Notices by Sister Helen Prejean (helenprejean@mindly.social)

I’m especially thinking of Manuel Ortiz on this milestone day for the death penalty in Louisiana. Please pray that the members of the pardon board act swiftly and in compassion for all the men and the lone woman on death row here.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/most-louisiana-death-row-inmates-ask-governor-for-mercy/article_e7a9cf3f-269d-55d6-b263-21fe7d017806.amp.html

#deathpenalty #executions

I'm back from 3 weeks on the road, first teaching at DePaul University in Chicago, where my archives are stored. Then straight to Oklahoma City where lawyers, legislators, and activists came together to get yet another stay of execution (the 10th) for Richard Glossip. We have so much more to do to free this innocent man!

So I'm looking forward to some down time with the next Manuel's Movie Club: Thursday 25th, 7pm (CDT): The Seven Year Itch.

It's our annual fundraiser today. Please help my work with the Ministry Against the Death Penalty.

I'll be heading to Oklahoma tomorrow to try to prevent that state from killing an innocent man, Richard Glossip.

We have so much to do and we need your help to do it.

https://givenola.org/madp

Direct from Mr. Ortiz on death row at Angola: This month's Manuel's Movie Club pick is 'The In-Laws' (1979), with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin.

Manuel's take: This comedy is unpredictable from start to finish.

Playing on Turner Classic Movies, Saturday, April 29, at 5:00 PM (CDT)

Feel free to watch at the same time and share comments that I'll pass on to Manuel. This Movie Club brings him joy in a usually joyless place.

A huge day. The Oklahoma AG files a brief to VACATE Richard Glossip's conviction for murder.

This is so big it is sending shockwaves through the capital defense community.

If the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals upholds this request, Richard's case will be returned to the district court. It seems unlikely they will want to retry this case, and that will mean Richard goes free.

Richard has faced 8 execution dates for a crime he didn't commit. He came within hours of death twice.

Hallelujah!

I've been back on the road the past two weeks, first at the University of Notre Dame and then at Yale. Loving it! It energizes me to be around young people, full of inquiry and eagerness. Post-Covid I'm doing less travel, and so these face-to-face events are particularly precious to me.

This photo is of four young women I met at Yale, Courtney, Margaret (two of them!) and Alexis.

Calling all Manuel's Movie Club members! This month Manuel has chosen 'Rear Window' (1954) directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly and Thelma Ritter. Playing on TCM, Sunday, March 19 at 7:00 PM CDT.

(Manuel Ortiz, on death row for 30 years, is passionate about classic movies. Each month he picks a movie on Turner Classic Movies for us to watch, then we discuss it after. it makes his month! Feel free to join in and post comments after watching. I'll share them with him.)

We think of how climate change affects weather severity, fires and hurricanes, sea level rise and dam level fall, endangered insects and animals and plants, climate refugees and those who labor outdoors. Do you know who else is affected? The people we incarcerate.

Extreme heat is killing people in prisons and a new study provides the first epidemiological evidence of the link between the climate crisis and prison mortality.

https://grist.org/equity/new-study-people-dying-extreme-heat-in-prisons-us

@wren One of my favorite picks by Manuel. Such an intense, beautifully portrayed film. As you say, Wren, still resonating deeply. I’ll let Manuel know your thoughts when I see him on Thursday.

You can read his full statement here: https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroom/governor-shapiro-announces-he-will-not-issue-any-execution-warrants-during-his-term-calls-on-general-assembly-to-abolish-the-death-penalty/

Yet another sign that the footprint of the death penalty is shrinking. I thank Gov. Shapiro of Pennsylvania.

Here’s the first part of his statement today:

Today, I'm announcing I will not issue any execution warrants during my term as Governor.

When one comes to my desk, I will sign a reprieve every time — and I’m asking the General Assembly to send me a bill abolishing the death penalty in Pennsylvania once and for all…

#DeathPenalty #CapitalPunishment #Abolition

@ericaiguess This is so powerful! I hadn't heard it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. We'll get it added to the Justice Train playlist as soon as possible.

I went on to read the NPR article about Tyler Childers and to watch the extraordinary video he made about creating 'Long Violent History'. What an important voice!

https://www.npr.org/sections/we-insist-a-timeline-of-protest-music-in-2020/2020/09/18/914469882/tyler-childers-pushes-back-on-southern-values-and-our-long-violent-history

It’s Friday night and I’m spinning the Justice Train Jukebox. Tonight it’s https://www.sisterhelen.org/hear-me-lord/. See if you can listen to this and not dance!

Is there a favorite of yours on the Jukebox or one you’d like to suggest? https://www.sisterhelen.org/justice-train-playlist/

Tears of joy today after hearing that Lamar Johnson has been freed after almost 30 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Too, too long.

Hail to the Midwest Innocence Project, and all those who worked so hard to see this day of justice finally arrive.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/lamar-johnson-conviction-overturned-st-louisan-to-be-released-from-prison-after-30-years/article_7dbf605e-d341-5062-95cd-1071af6cdf14.html

#LamarJohnson #innocence #justice

Calling all Manuel's Movie Club Members. This month's movie is In The Heat Of The Night (1967) with Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. It airs Feb 18 at 7pm (Central US) on TCM.

I want to tell you how MUCH this movie club means to Manuel. After 30 years on Angola's death row, it gives him AGENCY, something so critical to self-worth and something so lacking for most inmates.

To join the club, just watch the movie and then reply to this post with your thoughts or reactions.
#deathrow #ManuelOrtiz

@revjss Jeff, I haven’t had to read everything, but this looks like an excellent, thoughtful curriculum. I would love to see congregations across the country making use of it. Most people don’t take the time to reflect about the death penalty, so this resource fills a big need. What a lot of work you have put into this!

I noticed some out of date links. It would be lovely to see it updated, perhaps by a student?

If you can’t make it to the event, get yourself a copy of the book from your local bookstore, or order online from Baldwin & Co: https://bookshop.org/p/books/time-the-untold-story-of-the-love-that-held-us-together-when-incarceration-kept-us-apart-rob-richardson/18528864

On Tuesday Feb 7, from 6-9pm, join me at the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans for a book launch, signing, film screening, and conversation about carceral justice featuring Fox and Rob Richardson.

Rarely has a story so moved me as Fox and Rob’s book, Time: The Untold Story of the Love That Held Us Together When Incarceration Kept Us Apart.

Please join me for this event! It is free, but seating is limited so register ahead of the event: https://cacno.org/film/time2023

#prison #Incarceration

I keep looking at this photo of #TyreNichols holding his baby aloft, joy and pride written across his face.

Usually the images we see when a person, more often than not a young black man, has been killed by the police, is of their beaten body. It is someone we can sympathize with but not necessarily connect to.

This photo of Tyre the joyful father cuts deeply because it helps us connect to him and begin to understand the depths of who we have lost.

Spend time here.

I’m devastated and outraged by the murder of Tyre Nichols. Another Black man brutally killed by police. This recurring nightmare has to end. Cameras and training aren’t enough to change law enforcement cultures that devalue certain lives, rooted in systemic racism and violence. #TyreNichols