Dead Man Walking (film) the same name, premiering in San Francisco. Yvonne Koslovsky-Golan, author of "The Death Penalty in American Cinema: Criminality and Retribution in Hollywood Film", stated that even though public debate on the death penalty increased for a period after the release of "Dead Man Walking", the film did not result in "real political or legal change" but that it did encourage additional academic study on the death penalty. Dead Man Walking (film) Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American crime drama film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, and co-produced and directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the
Helen Prejean correspond with convicted murderer Elmo Patrick Sonnier, held on Death Row in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola. Sonnier had been sentenced to death by electrocution. She visited Sonnier in prison and agreed to be his spiritual adviser in the months leading up to his execution. The experience gave Prejean greater insight into the process involved in executions, for the convict, families, and others in the prison, and she began speaking out against capital punishment. At the same time, she founded "Survive", an organization devoted to counseling the families of victims of violence. Prejean has since ministered to other