Providing palliative care in Australian prisons

Once, people in prison who were dying may have been released on compassionate grounds. Today, the likelihood of this happening is low.

And while Australia’s prison population is ageing, there is currently no standardised national model of palliative care for Australian prisons.  

However, a team of researchers from the Centre for Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation (IMPACCT), led by Emeritus Professor Jane Phillips, is set to change this. 

Working in partnership with correctional and justice health services from each state and territory, this transdisciplinary clinical academic research team will design a new model of palliative care for people dying in Australian prisons. 

Emeritus Professor Phillips says that this is a timely and important project. 

“Our prison population has significant multi-morbidity which increases their likelihood of developing a progressive life-limiting illness” she says.

This reality makes establishing a national model of care for people with palliative care needs living in Australian jails an urgent priority.

Emeritus Professor Jane Phillips, IMPACCT

Over a three-year period, the team will conduct a review of national policies, co-design workforce capacity building strategies and devise a clinical service model of care to standardise safety and quality of care for prisoners – an enormous task, yet one that is met with determination. 

“We are confident that we will be able to collectively develop and test a new model of care that will enable Australia’s Justice Health services to deliver high quality evidence-based palliative care for people dying in Australian prisons,” says Emeritus Professor Phillips. 

The team will also establish a database of resources for ongoing use, to ensure that justice health services clinicians are equipped to provide the best possible care to prisoners even after the project’s completion.

Find out more about the Palliative Care in Prisons Project.