The power to terminate a human existence is a matter not to be taken lightly, according to Sister Helen Prejean, Roman Catholic nun and advocate against the death penalty.@@http://www.prejean.org/PressClippings.html@@
Prejean presented her program “Life, Death, and the Struggle for Human Rights” Tuesday evening in the EMU ballroom, followed by a signing of her New York Times bestseller “Dead Man Walking.”@@http://calendar.uoregon.edu/EventList.aspx?fromdate=10/18/2011&todate=10/18/2011&display=Day&type=public&eventidn=775&view=EventDetails&information_id=4843@@
“They want to use the death penalty to give some closure to people who lost their loved ones, but that doesn’t actually give them closure,” Latin-American history major Salome Serron said. “The motivation is questionable.”@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Salome+Serron@@
Questioning that assertion, Prejean became the founder of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.@@http://www.ncadp.org/@@ She also adamantly supports The Innocence Project, which has been instrumental in the exoneration of 138 death row prisoners, since 1992.
Prejean’s trip to Oregon began on Oct. 15 and continues until Oct. 22 with events in Eugene, Salem and Portland. In addition to speaking at several academic venues, Prejean will be communicating with men who are incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Tuesday’s event was sponsored by the University’s Clark Honors College, the Savage Endowment and the University Law School’s Appropriate Dispute Resolution Center.
Prejean is also a recurring participant in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, which has invited Prejean for a second consecutive year to help conduct literature workshops between student inmates and non-inmate students.
“Last year, I went with Sister Helen to her writing workshop at the Oregon State Penitentiary. It was really powerful. It was a day of intense connection,” said Thomas Walker, a University junior who attended the lecture. The law does not permit continued contact by the students with the inmates after the workshop.
One issue currently plaguing Prejean is the potential execution of Oregon death row inmate Gary Haugen. Haugen has folded in the appeals process and will likely be executed in December. Oregon has not administered the death penalty in 14 years, and opponents of it hoped Haugen would speak to Prejean. He denied the offer.
A native of Baton Rouge, La., Prejean began her prison ministry in 1981.
“I got involved with poor people in New Orleans and realized how many were in prison. Then I got an invitation to write to a man on death row in Louisiana State Penitentiary. Two years later he was executed and that began my national campaign.” Employees of a local prison coalition office had sent her the invitation.
Prejean quickly became pen pals with Elmo Patrick Sonnier,@@http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/sonnier017.htm@@ a Louisiana man convicted of rape and murder. As Sonnier’s spiritual adviser, Prejean shared with him the last six hours of his life. In total, she has witnessed six executions — four in Louisiana, one in Virginia and one in Texas.
Regarding Rick Perry’s boast during the Republican primaries last month about his state’s execution record, Prejean said, “Just give me a chance to talk to people and I can tell them why that attitude is not only wrong, but more costly to the nation than any alternative.”
“Dead Man Walking,” Prejean’s autobiographical account of her own relationship with Sonnier, was released in 1993. A film of the same title followed in 1995, bringing Hollywood clout to the death penalty debate. There have also been stage adaptations produced as both a play and an opera. Prejean’s second book, “The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions,” was published in December 2004.@@http://www.sisterhelen.org/@@
Prejean will be conducting a panel discussion tonight on international human rights at 7:00 p.m. in Lillis Hall.