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Abstract: 

Barry R. Ashpole’s survey of global correctional research argues that the treatment of aging, ill, and dying prisoners is both a logistical and moral test of a society’s values. Drawing on studies from Europe, North America, and Australia, he documents converging challenges: overcrowded prisons unequipped for geriatric or palliative care, governance failures in correctional health, and restrictive compassionate-release practices that keep terminally ill inmates behind bars. International research points to the same needs—staff training, human-rights-based care, and partnerships between prisons, health systems, and community hospices. Ashpole concludes that end-of-life care for the incarcerated cannot be left to correctional convenience; it demands coordinated reform linking justice, medicine, and dignity.

Keywords: Aging Prisoners; Correctional Health Care; End-of-Life Care; Compassionate Release; Human Rights

Affiliations:  1: End of-Life Care Behind Bars.