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
Dead Man Walking (book) would call out, "Dead man walking! Dead man walking here!" The origin of the phrase is debated. It may have been to warn other staff or prisoners, to let them know they should be on their guard since a death row prisoner has nothing to lose and could be violent. It may also have been a kind of honorific declamation, to let other prisoners know that they should move out of the way - death row prisoners being seen as an elite within the prison system. Alternatively, the call may have been a stigma attached to the condemned man, to