Sister Helen Prejean: Justice for All

by Johna Wright
posted 2/9/19

“I saw the suffering and I let myself feel it . . . I saw the injustice and was compelled to do something about it. I changed from being a nun who only prayed for the suffering world to a woman with my sleeves rolled up, living my prayer.” - Sister Helen Prejean
 
In our society, we tend to become complacent with the current state of affairs, either because we are blissfully unaware of the implications of what is happening or we feel that we are too weak to make a change alone. Both of these ideas prove to be extremely harmful for us, as well as the entirety of the world’s population, because we continue on a cyclical path that results in a hopeless monotony—a life with no purpose, no way out, and people with no motivation to break this dangerous cycle that will most certainly lead to a decline in the functionality of our society. However, Sister Helen Prejean not only illustrates to others that it is possible for someone to step up and form a new future in which they feel most satisfied, but she encourages us—average, everyday citizens—to utilize our own unique talents in order to make the world a better place for all of God’s children. 
 
Helen Prejean was born in the spring of 1939 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to mother Augusta Mae Bourg-Prejean, a nurse, and father Sebastian Prejean, an attorney. At the age of eighteen, Prejean felt called to join the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille, where she began her faith journey, as well as her journey to transforming the criminal justice system in the United States. After attaining several degrees in fields such as English and Religious Education at various Catholic universities, including St. Mary’s Dominican College and Saint Paul University, she taught high school and held numerous leadership positions, such as Director of Religious Education at a parish in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was during this time that one simple request completely altered the course of Sister Prejean’s life and allowed her true passions to come to fruition, thus improving life and giving hope to those that the rest of society has shunned.
 
Sr. Prejean was asked to be a spiritual advisor for a death row inmate, Elmo Patrick Sonnier, at Louisiana State Penitentiary. She obliged and visited Sonnier in prison for the months leading up to his execution by electrocution. During this difficult process, Sr. Prejean began to understand the implications that capital punishment has for the death row inmate, their family and loved ones, and society as a whole, so she decided to begin publicly voicing her discontent with the death penalty. Shortly after she began to speak out against the injustice of capital punishment, she wrote her first book, entitled Dead Man Walking. This groundbreaking text, which brings to light many other experiences she had while interacting with inmates on death row, began a discussion that catapulted society into a new way of thinking about models of punishment and allowed other like-minded individuals to propose new, innovative reforms of the prison system that focused more upon aspects of rehabilitation and re-entry into mainstream society, as opposed to the almost barbaric and brutish system that seems to revolve solely around punishment and vengeance against the inmate for their wrongdoings or violations of commonly-held societal norms.
 
Sr. Prejean still actively stands behind her cause today, just as she did when she had her initial interactions with Elmo Sonnier inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Today, she works closely with organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Innocence Project, which works to exonerate people who were convicted of crimes they did not commit through the use of DNA evidence. In conjunction with these efforts, she wrote a second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, opening up the door for discourse surrounding a problem with executions that had not previously been explored—wrongful executions. In other words, many people in recent history who were sentenced to death for heinous crimes actually did not commit said crime and may not have even been present at the time of the crime. Therefore, Sr. Prejean effectively shed light on an issue that desperately needed, and still needs, attention from the public in order to spark any sort of meaningful and lasting change. 
 
Through all of Sr. Prejean’s work to save people from cruel and unusual deaths in a society that ironically believes that killing people will show the world that killing is wrong, she has saved many lives and continues to do so. She does this by using outlets such as social media to spread her message to a wide audience, appealing to lawmakers about why the statutes should be changed to preserve all life, and engaging in peaceful protests that offer a visual display of her beliefs. Therefore, we can see that Sr. Prejean embodies everything that we, as southern women, should strive to be. She bravely stands up for the rights of others, no matter the ridicule and backlash she receives, and she is an informed constituent and productive member of society who actively works to create a safe space for everyone, not just the majority. Lastly, and arguably most importantly, she does all of this with an admirable eloquence and grace that defines both the modern and the historical southern woman. Sr. Prejean has served as an inspiration to many, including myself, and continually illustrates that it is possible to create change, although it will not always be easy. However, the rewards will make every moment of fighting tooth-and-nail for your cause worth it.
Johna Wright was raised in the rural town of Thomson, Georgia. She was born blind and has learned to navigate the sighted world throughout her childhood. Currently, she is a junior at Mercer University, pursuing a degree in Psychology, with minors in English and Creative Writing. Johna is the lab manager for a Forensic Psychology Lab, a member of the executive board for Mercer’s service organization, and she is a Service Scholar — an elite group of university honors program students. She has also founded and piloted a program, ABLE Mercer, that assists students with disabilities in their transition to a residential college campus by providing one-to-one peer mentoring. Outside of school, Johna is an active member of the National Federation of the Blind, where she holds several titles. For instance, she is the Social Media Coordinator for the National Association of Blind Students and the Vice President of the Community Service Division. Johna frequently attends advocacy events on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., as well as national conventions and leadership seminars. Through her involvement with the National Federation of the Blind, she has blossomed as a leader, while also discovering her passion for raising the low expectations that society places upon those who are blind. Johna plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Forensic Psychology, so that she can conduct research and help people with disabilities who are negatively affected by our criminal justice system. Simultaneously, Johna plans to invest a large portion of her time to the organization that helped her find her voice: the National Federation of the blind.
“Biography.” Ministry Against the Death Penalty, 2018, www.sisterhelen.org/biography/.
DeGraff, Kathryn. “DePaul Archives Acquire Prejean Death Penalty Papers and Dead Man Walking Manuscript.” DePaul University Library, 7 Feb. 2011, web.archive.org/web/20150518083838/http://library.depaul.edu/about/library-news/library-news-for-faculty/Pages/DePaul-Archives-Acquire-Prejean-Death-Penalty-Papers--Dead-Man-Walking-Manuscript.aspx.
“Helen Prejean.” IMDb, 2019, www.imdb.com/name/nm0695878/.
“Sister Helen Prejean on the Death Penalty and the Church, Nov. 7." Fairfield University, 12 Oct. 2018, www.fairfield.edu/news/archive/2018/october/sister-helens-abolishing-death-penalty.html.

Image: Sister Helen Prejean in 2006. Photo by Don LaVange. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.
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