Helen Prejean Read online

  Our society often turns to violence as the first response to any situation. Catholics and other people of faith get caught up in that too. But support for the death penalty has steadily declined over the years. Sister Helen sees hope in the younger generations who have shown they support capital punishment less than previous generations. Innocence projects at universities, where students volunteer their time investigating cases, saved many of those exonerated in recent years.

  For Sr. Helen, capital punishment is also about human rights. The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which affirms that all human beings, wherever they are, have a basic dignity and worth. Nowhere in that declaration does it say “except in cases of prisoners or capital punishment.” Every time the United States executes someone it violates that declaration, Sr. Helen believes.

  She also feels it violates the UN Convention against Torture. “I have met people, some on death row who couldn’t take the mental strain of it. They were watching other people be led to execution. They would get close to execution and they just gave up all their appeals and said ‘Let the state kill me,’ which is a way of committing suicide when you let the state help you do that,” Sr. Helen says. “Can you imagine the tension? You’re in a six-and-a-half by eight-and-a-half-foot cell, twenty-three out of twenty-four hours of every day waiting to be killed. One day I am hopeful that we will crack open that this is in fact an act of torture. We have signed on to the UN Convention against Torture, and it defines torture as an extreme mental or physical assault on someone rendered defenseless.”5

  Some people tell her they would rather be dead than in prison. While bad things like rapes and fights do happen in prison, there is opportunity to live a life. We have a picture in our minds that prisons are so terrible, like in the story of Dead Man Walking. Pat Sonnier was executed, but his brother Eddie Sonnier got two life sentences. He was never going to walk out of prison alive, but he made his way, Sr. Helen says. “He had a job in the welding shop. He made friends. He got an education. He read books. He had a life. You can find that when you’re alive you have a life.”6

  To those in support of the death penalty, Sr. Helen asks who should kill those who are condemned. Would you pull the switch? Would you want your brother, your child, or your mother to be the one to do the killing? How would that affect them?

  That is a sentiment shared by many of the people involved in executions. In Dead Man Walking, she wrote about a conversation with Major Kendall Coody, the supervisor of death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at the time she was visiting Robert Lee Willie. She described him as a troubled man: “I’m not sure how long I’m going to be able to keep doing this,” he says. “I’ve been through five of these executions and I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. I’m dreaming about executions. I don’t condone these guys’ crimes. I know they’ve done terrible things. I don’t excuse what they’ve done, but I talk to them when I make my rounds. I talk to them and many of them are just little boys inside big men’s bodies, little boys who never had much chance to grow up.”7

  Coody also was part of the group who walked the prisoner to the electric chair. The effects of killing someone reach far beyond just the condemned and the victims’ families. In recent years, more guards, wardens, and other prison staff involved in executions are speaking out about it.

  Ron McAndrews was a warden at Florida State Prison from 1996 to 1998 and oversaw three executions. When the third one went wrong, it changed his life. He describes what happened in a 2014 essay in Esquire:

  My last electrocution at Florida State Prison was the Pedro Medina execution. Pedro was an inmate I really got to know before his death. I read all his files, the pre-sentence investigation, all the documents.

  This was my third execution. As I told the executioner to turn on the electricity, there was a pop. Immediately following the pop, there was a plume of smoke that came from beneath the helmet, sort of out in front of my face, with a bad odor. Then there was a long flame. It was a flame that dipped down out of the helmet and in front of my face. It almost hit me. The flame was so long. I was standing two and a half, three feet away from the electric chair. I couldn’t believe it. For the next eleven minutes, instead of electrocuting this man, we burned him to death. We literally burned him to death. I’ll never forget the muscles in his body, the twisting, the clenching of his fists, his toes turning apart like they were being pried apart by a wrench. It was the most ghastly thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of dead people in my time.8

  While McAndrews always had difficulty sleeping since he became warden, soon he started to have nightmares seeing the faces of those he killed. It was getting to him, and he was self-medicating with pills and alcohol. Soon he quit his job. He eventually got better but didn’t find peace until he admitted the death penalty was wrong and he should do something about it.

  The American people are good people, Sr. Helen believes. It is just that they have never reflected deeply on the issue of the death penalty. If they did they would never condone it. Until they do—or as long as she has breath—Sr. Helen will continue to share with people what God had her witness on that fateful day in Angola Prison, April 5, 1984.

  Notes

  Chapter Two: Her Early Years

  1. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Conversation with the author, June 11, 2016.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Eileen Mitchell, “Called to Inclusive Love: CSJ Charism, Spirituality, Mission,” Sisters of St. Joseph Associate Formation Guide, Congregation of St. Joseph (2011).

  7. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Conversation with the author, June 11, 2016.

  12. Conversation with the author, June 24, 2016.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States (New York: Random House, 1993), 10.

  Chapter Three: Patrick Sonnier

  1. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Prejean, Dead Man Walking, 13.

  4. Ibid., 14.

  5. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  6. Prejean, Dead Man Walking, 28.

  7. Helen Prejean Papers, Box 001, Folder 007, DePaul University Special Collections and Archives, Chicago, IL.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Prejean, Dead Man Walking, 37.

  10. Ibid., 38.

  11. Prejean Papers, Folder 009.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Ibid., Folder 010.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Ibid., Folder 006.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid., Folder 005.

  19. Prejean, Dead Man Walking, 76.

  20. Ibid., 99.

  21. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  22. Ibid.

  Chapter Four: Dead Man Walking

  1. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  2. Qtd. in Sue Halpern, “Sister Sympathy,” New York Times Magazine, May 9, 1993: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/09/magazine/sister-sympathy.html

  3. Conversation with the author, June 11, 2016.

  4. Halpern, “Sister Sympathy.”

  5. Conversation with the author, June 11, 2016.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Laura Shapiro, “I Would Not Want My Murderer Executed,” New York Times, July 4, 1993.

  8. Halpern, “Sister Sympathy.”

  9. John Feister, “The Real Woman behind Dead Man Walking,” St. Anthony Messenger, April 1996.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Roger Ebert, review of Dead Man Walkin
g (film), dir. Tim Robbins, Chicago Sun-Times, January 12, 1996, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dead-man-walking-1996.

  12. “Susan Sarandon winning Best Actress,” YouTube video, 4:34, from the 68th Academy Awards ceremony on March 25, 1996, posted by “Oscars,” May 14, 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeQdw QLwYUU.

  13. The Actor’s Gang, http://www.theactorsgang.com

  14. Kate Bissell, “Actor’s Gang: How Tim Robbins has cut reof­fending rates,” BBC News Magazine, March 14, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35786775

  15. Prejean, Dead Man Walking, 64.

  16. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Prejean, Dead Man Walking, 65.

  19. USCCB Committee on Domestic Policy, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death (Washington, DC: USCCB, 2005), 16, http://www.usccb.org/_cs_upload/7917_1.pdf

  20. Ibid., 20.

  21. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  Chapter Five: The Death of Innocents

  1. Helen Prejean, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions (New York: Vintage, 2005), 4.

  2. Prejean Papers, Box 005, Folder 005.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Ibid., Folder 006.

  5. Ibid., Folder 005.

  6. Ibid., Folder 004.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Prejean, Death of Innocents, 45.

  10. Ibid., 50.

  11. Prejean Papers, Box 007, Folder 008.

  12. Prejean, Death of Innocents, 9.

  13. Ibid., 58.

  14. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  15. Prejean, Death of Innocents, 84.

  16. Ibid., 75.

  17. Ibid., 278.

  18. Ibid., 149.

  19. Ibid., 154.

  20. Ibid., 157.

  21. Ibid., 162.

  22. Ibid., 163.

  Chapter Six: The Church and the Death Penalty

  1. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  2. Saint John Paul II, Encyclical on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life (Evangelium Vitae), March 25, 1995, 56, http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae.html

  3. Prejean, The Death of Innocents, 126.

  4. Ibid., 124.

  5. Ibid., 126.

  6. Ibid., 127.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  9. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), 2267.

  10. John Paul II, Homily at Trans World Dome in St. Louis, MO, January 27, 1999, http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/travels/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_27011999_stlouis.html

  11. USCCB, “Bishops’ Statement on Capital Punishment, 1980,” http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/death-penalty-capital-punishment/statement-on-capital-punishment.cfm

  12. Ibid.

  13. USCCB Committee on Domestic Policy, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death, 14–15.

  14. Pope Francis, Address to the Joint Session of the United States Congress, Washington, DC, September 24, 2015, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/september/documents/papa-francesco_20150924_usa-us-congress.html

  15. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  16. Glossip v. Gross, 576 U.S. ___ (2015), http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf

  17. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Ibid.

  Chapter Seven: Her Thoughts on the Death Penalty

  1. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  2. Helen Prejean, speaking to students at St. Catherine–St. Lucy School, Oak Park, IL, October 17, 2015.

  3. Prejean, The Death of Innocents, 103.

  4. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Prejean, Dead Man Walking, 180.

  8. Ron McAndrew, “Ron McAndrew Is Done Killing People,” Esquire, (January 14, 2014), http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a26833/ron-mcandrew-is-done-killing-people/

  Bibliography

  Bissell, Kate. “Actor’s Gang: How Tim Robbins has cut reoffending rates.” BBC News Magazine, March 14, 2016.

  Ebert, Roger. Review of Dead Man Walking (film), directed by Tim Robbins. Chicago Sun-Times, January 12, 1996.

  Feister, John. “The Real Woman behind Dead Man Walking,” St. Anthony Messenger, April 1996.

  Francis, Pope. Address to the Joint Session of the United States Congress, Washington, DC, September 24, 2015.

  John Paul II, Saint. Encyclical on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life (Evangelium Vitae), March 25, 1995.

  ———. Homily at Trans World Dome, St. Louis, MO, January 27, 1999.

  McAndrew, Ron. “Ron McAndrew Is Done Killing People.” Esquire, January 14, 2014.

  Mitchell, Eileen. “Called to Inclusive Love: CSJ Charism, Spirituality, Mission.” Sisters of St. Joseph Associate Formation Guide, Congregation of St. Joseph (2011).

  Prejean, Helen. Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. New York: Random House, 1993.

  ———. The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions. New York: Vintage, 2005.

  ———. Papers. DePaul University Special Collections and Archives, Chicago, IL.

  Shapiro, Laura. “I Would Not Want My Murderer Executed.” New York Times, July 4, 1993.

  USCCB Committee on Domestic Policy. A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death. Washington, DC: USCCB, 2005. http://www.usccb.org/_cs_upload/7917_1.pdf.

  United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Bishops’ Statement on Capital Punishment, 1980.” Washington, DC: USCCB, 1980.

  ———. Committee on Domestic Policy. A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death. Washington, DC: USCCB, 2005.

  Interviews

  Prejean, Helen. Conversation with the author, December 9, 2015.

  ———. Conversation with the author, June 11, 2016

  ———. Conversation with the author, June 24, 2016