The First Year Book Program's 2003-2004 selection is Dead Man Walking, by Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ. The book was nominated for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize, and was number one on the New York Times Best Seller List for 31 weeks. In 1996, Dead Man Walking was made into movie starring Susan Sarandon -- for which she received an Oscar for her portrayal of Prejean -- and Sean Penn.

Sister Helen Prejean was born in 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille in 1957. Prejean began her prison ministry in 1981 while living in New Orleans. During this period she started writing to Patrick Sonnier, a death row inmate at Louisiana's Angola State Prison, awaiting execution following his conviction for a double murder. Sonnier asked Prejean to visit him in prison. She learned about the execution process through her visits to Sonnier. Out of these experiences came Prejean's book, as well as her advocacy against capital punishment.

Sr. Helen Prejean

Prejean has received numerous awards for Dead Man Walking and for her activism against the death penalty, as well as her advocacy on behalf of victim's rights. In addition, she is the recipient of over 25 honorary degrees from universities throughout the world. Prejean earned her bachelor's degree in English and Education from St. Mary's Dominican College, New Orleans in 1962, and her master's degree in Religious Education from St. Paul's University in Ottawa, Canada.

For more on Sister Helen Prejean:

* The official Sister Helen Prejean web site.

* An interview with Sister Helen Prejean on PBS's Frontline.

*Sister Helen Prejean's keynote address (includes the audio of her speech) at the National Meeting on Care of the Dying, Project on Death in America.