Keywords

Angola, end-of-life care, prison hospice

 

Authors

  1. Head, Barbara RN, CHPN, ACSW

Abstract

The prison hospice movement is flourishing as never before. The "graying" of the prison population, harsher sentencing laws, standards of the American Correctional Society, and the judiciary's requirement that prisoners receive the same standard of medical care as is available in the "free" community are all factors contributing to the growth of this movement. This article provides background information on hospice programs operating in prisons and describes a visit to Angola Prison Hospice attended by participants at the Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Annual Assembly in January 2005.