Learn about a remarkable program that trains incarcerated people in palliative and hospice care skills so they can provide care for their peers in correctional facilities.

My two special guests this week work with the Humane Prison Hospice Project: Lisa Deal is the Executive Director, who previously worked for Mission Hospice and Home Care in California. Fernando Murillo is the Program Manager for the Palliative Care Initiative at the Humane Prison Hospice Project where he trains incarcerated people to provide palliative and hospice care for their aging and dying peers. Fernando shares the story of committing himself to improving the overall quality of life in the correctional setting during his own 24 years of incarceration. Together we discuss the need for hospice and palliative care in prisons and how this project is meeting that need and hoping to expand in the future. Learn more at the website:
www.humaneprisonhospiceproject.org
This episode includes:
- How the Humane Prison Hospice Project got started
- How Lisa became interested in the idea of prison hospice
- Fernando’s journey from incarceration to now providing training in palliative and hospice care skills to others who are incarcerated
- Why palliative and hospice care is desperately needed right now in prisons in the U.S.
- How incarcerated people benefit from receiving training to become caregivers for their fellow residents
- How the entire prison, including staff, benefits from the presence of the Humane Prison Hospice Project
- How to get similar projects started in other prisons across the country
- What hospice workers need to know before volunteering to teach in a correctional setting
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Interview with Edgar Barens about Prison Terminal documentary
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