penalty. There are currently 3,125 people on death row in the U.S., although death-penalty opponents continue to make progress. Maryland is the most recent state to abolish capital punishment. After passage of the law, Maryland Gov. Martin O\u2019Malley wrote: \u201cEvidence shows that the death penalty is not a deterrent, it cannot be administered without racial bias, and it costs three times as much as life in prison without parole. What\u2019s more, there is no way to reverse a mistake if an innocent person is put to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Studies of the racial bias abound. The Death Penalty Information Center, citing a recent Louisiana Law Review study, reports that in Louisiana, the odds of a death sentence were 97 percent higher for crimes in which the victim was white than those where the victim was African-American. Nationally, 75 percent of the cases that resulted in an execution had white victims.<\/p>\n
Although Colorado is not one of the states to abolish the death penalty, Gov. John Hickenlooper used his executive authority to grant a temporary reprieve to one of the three death-row prisoners there, saying, \u201cIt is a legitimate question whether we as a state should be taking lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, Indiana released a former death-row prisoner. Paula Cooper was convicted for the 1985 murder of Ruth Pelke. Cooper was sentenced to death at the age of 16, and was, at the time, the youngest person on death row in this country. Pelke\u2019s grandson, Bill Pelke, actively campaigned for clemency for her: \u201cI became convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my grandmother would have been appalled by the fact that this girl was on death row and there was so much hate and anger towards her.\u201d He went on, \u201cWhen Paula was taken off of death row in the fall of 1989, I thought, \u2018Well, that\u2019s it. She\u2019s off of death row. My mission has been accomplished.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Pelke joined a march from Florida\u2019s death-row prison to Atlanta, on which he met Sister Helen Prejean. \u201cAfter 17 days of walking down the highways with this nun, you get a real education about the death penalty. It was on that march with Sister Helen Prejean where I dedicated my life to the abolition of the death penalty,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as there\u2019s any state in this world that\u2019s killing their own citizens, I\u2019m going to stand up and say that it\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prejean said one of her greatest regrets was that she failed to reach out to the families of the murder victims while she was spiritual adviser to Sonnier and Willie. She went on to found Survive, an organization to support families of murder victims like Pelke. She wrapped up our conversation this week by saying: \u201cI\u2019ve accompanied six human beings and watched them be killed. I have a dedication to them to do this; I can\u2019t walk away from this. I\u2019m going to be doing this until I die.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDenis Moynihan contributed research to this column.<\/i><\/p>\n
Amy Goodman is the host of \u201cDemocracy Now!,\u201d a daily international TV\/radio news hour airing on more than 1,000 stations in North America. She is the co-author of \u201cThe Silenced Majority,\u201d a New York Times best-seller.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2013 Amy Goodman<\/small><\/p>\n
Distributed by King Features Syndicate\n<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/images\/eartothegrounduploads\/amy-column_photo-160.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
By Amy Goodman<\/p>\n
Thirty years ago, a Catholic nun working in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans was asked if she would be a pen pal to a death-row prisoner. Sister Helen Prejean agreed, forever changing her life, as well as the debate on capital punishment in this country.<\/p>\n
Her experiences inspired her first book, \u201cDead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States,\u201d which has just been republished on its 20th anniversary. She was a pen pal with Patrick Sonnier, a convicted murderer on death row in Louisiana\u2019s notorious Angola prison. In her distinctive Southern accent, she told me of her first visit to Sonnier: \u201cIt was scary as all get-out. I had never been in a prison before. … I was scared to meet him personally. When I saw his face, it was so human, it blew me away. I got a realization then, no matter what he had done … he is worth more than the worst thing he ever did. And the journey began from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sister Helen became Sonnier\u2019s spiritual adviser, conversing with him as his execution approached. She spent his final hours with him, and witnessed his execution on April 5, 1984. She also was a spiritual advisor to another Angola death row prisoner, Robert Lee Willie, who was executed the same year. The book was made into a film, directed by Tim Robbins and starring Susan Sarandon as Prejean and Sean Penn as the character Matthew Poncelet, an amalgam of Sonnier and Williams. Sarandon won the Oscar for Best Actress, and the film\u2019s success further intensified the national debate on the death penalty.<\/p>\n
The United States is the only industrialized country in the world still using the death penalty. There are currently 3,125 people on death row in the U.S., although death-penalty opponents continue to make progress. Maryland is the most recent state to abolish capital punishment. After passage of the law, Maryland Gov. Martin O\u2019Malley wrote: \u201cEvidence shows that the death penalty is not a deterrent, it cannot be administered without racial bias, and it costs three times as much as life in prison without parole. What\u2019s more, there is no way to reverse a mistake if an innocent person is put to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Studies of the racial bias abound. The Death Penalty Information Center, citing a recent Louisiana Law Review study, reports that in Louisiana, the odds of a death sentence were 97 percent higher for crimes in which the victim was white than those where the victim was African-American. Nationally, 75 percent of the cases that resulted in an execution had white victims.<\/p>\n
Although Colorado is not one of the states to abolish the death penalty, Gov. John Hickenlooper used his executive authority to grant a temporary reprieve to one of the three death-row prisoners there, saying, \u201cIt is a legitimate question whether we as a state should be taking lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, Indiana released a former death-row prisoner. Paula Cooper was convicted for the 1985 murder of Ruth Pelke. Cooper was sentenced to death at the age of 16, and was, at the time, the youngest person on death row in this country. Pelke\u2019s grandson, Bill Pelke, actively campaigned for clemency for her: \u201cI became convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my grandmother would have been appalled by the fact that this girl was on death row and there was so much hate and anger towards her.\u201d He went on, \u201cWhen Paula was taken off of death row in the fall of 1989, I thought, \u2018Well, that\u2019s it. She\u2019s off of death row. My mission has been accomplished.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Pelke joined a march from Florida\u2019s death-row prison to Atlanta, on which he met Sister Helen Prejean. \u201cAfter 17 days of walking down the highways with this nun, you get a real education about the death penalty. It was on that march with Sister Helen Prejean where I dedicated my life to the abolition of the death penalty,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as there\u2019s any state in this world that\u2019s killing their own citizens, I\u2019m going to stand up and say that it\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prejean said one of her greatest regrets was that she failed to reach out to the families of the murder victims while she was spiritual adviser to Sonnier and Willie. She went on to found Survive, an organization to support families of murder victims like Pelke. She wrapped up our conversation this week by saying: \u201cI\u2019ve accompanied six human beings and watched them be killed. I have a dedication to them to do this; I can\u2019t walk away from this. I\u2019m going to be doing this until I die.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDenis Moynihan contributed research to this column.<\/i><\/p>\n
Amy Goodman is the host of \u201cDemocracy Now!,\u201d a daily international TV\/radio news hour airing on more than 1,000 stations in North America. She is the co-author of \u201cThe Silenced Majority,\u201d a New York Times best-seller.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2013 Amy Goodman<\/small><\/p>\n
Distributed by King Features Syndicate\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/span>\n<\/div>\n