Dead Man Walking (play) work. The University of Scranton was one of the original Jesuit Universities to perform the play in their 2004-2005 season. Sister Helen Prejean, who had become an internationally known human rights activist as a result of writing "Dead Man Walking", first conceived the idea of a stage version of her work in 1998 after reading a "New Yorker" magazine article that said Arthur Miller's play, "Death of a Salesman", had been performed a million times, and was performed every day somewhere in the world. Sister Helen realized that if "Dead Man Walking" could be made into a play its impact
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