
Prisoners Who Care for the Dying and Get Another Chance at Life - dsr12
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/16/magazine/health-issue-convicted-prisoners-becoming-caregivers.html
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notafraudster
The article frames this as an act of strange mercy (that prisoners volunteer
at a prison hospice).

But as someone not born in the US (although I live here), the existence of a
prison hospice with any great number of patients strikes me as an act of
unspeakable cruelty. Someone in end-stage palliative care is no risk to
society or their victims. The vast majority of those there ought be subject to
a compassionate release so they can die with dignity in the care of their
family. I cannot fathom that any OECD country besides America would ever have
a system like this.

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Spooky23
This is probably more compassionate.

On the outside, they’d be admitted to a hospital ER for some acute condition,
then funneled to a county run nursing home or one in the hospitals’ network
that needed bodies badly enough to accept a Medicaid patient. If the patient
were male, that might be far away from family as no facility wants to be stuck
with a male Medicaid patient.

If the patient were older, they would do a little better as the initial
Medicare reimbursements are higher.

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Archio
>no facility wants to be stuck with a male Medicaid patient

I'm curious, can you elaborate as to why that is?

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joncrane
It seemed highly likely to me because Medicaid's reimbursement rates are very
low.

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LeifCarrotson
I understand that Medicaid rates are low, but why the male/female distinction?

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Spooky23
There are a lot more older women than men, and a higher likelihood of getting
stuck with a single occupied bed as you cannot bunk male/female.

Nursing homes are an awful, evil business.

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nappy-doo
In response to recent elections, I have a friend who decided to counter hate
with love and began volunteering in prison. Mostly, it's prayer groups, bible
discussions and the like. His strength is something I value, and something I'm
not sure I can replicate.

It reminds me of a time when I went to a school in Philadelphia for foster
children. These children were between foster homes, generally because they
were abused in previous situations. Some of these kids were borderline feral;
one, who had been set afire by previous foster parents, was one of the most
balanced and normal kids I ever met. Probably, much like hospice care for the
workers in this story, that experience has stuck with me.

I don't have any real comment, just that I hope these inmates find peace. Both
the caregivers, and the cared for. I'm glad both are there for each other.

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ggg9990
Why not volunteer for the victims of crimes instead of for the perpetrators?

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Fnoord
I'd agree on a grand scale the primary focus should be there first but
perpetrators are, in a way, victims as well. Even if you disagree (which is
fair enough) they're still _human beings_.

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ggg9990
Perpetrators are in a way victims like I am in a way a basketball superstar
who never really reached his potential

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Fnoord
Yes, because cause and effect isn't so clear. A child who got molested might
end up traumatized and end up as a predator themselves. Or become a victim
later in life once more because he/she attracts them.

The question is in the why. What happened that someone committed a crime? And
was the crime that awful to begin with? Wozniak and Jobs did phone phreaking
in the 70s. Didn't get busted, but only because the cop didn't recognize a
blue box. Something simple such as cannabis isn't decriminalized in the USA
yet, yet the prisons are full with cheap labour... I mean, prisoners who
possessed or sold cannabis. In my country, guns are pretty much illegal, and
cannabis is decriminalized. The amount of robberies and shootings on schools
is near 0. The amount of people in jail due to cannabis is also near 0. Talk
about creating basketball players out of nothing.

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sparky_
Somewhat misleading title, I think - the phrase "Get another chance at life"
implied to me there was perhaps some clemency involved; that does not appear
to be the case after reading the article.

