< Sister
Stories
 Sister
Benedict Shannon
Sr. Benedict has been a long-time advocate for those
living behind bars. She began communicating with prisoners
in 1966, sometimes visiting them and often times writing.
Having worked for almost 40 years in the psychiatric
units of two hospitals in Louisiana, she already knew
most of the prisoners as patients. At St. Patrick Hospital
in Lake Charles and Schumpert Hospital in Shreveport,
her work entailed contact with drug addicts and alcoholics.
Addicts were often charged as dealers and sentenced to
Angola Prison in Louisiana. Many times they were given
life sentences, most often based upon race. She visited
Angola monthly for 12 years and since that time has also
visited other prisons and jails in Texas and Louisiana.
Now retired from active hospital work, Sr. Benedict
continues her advocacy ministry to help free prisoners.
She visits, writes, protests and prays on behalf of all
those who suffer in prison.
In recent years, Sr. Benedict participated in a Prayer
Rally in Lake Charles where she received a standing ovation.
Approximately 800 people packed the Evergreen Baptist
Church for the citywide rally sponsored by a coalition
of local churches.
She also received the Doretha Combra
Award from the Lake Charles Branch of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The honor was made
in recognition of her “many years of faithful service
to the cause of civil rights and the rights of all people,
especially those who have encounters with the criminal
justice system.”
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