News and Events

Documentary Examines Prison 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.

Barens recently presented excerpts from the documentary at the Stockholm Crimonology Symposium in Stockholm, Sweden, and at the American Correctional Hdalth Services Association Professional Development Conference in Orlando, Florida.

"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

Publications and Grants

The Midwest Latino Health Research, Training and Policy Center received a $292,688 "Comparative Effectiveness Research/PCCC Award." from Westat. The grant allows the center to participate in the Patient Centered Care Collaborative (PCCC) Initiative, a two-year project supported by the Office of Minority Health. The purpose of the PCCC is to develop, implement, and test strategies to increase the adoption and dissemination of existing Patient Centered Outcomes Research which has identified effective strategies for addressing selected health disparities for racial and ethnic minorities.

Other recent Publications and Grants