Sister Helen Prejean is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille and lives in Louisiana. A leading opponent of the death penalty in the US, she was chair of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and founded the advocacy group Survive. Her first book Dead Man Walking: an eyewitness account of the death penalty was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, translated into ten languages and adapted into an Oscar-winning film by Tim Robbins. Her latest book, The Death of Innocents: an eyewitness account of wrongful executions follows the cases of five different prisoners on death row, of which two were ultimately found to be not guilty of their convicted crimes. Her official website is www.prejean.org, and her blog is at www.sisterhelen.typepad.com.

Recent articles

Over 1000 people have been executed in the US since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976. Sister Helen Prejean, a leading campaigner against capital punishment and author of “Dead Man Walking,” talks to Isabel Hilton about the flaws in the American judicial system and whether the death penalty will ever be abolished. Plus, an exclusive extract from her new book “The Death of Innocents”.