National Hospice and Palliative Care Month

November is National Hospice & Palliative Care Month, an appropriate time to draw attention to the importance of using more humane and effective ways to treat and manage elderly and terminally ill people in Illinois prisons. JHA has long stressed the importance of Illinois finding alternatives to address this growing problem, which is both extremely concerning from a human rights lens and an inefficient use of limited resources. This includes expanding hospice and palliative programs.  JHA has been pleased to see an increased number of facilities offering such care and training to incarcerated caretakers in recent years, as we called for in our 2012 special healthcare and subsequent reports.