- “Commute ’em, commute all the sentences on death row so that they’ll never be in danger of death again and the people will stand behind you. Moral leadership is what we cry for in this country. You be that moral leader for us.” – Sister Helen Prejean
- “Our death penalty system is cruel, racist, unjust and an obscene waste of public resources.” – Public Defender Mano Raju
- “The death penalty has no place in a just and humane society. It is not only unconstitutional, it is deeply, deeply racially biased.” – Supervisor Jackie Fielder
SAN FRANCISCO – Sister Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun whose decades of activism against the death penalty inspired the Pulitzer Prize-nominated memoir Dead Man Walking, the Oscar-winning film starring Susan Sarandon, and the acclaimed opera now returning to the San Francisco Opera, came to the city this week to issue a direct plea to Governor Gavin Newsom: commute all death sentences in California.
Prejean’s call to action came during two appearances on Thursday. First, she addressed attorneys and staff at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, where she spoke about the history and racial realities of the death penalty. Later in the day, she joined Supervisor Jackie Fielder, Public Defender Mano Raju, faith leaders, exonerees, and advocates on the steps of City Hall to support Fielder’s resolution urging Newsom to commute the sentences of all 565 people on California’s death row.
“I want to use my words to direct right to Governor Newsom because we look at California as a beacon for where we need to go in the country,” Prejean said at the rally. “You’ve already shown where your heart lies and your conscience lies for life. Commute ’em, commute all the sentences on death row so that they’ll never be in danger of death again and the people will stand behind you. Moral leadership is what we cry for in this country. You be that moral leader for us”.
Prejean began working with people on death row in the 1980s in Louisiana, where she served as a spiritual advisor and witnessed her first execution in 1984.
At the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, she described how her early experiences shifted her understanding of justice.
“In 1993 when Dead Man Walking was published, 80 percent of the American public supported the death penalty,” she said. “This is an unreflective mile-wide, inch-deep support. Oh, he did that terrible crime, deserve death. And now you can just see nationally the shift. A majority of states now either in law or practice don’t exercise, they don’t execute”.
She tied that shift to public education and storytelling, saying that once people learn about the inequities and risks of wrongful conviction, they often change their views.
“A lot of Americans say they believe in the death penalty. Host, educate them and they will not be for the penalty. And that has been my experience in this country for 35 years when people can get close,” she said.
Prejean also described how racial fear has always shaped the use of the death penalty in the United States.
“When the slaves were freed, white people were so scared that the slaves [would] riot against them and do to them what they had been doing to the slaves. So it built in the Deep South states a fear of white people about Black people,” she said. “And then you just look on the evening news, who gets put in handcuffs, put in a police car. And worst things are expected of Black people. They [are] more easily condemned. And then on the other side it’s really clear that when the death penalty is sought, it’s because it was white victims. An ultimate penalty is sought because their death is considered outrageous and worthy”.
Supervisor Fielder, who introduced the resolution, said the effort is about racial justice and redirecting resources.
“The death penalty has no place in a just and humane society. It is not only unconstitutional, it is deeply, deeply racially biased. Our communities of color have suffered enough. The state should not add to that suffering. It should work to end it,” Fielder said. “Although it is true that Governor Newsom’s 2019 moratorium has paused executions, a pause is not justice. A pause is not progress”.
San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju said the time has come for permanent action.
“Our death penalty system is cruel, racist, unjust and an obscene waste of public resources,” Raju said. “It is shameful that in 2025 our state continues to sentence people to death. While we certainly applaud the governor for pausing executions in 2019 and for acknowledging the fundamental inhumanity of capital punishment in California, we need him to now take the next steps and abolish the shameful practice altogether”.
Faith leaders from multiple traditions also spoke. Michael Pappas of the San Francisco Interfaith Council invoked Pope Francis, who recently addressed criticisms of being “woke.” Pappas said, “There’s something that Pope Leo just said recently. He said, being called woke in a world that sleeps through suffering is not an insult, but it’s the gospel”.
Rabbi Jonathan Singer of Congregation Emanu-El framed the issue as a moral and theological imperative.
“We’re taught to save one life is to save a world. One life is a whole world of such potential,” Singer said. “Our traditions all see life as holy. An eye for an eye, what does it do? Makes the whole world blind. We must reject this death penalty in all cases because we are not God. Governor Newsom, you’re a courageous person. You have the courage to stand up and speak the truth. Keep acting the truth”.
Prejean shared a story of a woman she knows who spent more than 25 years on California’s death row. When the state allowed women to move into the general prison population, she described walking through a gate, having her handcuffs removed, and being greeted by a group of incarcerated women welcoming her with applause. The woman began taking life skills and addiction classes and discovered new possibilities for herself.
“She just had learning so much. You could just see it growing like a little flower right there because she was in a place where you could grow,” Prejean said. “Human beings are always more than the worst act of their life. Human beings can grow, human beings can change”.
The rally also featured Sabrina Butler, the first woman exonerated from death row in the United States.
“To be accused of a crime I didn’t commit and sentenced to death at 17 is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to face,” Butler said. “Please commute the sentences, let these people live”.
California has the nation’s largest death row, with 565 people sentenced to death. Since 1977, the state has spent an estimated $5 billion on a system that has resulted in just 13 executions. Studies show that two out of three people on California’s death row are people of color, and death sentences are more likely to be imposed when the victims are white. Eight men of color have been exonerated and released from California’s death row since 1981.
Prejean said California can set an example for the nation.
“We call you the birthplace of the God because things start first in California. Yoga started first in California. I mean in other things too, like the hula hoop, the credit card,” she said. “You’re going to be the beacon and you’re going to be the leader for us with the death penalty too”.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote next week on Fielder’s resolution urging the governor to commute all death sentences and redirect the savings to victims’ services, which have faced federal and state funding cuts.
Advocates say that with executions halted and the execution chamber dismantled, commuting death sentences would be the logical next step. Prejean said that it would also mark a turning point in American moral leadership.
“Politicians that are expedient and just follow the wave of the time, oh, we’re going to be tough on crime, yeah, we got to keep the death penalty,” she said. “If you seek a higher office in this country, what it would mean to have a principled moral leader. And you can show that moral leadership on the death penalty. Go all the way”.
As candles flickered at the close of the rally, each representing one of the 565 people currently on death row, Natasha Minsker of the California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition urged those present to make their own public appeals.
“We call on the governor to choose mercy,” she said. “Mercy, to choose mercy and to rise to his better self and to commute all death sentences”.
For Prejean, the push in San Francisco was not just about one state’s policies but about the larger struggle for justice.
“Once people get exposed to really what it is and how often it can go wrong, they get it,” she said at the Public Defender’s Office. “It’s not like they’re tired of death, government killing. They just have no idea. That’s it. So we keep getting to the people”.
As the opera Dead Man Walking opens again in San Francisco, the message of its author continues to resonate: the death penalty is not justice, and it is time for California to lead the nation in ending it for good.
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