海伦·培贞

海伦·培贞（英语：Sister Helen Prejean，1939年4月21日—），罗马天主教修女，美国反对死刑运动人士。1980年代早期，服务于贫困的新奥尔良非裔美国人过程中，受邀去探视一位死囚─Patrick Sonnier，因杀害两名青少年而被判死刑。经过一段书信往返之后，后来她开始到狱中去探视他。1984年4月，Patrick Sonnier被处决，海伦·培贞在场见证死刑执行，她后来回忆，警卫将头套罩在他脸上前，培贞为了让索尼尔感到尊严而向他招手，离开路易斯安那州州立监狱后不禁呕吐，从未看过人在面前被杀死，好像遭电击。之后，她又跟5名死囚共处并见证执刑。培贞继续写作并到世界各地演讲，呼吁废除死刑，经常会提到Patrick Sonnier被处死改变了她的一生。她和Patrick Sonnier往来过程后来在1993年写成《越过死亡线》（Dead Man Walking）一书，连续31周蝉联《纽约时报》畅销书籍榜首，并改编成电影和音乐剧，电影版在1995年上映，由演员苏珊·莎兰登饰演海伦·培贞，并荣获4项奥斯卡奖。2004年12月，普吉恩修女再次出版《The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions》一书。2001年，海伦·培贞修女发起的反死刑组织Moratorium Campaign收集了320万个签名，递交给联合国秘书长科菲·安南，呼吁废除死刑制度。

Helen Prejean ( pray-ZHAHN; born April 21, 1939) is an American Catholic religious sister and a leading advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.

She is known for her best-selling book Dead Man Walking (1993) based on her experiences with two convicts on death row for whom she served as spiritual adviser before their executions. In her book, she explored the effects of the death penalty on everyone involved. The book was adapted as a 1995 film of the same name, starring Susan Sarandon as Prejean and Sean Penn; for her role, Sarandon won the Academy Award for Best Actress. It was also adapted as an opera by Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally, first produced in 2000 by the San Francisco Opera.

Prejean served as the National Chairperson of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 1993 to 1995. She helped establish The Moratorium Campaign, seeking an end to executions and conducting education on the death penalty. Prejean also founded the group SURVIVE to help families of victims of murder and related crimes.

Early life and education

Helen Prejean was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the daughter of Augusta Mae (née Bourg; 1911–1993), a nurse, and Louis Sebastian Prejean (1893–1974), a lawyer. She joined the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille in 1957.

In 1962, she received a Bachelor of Arts in English and Education from St. Mary's Dominican College, New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1973, she earned a Master of Arts in religious education from Saint Paul University, a Pontifical university federated with the University of Ottawa. She has been the Religious Education Director at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans, the Formation Director for the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille, and has taught junior and senior high school.

Death row ministry

Her efforts began in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1981. In 1982 an acquaintance asked her to correspond with convicted murderer Elmo Patrick Sonnier, held on death row in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. Sonnier had been sentenced to death by electrocution. She visited Sonnier in prison and agreed to be his spiritual adviser in the months leading up to his execution. The experience gave Prejean greater insight into the process involved in executions, for the convict, families, and others in the prison, and she began speaking out against capital punishment. At the same time, she founded Survive, an organization devoted to counseling the families of victims of violence.

Prejean has since ministered to other inmates on death row and witnessed several more executions. She served as National Chairperson of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 1993 to 1995.

Dead Man Walking

In 1993, Prejean published Dead Man Walking, an account of her relationship with Sonnier and other inmates on death row, and the factors related to her growing opposition to the death penalty. The book was adapted for a 1995 feature film of the same name; Prejean was portrayed by Susan Sarandon.

The book was adapted as an opera of the same name, first produced by the San Francisco Opera in 2000. The libretto is by Terrence McNally and the music composed by Jake Heggie. It has also been adapted as a play of the same name, which was first produced in autumn 2003.

For her book, Prejean drew from her experiences with Sonnier and with the convict Robert Lee Willie, who had been sentenced to death after being convicted of kidnapping and murder in two attacks in May 1980. The book also explored the effects that conducting the death penalty has on attorneys, prison guards, other prison officials, as well as the families of both convicted murderers and their victims. Since then Prejean has worked with other men sentenced to death.

In December 2010, Prejean donated all of her archival papers to DePaul University.

Campaigns, book, and awards

In 1996, Prejean was awarded the Laetare Medal by the University of Notre Dame, the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics.