Dead Man Walking (play) Dead Man Walking (play) Dead Man Walking is a 2002 play written by Tim Robbins based on "Dead Man Walking", a book by Sister Helen Prejean about her experiences as a chaplain on death row. Sister Prejean's book has also been made into a film starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon. Rather than having it produced professionally, in 2004 he offered the play to schools and colleges throughout the United States, particularly Jesuit schools. The project, titled "The Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project" , is managed by the "Ministry Against the Death Penalty" where Sister Prejean now bases her
Elmo Patrick Sonnier Eddie Sonnier was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole because he was a minor at the time of the crime. While on death row at Louisiana State Prison, Elmo Sonnier was contacted by an outreach effort setting up communication with inmates on Death Row. Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun, was assigned to him. After they started a correspondence, she began to visit him and became his spiritual adviser. He was the first of many death row inmates whom she counseled. Sr. Prejean subsequently became a nationally prominent anti-death penalty activist. Sister Helen Prejean later said