Compiled by Barry R. Ashpole Highlights: Transferring governance of correctional healthcare services; quality of correctional healthcare services provided by for-profit prison healthcare; expanding end-of-life options for incarcerated individuals; prison hospice program for the living and the dying; Hospice UK’s National Conference papers on end-of-life care in prisons; the concept of “prison hospice”; care planning in correctional healthcare; compassionate release for terminally ill prison inmates
Photo Source: ‘Dying Alone’ https://bit.ly/4nPt7nF
Following are selected articles, reports, etc., from the latest (December) posting on the End-of-Life Care Behind Bars website. Access the monthly postings at: https://bit.ly/47sVCRU
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Expanding end-of-life options for incarcerated individuals
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE MEDICINE (U.S.) | Online – 29 November 2025 – The aging prison population in the U.S. presents urgent challenges for providing appropriate end-of-life (EoL) care. Currently, there are two primary approaches to deliver this in a compassionate manner: medical release programs (MRPs) and prison-based EoL care programs (EoLCPs). The authors argue expanded MRPs represent the most ethical path forward, while acknowledging the continuing need for prison-based EoLCPs. While prison-based programs offer some benefits, studies indicate they frequently fall short of community standards for EoL care… Abstract: https://bit.ly/3XZGMOk
Hospice UK National Conference 2025
Compassionate care for those dying in prison – delivery of comprehensive education and training
BMJ SUPPORTIVE & PALLIATIVE CARE (U.K.) | Online – 21 November 2025 – Prisoners experience health needs greater than their chronological age, shorter life expectancy, and greater multi-morbidity compared to those not incarcerated… High-quality palliative and end-of-life care (P&EoLC) is grounded in a sound knowledge base for those supporting people with life-limiting conditions. A strong desire for P&EoLC training is evident across clinical, non-clinical teams, and buddies. There is a clear need to strengthen P&EoLC in prisons. This model could inform future training frameworks across other prison settings. Conference abstract: https://bit.ly/4p1XY1A
Palliative end-of-life care: Supporting the prison community
BMJ SUPPORTIVE & PALLIATIVE CARE (U.K.) | Online – 21 November 2025 – An ageing prison population has tripled in the past two decades, with deaths in prison due to natural causes increasing. This, together with an increasing prison population experiencing ill health and bereavement, has led to a corresponding rise in the need for end-of-life care support. Hospice UK … reports that end-of-life care requires improvement across the prison population to reduce current care inequalities.1 Hospices are well placed to support the reduction in these inequalities through education, support and collaboration. Conference abstract:https://bit.ly/484qxWh
- ‘Dying Behind Bars: How can we better support people in prison at the end of life?’ Hospice UK (2021): https://bit.ly/3XR8EEe
When a life sentence ends in death
COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE (U.S.) | Online – 21 November 2025 – As a longtime prison hospice volunteer, Carson Dean often witnessed three stages each dying inmate experiences, beginning with a terminal diagnosis. In his role as a volunteer at the California Men’s Colony (CMC) in San Luis Obispo, Dean has assisted 30 dying inmates, at times acting as a therapist, spiritual adviser and confessor. He details those experiences, along with gritty stories of prison violence and survival, in Storming Heaven: Comforting the Dying in Prison, a book he co-wrote with Lorie Adoff, who helped develop the hospice program in 2001. Full text: https://bit.ly/3JP9s9D
Aging and dying in prison
BUNDESGESUNDHEITSBLATT – GESUNDHEITSFORSCHUNG – GESUNDHEITSSCHUTZ (Germany) | Online – 22 October 2025 – The aging of society is also leading to a growing number of elderly prisoners in the prison system. The challenges associated with this relate not only to the treatment and medical care of prisoners in accordance with legal requirements [but also] with the prospect of release from prison. The prison system must also find an appropriate way of dealing with prisoners who are spending the end of their lives in a correctional facility. So far, the prison system has only begun to address this issue. Full German language text: https://bit.ly/4498Gej
Bereavement shouldn’t be a second punishment
CRUSE SCOTLAND | Online – 16 November 2025 – For those who are in prison at the time a loved one dies, they will be grieving the loss of so many things we all take for granted – family support, shared remembering opportunities, involvement in funeral planning, and attendance at services. High quality, compassionate bereavement care is vital and must be resourced. HMP Edinburgh is one of 12 U.K. prisons to pilot a group course specifically adapted for use in a custodial setting. The Bereavement Journey programme provides … a series of films and facilitates group discussions which give gentle guided support to those who have been bereaved at any time. Full text: https://bit.ly/3XCuVWh
N.B. See ‘In Prison There’s no Space to Grieve,’ End-of-Life Care Behind Bars.com (2025). Full text: https://bit.ly/3X1Agq3
The unfulfilled promise of compassionate release
HEALTH AFFAIRS FOREFRONT (U.S.) | Online – 14 November 2025 – Compassionate release (CR) laws, otherwise called medical parole, are designed to allow release of incarcerated people with advanced illness who are no longer considered a public safety risk. CR was designed for “extraordinary circumstances” and since then, nearly every state in the U.S. has implemented some version. Despite the promise of compassionate release as a humanitarian and cost-saving action, a staggeringly low number of people are released on medical parole. Improving compassionate release outcomes will require a multifaceted approach… Full text: https://bit.ly/3JQeXEU
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Barry R. Ashpole, Ontario, CANADA Biosketch: https://bit.ly/3XMTRs4
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