Sister Helen Prejean

I was in Washington state earlier this month, where I met with two senators in Olympia, the state capitol, to plan a strategy to repeal the death penalty in Washington. It’s been years since there was an execution here and only a handful of people are on death row. As I talk in various universities I’m learning that a number of Washingtonians don’t even know there is a death penalty in the state.

Like many other states WA faces a severe budget crunch this year, so the bill will focus on taking the extravagant amount of money used to maintain a death machine and devote it instead to real help for murder victims’ families, solving cold cases, and doing catch up on the huge backlog of prisoners awaiting DNA tests.

A key part of the organizing strategy will be to involve college students in the three-year  campaign of repeal.

Whenever we talk budget I always emphasize that financial resources are not simply a “practical” issue, but rather a deeply moral issue. Martin Luther King, Jr. used to say a budget is a moral document.

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I wanted to share with you this letter from Nigel Baldwin, in the UK:

Dear Sister Helen,

As a long standing admirer of your ministry to death row prisoners, I’m also aware of the help you give to victims of senseless violence through a group called ‘Survive’. In that vein, I’d like to ask your prayers for the family of Jimmy Mizen, a 16 year old boy from the South of London who died after a shard of glass was thrown at him in a baker’s shop last year to this day – a senseless act of violence.

Jimmy’s assailant, Jake Fahri aged 19 was jailed for a minimum term of 14 years a month ago. In my newspaper today, Jimmy’s parents Margaret and Barry Mizen were quoted as saying that they wouldn’t want the death penalty for Jake Fahri, as that would only plunge his family into grief too. Margaret and Barry (both Catholics as their son was) have set up a memorial for their son, whose Website address is http://www.jimmymizen.org, dedicated to non-violence and peace.

Margaret and Barry are on a long hard road in coming to terms with their loss. Of your goodness please join your prayers, with mine, for them.

Thank you very much,

Nigel Baldwin

I grieve for Jimmy’s family. I honor them, too. Turning such a terrible experience into something inspirational, as Margaret and Barry Mizen are doing, is an extraordinary act of courage and love.

I know they can do with your prayers and thoughts. I also encourage you to visit the Jimmy Mizen Foundation; its mission, to “promote the good in young people”, is a wonderful tribute to their beloved son.

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