Dead Man Walking

The Harveys speak to New Orleans Magazine and accuse Prejean of using them to tilt the outcome at the Pardon Board hearing. Deciding to avoid rather than confront them, she starts visiting Willie every week, along with regular visits to his mother and aunt. Willie talks about how he wished he had done more to win the favor of the warden, although his lawsuit has won some modest improvements. He claims he is ready to die but fears seeing his mother break down when the time for his execution comes. He does not fully reckon with his crime but muses: “I hope my death gives the Harveys some peace” (179). Prejean speaks to the officer in charge of death row, who bears the full weight of what he has allowed to happen, unable to tell himself that “he’s just doing his job” (180). Not long after, he is transferred to another part of the prison, retires, and dies of a heart attack.

When Willie is transferred to the death house, he asks for Prejean’s presence, unwilling as he is to make friends with the guards who will soon kill him. Willie gives interviews to several media outlets, including one where he praises Adolf Hitler and claims to have joined the white supremacist prison gang the Aryan Brotherhood.