Terminally Ill Inmates: Documentary Analysis

1. I do think terminally ill inmates should be addressed by correctional facilities with programs such as hospice care, especially those prisons who have a significant population of aged offenders; for example, Angola has 85% of its population already aging. Programs that address terminally ill patients, such as the hospice program, do not only benefit the patient, but also the inmate who volunteers and the nurses; it allows for the inmate to stop thinking in selfish ways because he is now caring for another human being and the nurses receive that extra help to bathe, feed, and talk to patients.
According to ethics of care, one should help the offender to become a better person because that is what a caring and committed relationship would entail. …show more content…
Several of them mention that they would like for others to do the same for them when they are of age, thus demonstrating the enlightened egoism; it is in the inmate’s long-term best interest to help others in order to receive help in return. However, throughout the documentary the two volunteers who portray the most drastic change are Charles Rodgers “Boston” and Anthony Middlebrook. They both represent the both ends of a pendulum, Charles was raised in a criminal family, whereas Anthony was raised in a wealthy family.
Charles Rodgers demonstrated social maturity throughout the documentary, at the end he was marked with the ability to empathize with others and was willing to compromise the patient’s desires. He demonstrated uncomfortableness with the first contact he had with a chronic ill patient, as well as, when he is asked to prepare a dead body for a funeral. Once he got a terminally ill patient appointed, Walter Chance, he expressed discouragement by Walter’s behavior. However, with time they managed to bond more intimately, which created a noticeable change in Charles’ behavior as noted by his mom when he visited