NCJ Number
132061
Journal
Dialectical Anthropology Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: (1991) Pages: 51-61
Date Published
1991
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This analysis examines the characteristics of the suffering of inmates with AIDS by drawing on phenomenological assumptions, concepts, and critical insights.
Abstract
The central theme of this analysis is that time is fundamentally altered for inmates because their incarceration is marked by a temporary state of "futurelessness." Prison life in general is often meaningless because inmates experience emotional strains that emerge from the perception of not having a future. The form of suffering experienced by inmates with AIDS and other inmates with a terminal disease is more pronounced because they are forced to face a permanent state of "futurelessness." The drastic shift in the temporal field also contributes to a heightened sense of self-consciousness insofar as they become alarmingly aware of their physical deterioration. Their suffering involves a complex arrangement of emotional, psychosocial, and physical problems that are exacerbated by inadequate health care in prisons. Compassionate release should be considered for inmates with AIDS as well as for other inmates with terminal diseases. Difficult sentencing and parole decisions regarding the terminally ill should now benefit from social science models that further conceptualize those who are both marginal and dying. 52 notes