DOCUMENTARY TELLS ABOUT PRISON-BASED HOSPICE PROGRAM
With nearly 2.5 million men and women behind bars and a large
percentage of them serving long-term sentences, end-of-life concerns in
the correctional setting are rapidly becoming a critical issue.
An award-winning filmmaker at the University of Illinois at Chicago is
working on a feature-length documentary aimed at sparking dialogue on
this looming problem facing U.S. prisons.
Edgar Barens, visiting media specialist with UIC's Jane Addams Center
for Social Policy and Research, says "Prison Terminal" breaks through
the walls of one of America's oldest maximum-security prisons to tell
of the final months in the life of a terminally ill prisoner and the
trained hospice volunteers -- they themselves prisoners -- who care for
him.
Shot over a six-month period inside the Iowa state penitentiary, the
film draws attention to the fragility as well as the holistic benefits
of a prison-based, prisoner-staffed, hospice program and provides an
account of how the hospice experience can touch the forsaken lives of
the incarcerated.
"'Prison Terminal' brings to light the deeply redemptive effects
hospice has on the prisoner volunteers as they guide their ailing
friend through a dignified death, surrounded by friends and family,"
Barens said.
"Prison Terminal" is one of several projects currently underway at the
Jane Addams Center for Social Policy and Research, which is directed by
Creasie Finney Hairston, dean of the Jane Addams College of Social
Work.
The center's mission is to bring together the resources of
academic institutions, community and advocacy groups to advance
social-welfare policies and programs that meet the needs of urban
communities, poor families, and the incarcerated.
For more information about the film or to view the trailer, go to
http://www.prisonterminal.com
The film, currently in post-production, is scheduled for distribution
by fall. Prior to "Prison Terminal," one of Barens' most significant
films was "A Sentence of Their Own," a documentary on the impact
incarceration has on families.
http://prisonterminal.blogspot.com/
http://vimeo.com/user5873822/videos
http://www.asentenceoftheirown.com
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