Prejean began a correspondence in 1982 with Elmo Patrick Sonnier, a 27-year-old death row inmate convicted of murdering a teenage couple. She became Sonnier's close friend and spiritual counselor and eventually witnessed his execution.
Since then she has been equally outspoken as an opponent of capital punishment and an advocate for victims' rights.
"The most profound moral question of our violent society is not what to do with the innocent," she has said, "but what to do about the guilty. We ask 'Don't they deserve to die?' But the real question should be, 'Do we deserve to kill them?'"
As a spiritual counselor, Prejean has witnessed the deaths by electrocution of three men. She is the founder of Survive, a victims' advocacy group and has served as a member of the board of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Established in 1883, the Laetare Medal is awarded annually at Notre Dame to a Catholic "whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the Church, and enriched the heritage of humanity."