Helen Prejean inmates on Death Row and witnessed several more executions. She served as National Chairperson of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty from 1993 to 1995. She published "Dead Man Walking" (1993), an account of her relationship with Sonnier and other inmates on death row, and the factors related to her growing opposition to the death penalty. The book was adapted for a 1995 feature film of the same name; she was portrayed by Susan Sarandon. Her book was also adapted as an opera, first produced in 2000; and as a play. For her book, she drew from her
Helen Prejean seeking to declare a moratorium to executions. It was initially staffed by Robert Jones, Theresa Meisz, and Jené O'Keefe. The organization Witness to Innocence, composed of death row survivors who were exonerated after being convicted for crimes they did not commit, was started under The Moratorium Campaign. Prejean wrote a second book, "The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions" (2004). She tells of two men, Dobie Gillis Williams and Joseph O'Dell, whom she accompanied to their executions. She believes that both men were innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. The book also examines the