opinion
‘CRUEL PUNISHMENT’
The first-ever use of nitrogen gas by Alabama to kill Kenneth Smith shows why the U.S. must end these futile, costly, deeply flawed government killings, says Sister Helen Prejean.
Sister Helen Prejean is the author of the 1993 book Dead Man Walking, which was adapted into the 1995 movie of the same name, for which Susan Sarandon won an Oscar for her role as Prejean. One of the most famous anti-death penalty campaigners in the world, Prejean has accompanied six felons to the execution chamber. She has written two other books, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions (2004), and her memoir, River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey (2019). She bases her work at the Ministry Against the Death Penalty in New Orleans.