Abstract
It is inevitable that some inmates in large state prison systems will suffer from terminal conditions and die while incarcerated. But how those inmates experience that event is primarily controlled by correctional policies and by the prison medical and correctional staff assigned to their care. Compassion for inmates who are dying cannot be legislated or mandated, but humane and compassionate care for the dying can be facilitated or thwarted by legislative and correctional policies, and by the manner in which correctional personnel interpret those policies.Death in New York State prisons is a frequent event, occurring at a rate substantially higher than that in most other states. With a prison population that has risen to 70,000 inmates and with the nation’s highest rate of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, more than 2,817 inmates died in New York prisons during the period 1990-1998. In April 1992, in the face of an ever-increasing death rate in its prisons, the New York State legislature passed the Medical Parole Law, a measure designed to permit dying inmates to be released on parole prior to their normal release eligibility date.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Health Policy,General Medicine,Issues, ethics and legal aspects
Reference52 articles.
1. 32. See N.Y. Exec. Law § 259-r(2)(a) (McKinney 1998).
2. 9. Id. § 259-r(2)(b).
3. 15. Approximately 87 percent of all deaths within DOCS are classified as “natural” or “AIDS” (acquired immune deficiency syndrome); the remaining deaths are due to homicides, suicides, accidents, or “unknown.” Inmates whose deaths were classified in these latter categories would not be candidates for compassionate release.
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