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Serving Life: Inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary's Prison Hospice

OWN Documentary Club's first original documentary, Serving Life, produced by Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, offers a searing look inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary, a maximum-security facility in Angola, Louisiana, where inmates volunteer to work in the prison's hospice. 

Because more than half the prisoners--convicted kidnappers, rapists, and murderers--are serving life sentences, many will succumb to devastating illnesses behind bars. 

Whitaker narrates as we watch four volunteers complete an extensive two-week training program and learn to feed, bathe, and spend time with their peers during their final days; some even prepare a body for burial. 

While caring for dying patients and facing personal fears of death proves too much for some, others discover just how powerful human touch can be--for both patient and caretaker. 

"We meet inmates who decide to take an opportunity for redemption," Whitaker says, "reminding us of the connection that exists between each and every one of us."

Topics: Men, News
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