Fellow inmates provide hospice care in prisons

The New York Times had a compelling article about the growing geriatric prison population and how some prisons are starting hospice programs to provide care for the aging population. Some of the programs use prison volunteers, other prisoners to visit and provide comfort to the dying prisoners, who may not have family members who will visit in their dying days. The programs appear to have a dual benefit, both for the dying prisoners and for the prison volunteers. The dying receive some comfort at the end of life; the volunteers make a human connection with another person and learn to express empathy and emotions many have buried for a long time.

There are some challenges with programs like this, especially the risk that dying prisoners will pass pain medications the volunteers, who can sell them to the general prison population. But the prison volunteers can provide a compassionate ear in a way that a guard or nurse simply cannot.