Prison Terminal: Dying in prison

Event details

Filmed inside Iowa State Penitentiary, the film highlights the challenges presented by the growing number of prisoners dying of natural causes and documents one of the facilities intended to instill some dignity to dying in prison. The film will be introduced by its director, Edgar Barens.Join us for a special screening of Prison Terminal, a poignant Oscar-nominated documentary about the last days of a terminally ill man in a USA prison and the hospice volunteers, themselves prisoners, caring for him.

While the focus of the film is on the USA, the UK is also experiencing a dramatic increase in the number of people dying in prison from natural causes. Following the film, there will be a panel discussion drawing on recent research about end of life in prisons in the UK. The panel includes Mary Turner, the Co-chair of the European Association for Palliative Care’s Task force on palliative care for prisoners.

Join in the discussion as we examine what it actually means to ‘lock ‘em up and throw away the key’. Is a ‘good’ death possible in prison? Should it be?

The event is presented by the Department of Sociology and CrimNet at the University of York.

Please note that the film includes scenes showing a man dying of natural causes and of his body after death which some people may find upsetting and which may not be suitable viewing for your child.

About the speakers

Dr Mary Turner is Reader in Health Services Research at the University of Huddersfield. She has worked on a wide range of research projects focused on palliative and end of life care, incorporating the perspectives of patients, caregivers and staff in different care settings. Her most recent work is in the area of ageing and dying in prison. Mary is Co-chair of an international Task Force on palliative care for prisoners for the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC).

Dr Marian Peacock is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at Edge Hill University. Her research is underpinned by an interest in how inequality impacts on lives and has included work on prisons and end of life care, obesity and food practices and psychogenic seizure disorder. With Mary Turner, she undertook a three-year action research project ‘Both Sides of the Fence,’ funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care, aiming to develop a transferable model of end of life care for prisoners.

Carol Robinson is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of York. Her research, funded by the ESRC, explores the impact on prison regimes, cultures and relationships of the increasing numbers of prisoners dying of natural causes.  In this work she uses ethnographic methods to examine what influences the responses of prison regimes and personnel to dying prisoners. Carol also works as a prison chaplain.

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