Summary:
Roman Catholic nun, author, advocate for death penalty abolition.
Chronology:
1939
Born on April 21st in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.1980
Moves into the St. Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans, and begins to work full-time on advocacy for the poor and homeless.1982
Begins corresponding with death-row inmates Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie, leading to friendships that helped both find peace.1984
Despite his unclear role in the murders that led to his sentence, Sonnier is executed. Willie is executed later the same year. Prejean becomes a spiritual advisor to other death-row inmates, and an advocate for death penalty abolition.1993
Prejean's Dead Man Walking is published by Random House. It will go on to win a Pulitzer Prize. Prejean is appointed chair of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.1995
A dramatized film version of Dead Man Walking is released. Later the same year, Susan Sarandon wins an Academy Award for her portrayal of Prejean.1999
Prejean founds Moratorium 2000/The Moratorium Campaign, which calls for a national moratorium on use of the death penalty. One of its initiatives, Witness to Innocence, focuses on telling the stories of exonerated former death-row inmates.
