Sister Helen

Criminal

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, True Crime

4.7 • 39.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean was invited to write a letter to a man on death row named Elmo Patrick Sonnier. She told us, “I thought that all I was going to be doing was writing letters. And lo and behold, two years later, I am in that execution chamber.” When we spoke to her in 2021, she was 81, and had been present at the executions of six men. Sister Helen’s book, Dead Man Walking, is about her time as a spiritual advisor to Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie. This episode was originally released in 2021. Say hello on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Sign up for our occasional newsletter. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts. Sign up for Criminal Plus to get behind-the-scenes bonus episodes of Criminal, ad-free listening of all of our shows, invitations to virtual events, special merch deals, and more. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for this show comes from Odu.
0:03.0	Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other?
0:09.7	Introducing Odu, it's the only business software you'll ever need.
0:13.9	It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more.
0:22.1	And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost.
0:27.8	That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch.
0:31.1	So why not you?
0:32.4	Try O-D-O-4-free at O-D-O-O-O-O-O-com.
0:41.0	Support for this show comes from O-D-U.
0:43.9	Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't
0:49.2	talk to each other?
0:50.6	Introducing O-Doo.
0:52.0	It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated
0:56.7	platform that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part,
1:04.1	O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of
1:10.2	businesses have made the switch.
1:12.0	So why not you?
1:13.3	Try O-D-for-free at O-D-O-O-O-O-com.
1:16.3	That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com.
1:23.4	For our last episode of the year,
1:25.4	we wanted to share one of my favorite conversations,
1:29.1	which we recorded back in January of 2021.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.