Helen Prejean, CSJ
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sisterhelen.org
Helen Prejean, CSJ
@sisterhelen.org
900 followers 220 following 13 posts
I’ve been working to educate the American public about the ugly reality of the death penalty for over 40 years. I’m not stopping now!

linktr.ee/helenprejean
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sisterhelen.org
Documents obtained by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times through a public records request show that in 2011 the Chicago-born future Pope Leo XIV sent his gratitude to then-Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn for abolishing the death penalty in Illinois.
Records show before he was the pope, Robert F. Prevost thanked Gov. Pat Quinn for ending the death penalty
Catholic organizations had lobbied Quinn to end the death penalty. The former governor was not previously aware of Prevost’s message to him.
chicago.suntimes.com
June 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
sisterhelen.org
Oklahoma AG Gentner Drummond on supporting Richard Glossip’s bid for a new trial: “It’s not a very popular position for a Republican attorney general... But the mission of my office is not to protect the prosecutor. My mission is to seek justice.”
Oklahoma's Republican attorney general explains why he fought to overturn Richard Glossip's death sentence
Since taking office, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has approved of every death row case in the state — except one​.
www.cbsnews.com
April 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
sisterhelen.org
LOUISIANA: RALLY THIS SUNDAY 2-4PM GOVERNOR'S MANSION.
March 10, 2025 at 11:10 PM
sisterhelen.org
Today, I’m thinking about Ivan Cantu, executed in Texas on 2/28/2024. His last words to the victims’ families, there to see him die, were, “I did not kill your son. I did not kill your daughter.” I was there in the killing chamber close to him, whispering prayers into his ear.
March 1, 2025 at 12:21 AM
sisterhelen.org
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
WONDERFUL NEWS!
New trial for Richard Glossip! www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
Supreme Court throws out Oklahoma death row inmate's conviction over flawed trial
In an unusual case, death row inmate Richard Glossip was backed by the state's Republican attorney general, who agreed the conviction was unsound.
www.nbcnews.com
February 25, 2025 at 10:37 PM
sisterhelen.org
A poem for the times from my co-worker, Rose Vines.
The Time of the Wasps Now is not the time for your usual life. Within our hive the wasps have already launched their swift assault, overwhelming our guards, killing the workers, turning their avid eyes on our pooled, collective honey. They come for our eggs, too. We have expected the assault— they are wasps, after all— but not the shape of that assault, and that could well be our undoing if we pretend that now is the time for our usual life. Now is the time to shower love on those who wield the pen; the poets, the comics, the resolute reporters, yes, but also on those who build palisades and pitfalls from statutes and precedents, who slow the charge of the lawless now empowered. Now is not the time for your usual life. Use normality as a ruse, silence as a shield, but not as a path. Hold close your joy and love and frolicsomeness— the you that longs for your usual life— while in safe places you share rumblings and connections and lay smart plans to make a swarming cacophony in unsafe spaces. Now is the time of the wasps who bring their billions to crush our millions. But they are few.
February 3, 2025 at 7:08 PM
sisterhelen.org
The next edition of the Graphic Dead Man Newsletter traces the book's six-year journey (so far). The newsletter is out tomorrow. graphicdeadmanwalking.substack.com
Colourful drawing of the life cycle of a butterfly.
January 31, 2025 at 11:52 PM
sisterhelen.org
I love the latest edition of the Graphic Dead Man Walking newsletter. I hope you've subscribed - I read it each weekend.
Bishop Mariann Budde is an affront
May we all be like her
graphicdeadmanwalking.substack.com
January 25, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Helen Prejean, CSJ
rosevines.com
Two Aussies walked into a Louisiana prison...
graphicdeadmanwalking.substack.com/p/two-books-...
Two books for 2025
Add them to your criminal justice reading list!
graphicdeadmanwalking.substack.com
January 11, 2025 at 6:34 PM
sisterhelen.org
Biden has commuted almost all federal death row. This is indeed a good day to do the Lord's work. I'm thankful to so many religious leaders and justice advocates who helped make this possible. I pray for victims' families, knowing that wishing for death is not a healing course.
Biden Commutes 37 Death Sentences Ahead of Trump’s Plan to Resume Federal Executions (Gift Article)
Those affected by the president’s action on Monday are still subject to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Three men will remain on federal death row.
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2024 at 2:10 PM
sisterhelen.org
This Giving Tuesday, please consider helping my work to end the death penalty. We are facing strong headwinds!
sisterhelen.org/donate

#GivingTuesday
#DeathPenalty
#Executions
December 3, 2024 at 6:11 PM
sisterhelen.org
On this day and on each day I am thankful to know Manuel Ortiz. He shows such extraordinary grace and courage after being on death row for 30 years for a crime he did not commit. I have promised him I shall tell his story to the world, and that's the book I'm working on now.
#deathpenalty
Sister Helen Prejean standing beside Manuel Ortiz on death row at Angola, Louisiana State Penitentiary. Photo taken in 2009 at Christmas. They are standing in front of a Christmas tree.
November 28, 2024 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Helen Prejean, CSJ
vox.com
The 50 individuals on this list can both imagine a better future and do the hard work of building it.

They're not just dreamers; they're doers. voxdotcom.visitlink.me/i0ElST
The 2024 Future Perfect 50
Welcome to our third annual celebration of the thinkers, innovators, and changemakers who are working to make the future a better place.
voxdotcom.visitlink.me
November 21, 2024 at 1:46 PM
sisterhelen.org
EJI does such important work, and they do it well. Great storytellers for justice.
eji.org Equal Justice Initiative @eji.org · Nov 24
Sign up for EJI's daily calendar email to learn more about our history of racial injustice. calendar.eji.org/sign-up
November 26, 2024 at 1:05 PM
Reposted by Helen Prejean, CSJ
rosevines.com
Catherine Anyango Grünewald (an extraordinary illustrator) and I are in the final proofreading stage of creating a graphic version of Sister Helen Prejean’s classic Dead Man Walking. We have a publication date: Sept. 2, 2025. Follow the creation journey at graphicdeadmanwalking.substack.com
Graphic Dead Man Walking | Rose Vines | Substack
History, musings and tidbits from the conception, creation and journey to publication of a graphic version of Sister Helen Prejean’s influential classic “Dead Man Walking”. Click to read Graphic Dead ...
graphicdeadmanwalking.substack.com
November 24, 2024 at 1:58 PM
sisterhelen.org
I’m very glad to be joining the conversations here on Bluesky. We have so much trouble - the good John Lewis kind of trouble - to make!

#deathpenalty
#executions
#capitalpunishment
#goodtrouble
#justice
#criminaljustice
November 26, 2024 at 11:39 AM