Hospice In Prison

Elderly inmates are the fastest growing in the United States prison populations which poses difficult challenges for correctional and public health entities and dying alone in prison can be merciless. Prisoners not having family, friends, or any visitors while incarcerated usually die a lonely, painful, isolated death. Hospice programs, in prisons, started in the late 1980s due to increased deaths of prisoners with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) to be addressed in two prisons, one in Springfield Missouri and the other in Vacaville, California. Because of these two prisons, others started to adopt the hospice programs to provide dying prisoners humane treatment and to not have to die alone. Dignity, communicating respect, and compassion

among prison staff and prisoners was brought about through hospice (Wright & Bronstein 2007).
The U.S. Medical Center for Prisoners, opened the first prison hospice, in Springfield, Mo, in 1987. The dedication and interest of a master’s prepared psychotherapist, Fleet Maull, incarcerated for drug trafficking, the hospice movement began. Sentenced to 25 years, during the 14 years served, he taught meditation to fellow inmates and developed the momentum that lead to hospice care for prisoners. Hospice first began as a volunteer visitation program and not a program for medical care. Maull believed "hospice restores humanity by giving both guards and prisoners permission to care,” (Head, 2005).
The Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics found that the incidence and prevalence of chronic illness in the prison population is quickly rising. Nationwide there are 42.8% of prisoners with serious chronic medical conditions, 3% are more likely to have asthma, 55% diabetes, and 90% suffer a heart attack, compared to other Americans of the same age. Those who had been in prison over 72 months reporting medical problems are the greatest, 30.4%. With the increase of elderly prisoners that have complex medical and mental health issues, correctional institutions are required to provide a variety of health services, including end-of-life (EOL) care. There are more than thirty-five U.S. state prisons that now have hospice and palliative care programs to care for prisoners at the EOL (Supiano, Cloves, Berry, 2014)