[PAA-Discuss] Death penalty opponent, Sister Helen Prejean, will speak at UHD March 3

[slindahl at rounder-graphics.com]

I apologize for the short notice, but Sister Helen Prejean is simply
amazing. I realize there will be other opportunities around the city to see
her, but please feel free to attend if you can tonight. 

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Death penalty opponent, Sister Helen Prejean, will speak at UHD March 3
http://uhdnews.uhd.edu/news/stories.aspx?articleid=137&zoneid=1

Monday, February 08, 2010 / UHD Public Affairs

[Sister] Sister Helen Prejean, a nationally recognized opponent of the
death penalty who wrote “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the
Death Penalty in the United States,” will speak at the University of
Houston-Downtown at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 3, in the Wilhelmina Cullen
Robertson Auditorium on the third floor of the Academic Building.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Prejean’s appearance is part
of the Criminal Justice Speaker Series, sponsored by UHD’s College of
Public Service. Judith Harris, UHD lecturer in criminal justice who
organized Prejean’s lecture, said UHD students will gain a broader
understanding of the death penalty by attending the lecture. “Hearing a
controversial and internationally known spiritual adviser to death row
inmates brings a new perspective students cannot get from a textbook,”
Harris said.

Prejean’s book became an Academy-Award-winning movie, “Dead Man
Walking,” in 1995. The movie portrayed Prejean’s experiences with death
row inmate Patrick Sonnier at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.
Actor Sean Penn played Sonnier’s character, Matthew Poncelet, and Susan
Sarandon played Prejean. Sarandon won an Academy Award for best actress for
her work in the movie.

Prejean was Sonnier’s spiritual adviser, worked to prevent his execution
and stood by him until he was executed in the electric chair. Her activism
against capital punishment sparked a national dialogue about the death
penalty and helped shaped the Catholic Church’s opposition to all state
executions.

Prejean still campaigns against the death penalty and counsels death row
prisoners. She has been a spiritual adviser to six more executed men. She
published a second book, “The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account
of Wrongful Executions,” in 2004.

“Dead Man Walking,” the book, was nominated for a 1993 Pulitzer Prize
and made the 1994 American Library Associates Notable Book List. The
international best seller was No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List
for 31 weeks and has been translated into 10 languages.