Sister Helen Prejean

Helen is a nun who is working with the poor of New Orleans when she's asked to start up a correspondence with a prisoner on death row. She immediately picks up the challenge of becoming Patrick Sonnier's spiritual advisor and admits that she learns a great deal about the system from her dealings with him. Helen's first instinct is that she expects Patrick to be something less than human, but finds a polite young man who describes a rough upbringing. This makes Helen take an objective look at herself and she notes all the positive role models and the support system in her own life, admitting that she might have discovered some serious flaws in her own personality without those advantages. Helen is a strong person, going through the entire ritual of preparing for death with Patrick and then agreeing to do it again when called...