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- All Subjects: Incarceration
- Creators: Batzli, Elisabeth Kathleen
- Creators: Bednarchik, Lori
The purpose of this project is to explore the historical context and current state of prison hospice programs in the US. This objective was accomplished through an extensive review and synthesis of the relevant literature pertaining to prison hospice programs in the US. The historical increase of the incarceration rate beginning in America during the 1980’s has led to the development of more elderly prisoners than ever before in the US. As prisoners age in the US correctional system, they experience faster-than-average health decline. Mass incarceration has placed incredible strain on the correctional system to provide healthcare to the medically complex elderly inmate population. This project proposes that some of this systematic strain may be alleviated through the action of prison hospice programs. Prison hospices replace unnecessary industrial medical interventions with personalized comfort care measures and the unique service of inmate volunteers. This approach to medical care at the end of life has become the standard of care for the free population but is slower to emerge in the prison context. This project asserts that the dying US inmate population should be offered the right to a dignified death through equitable access to hospice services.
The purpose of this study is to determine if cultivation theory and its suggestion that society cultivates ideals of a mean world because of heavy exposure to violent media, pertains to those already incarcerated. Adults, 18 and over, living in the United States completed a survey that measured empathetic and apathetic views of the incarcerated through the viewing of positive and negative portrayals of incarceration. Results indicated that viewer's empathy was significantly higher when viewers watched positive portrayals of incarceration than when they watched negative portrayals. Correlation between age and empathic views was tested. No correlation was found between empathy for positive portrayals of the incarcerated, and the age of the viewer. However, there was a significant negative, albeit weak, relationship between age and empathy toward character in negative portrayals of incarceration. Implications of the findings specifically examining potential for future research and practical applications to destigmatize incarceration are discussed.