Large and increasing numbers of inmates with chronic and terminal illnesses are serving time, and dying, in U.S. prisons. The restriction of men and women to die in prisons has many ethical and fiscal concerns, as it deprives incarcerated persons of their autonomy and requires comprehensive and costly health-care services. To ameliorate these concerns, compassionate release policies, which allow inmates the ability to die in their own communities, have been adopted in federal and state prison systems. However, little is known about the content of compassionate release policies within U.S. states' department of corrections, despite recent calls to release incarcerated persons who meet eligibility criteria into the community. The current study provides an overview of compassionate release policies in the United States, which vary widely across the compassionate release process. Specific policy recommendations are made to assure the timely access and utilization of compassionate release among eligible incarcerated individuals.

The large and continued growth of the older adult population within United States (US) prisons affects not only criminal justice policy and correctional health practice, but also gerontology. Amidst the unfolding COVID-19 crisis, associated knowledge and skills surrounding older adulthood will be critical to assuring the needs of older adults incarcerated in prisons are met during their detention, while undergoing off-site intervention in community settings, and when preparing for release. We outline several key areas for which gerontologists and associated practitioners are especially well-suited in the effort to curtail morbidity and mortality driven by the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Critical gerontological knowledge and skills needed in prison healthcare include awareness regarding the unusual clinical presentations of COVID-19 among older adults, deconditioning among older adults due to immobility, challenges in prognostication, and advance care planning with older adults. Specific, targeted opportunities for gerontologists are identified to reduce growing risks for older adults incarcerated in prisons.

Individuals with terminal illness are dying behind bars and many state prison administrators have incorporated on-site hospice and palliative care services. Little is known, however, about these programs since a 2010 study of prison hospice characteristics. We provide an updated description and reflection of current hospice and palliative care programs in state prisons serving incarcerated persons with terminal illness. A cross-sectional survey was sent to representatives of all known prisons offering hospice and palliative care programs and services (N = 113). Questions were drawn from an earlier iteration regarding interdisciplinary team (IDT) membership, training length and topics, peer caregivers, visitation policies, bereavement services, perceived stakeholder support, and pain management strategies. Additional questions were added such as estimated operational costs, peer caregiver input in patient care, and the strengths and weaknesses of such programs. Frequency distributions were calculated for all study variables. Responding representatives (n = 33) indicated IDTs remain integral to care, peer caregivers continue to support dying patients, and perceived public support for these programs remains low. Reduced enthusiasm for the programs may negatively influence administrative decision-making and program resources. Further, peer caregiver roles appear to be changing with caregivers charged with fewer of the identified tasks, compared with the 2010 study.

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No national research has examined the effect of law enforcement officer training on the problem of officerinvolved domestic violence (OIDV). This study investigated responses of officers (n = 852) to case scenarios of OIDV before and after they participated in the National Prevention Toolkit on OIDV, an online training. Officers were asked how likely they were to take particular actions, including assisting a victim in finding help for domestic violence, arresting the perpetrating officer, and filing an internal report against the officer. Officers' responses from pre-to posttraining indicated their increased likelihood of reacting to scenarios with desirable, victim-supportive behaviours including an increased likelihood of arrest and filing of internal reports. Officers indicated that the Toolkit would influence them and others to intervene in suspected cases of OIDV. Limitations of the methods are discussed. Implications for research, advocacy, and training are provided.

Background: Adults aged 55 or above represent a large and growing proportion of the US and international correctional populations and more physical and mental health problems than their non-incarcerated peers. Social capital represents the collective cognitive and network structure resources accessible through social relationships and may serve as a potential asset in carceral settings in the amelioration of depressive symptoms among older adults. Method: A sample of men drawn from a study of older adults in Kentucky prisons ( n = 91) was used to meet the following aims: (1) explore relationships among cognitive and structural facets of social capital, chronic health conditions and depressive symptoms and (2) identify the role of social capital (viz. trust) alongside chronic health conditions as a determinant of depressive symptoms. We hypothesized that each indicator of social capital would relate negatively to depressive symptoms and that trust would emerge as most strongly associated with depressive symptoms. Results: Bivariate correlations between depression and social capital variables related as we hypothesized. However, our hypotheses were only partially supported. Higher trust was correlated to fewer depressive symptoms ( r = .21, p < .05) revealing a lighter side of trust in the correctional milieu but was unrelated to depression when controlling for variables. An interaction term in the final model indicated a different role for trust. Factors accounted for 64% of variance in depressive symptoms among older adults in a state prison ( F(10, 80) = 14.25, p < .001). In this model, higher trust was related to depressive symptoms when included alongside additional measures of social capital, indicating that a darker side of this facet may exist within correctional settings. Conclusion: Many indicators of social capital (e.g., network size) demonstrated potentially protective benefits against depression, while trust revealed a more complex role related to chronic health conditions. Limited measures and the agnostic behavior of trust require attention by future researchers.

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