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Sister Helen Prejean Profile picture
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16 Jul, 5 tweets, 1 min read
Should this bill succeed, Sierra Leone will become the 8th African nation to end capital punishment since 2010, following abolition by Gabon, Congo, Madagascar, Benin, Guinea, Chad and Malawi.
africanews.com/2021/05/13/sie…
It is wonderful to see these nations joining the push to rid the world of a practice that the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission called an “affront to civilized society.”
And it’s something to reflect on, here in the US, that one of the impetuses for abolition in Sierra Leone is how the death penalty has been used as a political tool, just as we have recently witnessed in the 13 Federal executions ordered in Trump's final year as president.
When government officials are given the power to execute people at will, they will use it to their purposes.
How long will our country hold on to this cruel and increasingly unusual punishment, while the rest of the world moves to abandon it? How do we see our place in the host of civilized nations when we countenance such an “affront to civilized society”?

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More from @helenprejean

Sister Helen Prejean Profile picture
2 Jul
While a moratorium on federal executions has symbolic value, we’ve seen the danger of half-measures that do not fully address the fundamental brokenness of our death penalty system. More is required.
A moratorium with no commutations or legislation during the Obama administration brought us 13 rapid-fire executions during the Trump administration. While we can be confident that President Biden will not execute anyone, that does not limit the actions of future presidents.
I continue to urge President Biden to follow through on his campaign promise and end the federal death penalty. Large steps can be taken through executive action — commutations, dismantling execution facilities, ordering prosecutors to stop seeking death sentences, and more.
Read 4 tweets
Sister Helen Prejean Profile picture
20 May
Quin Jones should not have been executed. It was an unnecessary and unwanted execution, a failure of moral leadership. What’s even more disturbing is the fact that the execution took place without any independent media witnesses present due to an “error” by TDCJ.
Due to the lack of media witnesses, we have no idea what happened during the execution, no idea if anything went wrong, and no idea if protocols were followed.
If a mistake this basic can so easily occur, then what kinds of other serious mistakes are happening every time Texas chooses to kill a citizen? This is why we can never trust the government with the power to kill.
Read 5 tweets
Sister Helen Prejean Profile picture
5 May
Two recent developments from TX in Clinton Young’s case:
(1) The Midland County trial court is recommending that Clinton should have a new trial.
(2) The former prosecutor who moonlighted as the judge’s clerk while also prosecuting Clinton’s case surrendered his law license.
In Clinton Young’s case, now-former attorney Ralph Petty was simultaneously working on sending Clinton to death row as a prosecutor and moonlighting as the trial judge’s paid clerk and advisor. This is a serious, completely inappropriate conflict of interest.
The Midland County trial court is now recommending that Clinton receive a new trial because the inappropriate prosecutor/clerk/advisor arrangement violated due process, presented a conflict of interest, and constituted “pervasive prosecutorial misconduct.”
Read 4 tweets
Sister Helen Prejean Profile picture
27 Apr
Last week, the Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal of Rodney Reed’s federal lawsuit demanding that Texas officials allow DNA testing of evidence that could prove his innocence. The decision shows how the legal system values rule-following over real justice.
Instead of ordering the DNA testing, the Fifth Circuit allowed the state officials to try out a new argument on appeal that hadn’t been raised in the initial hearing at the lower court.
The Fifth Circuit ruled that Rodney Reed’s lawsuit was brought too late because he only had two years from the time that he learned his rights were being violated to file suit.
Read 5 tweets
Sister Helen Prejean Profile picture
9 Apr
An investigation by @guardian reveals that states have spent millions on illicit execution drugs, even requesting shipment in “unmarked boxes and jars.” theguardian.com/world/2021/apr…
Arizona purchased enough execution drugs to kill 200 people, at a cost of $1.5 million, and requested that the drugs be shipped from an undisclosed supplier in “unmarked boxes and jars.”
It is a felony under state and federal law to dispense execution drugs without a valid prescription. Medical practitioners are prohibited from prescribing drugs for use in executions. Arizona’s drug purchase was likely illegal.
Read 4 tweets
Sister Helen Prejean Profile picture
16 Jan
Justice Breyer also penned a dissent in U.S. v. Dustin Higgs, continuing his long line of opinions calling on the Supreme Court to reconsider whether the death penalty is constitutional in the first place.
After describing several of the legal claims raised by federal death row prisoners, Breyer says, “None of these legal questions is frivolous.” He adds that the Supreme Court’s recent “hurry up, hurry up” process “is no solution.”
Justice Breyer: “How just is a legal system that would execute an individual without consideration of a novel or significant legal question that he has raised?”
Read 7 tweets

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