PREJEAN Helen

Biography:

Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun, is well known for having fought against the death penalty since the 1980s to preserve the life and human dignity of the condemned. Her vocation was born when, in the prison where she ministered as a religious sister, she came into contact with a prisoner on death row, who asked her to be his spiritual guide. Through this experience, she felt that her vocation was to fight the death penalty more generally. Two best-selling books, translated into several languages, reached large numbers of readers in the United States and around the world. The first book, The Last Walk, was adopted for the screen in the film of the same name starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn (1995), then inspired a long-performed opera of the same name (2000). In 2000, Helen Prejean (Moratorium), Paul Hoffman (Amnesty International) and Mario Marizziti (Sant'Egidio Community) presented Kofi Annan (UN) with a petition containing 2.5 million signatures from all over the world calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. Functions: Helen Prejean was Member : - Committee of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (1985-1995, including President from 1993 to 1995) - Amnesty International - Murder Victim Families for Reconciliation (honorary member). - Moratorium Campaign (Honorary President) Awards (summary) (the full list is much longer): 2008: Peace Prize, World Methodist Council 2005: Peace Prize, City of Ypres 1998: Pacem in Terris award 1996: Peace Prize, Pax Christi 1995-present: Honorary degrees from dozens of universities. 1994: National Civil Liberties Award from the American Civil Liberties Union, Georgia, US 1994: Human Rights Award from the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights 1994: Champion of Liberty Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers 1986: Abolitionist Award from the Louisiana Capitol Defense Project. 1995: Wade Mackie Peacebuilding Award, Baton Rouge Louisiana