PHOTO ALBUM

Inmate ADL Workers and
Hospice Volunteers

HERKY, 49, is serving a life sentence for murder in the first degree. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, his childhood was one of stability, love, and respect. Herky’s father worked for over twenty years in the local packinghouse while his mother tended to the household. Herky was an excellent athlete and qualified to play on the varsity wrestling, basketball, and baseball teams when he was only a freshman in high school. By the 11th grade he felt he was already a man, so he dropped out of school and headed for the streets.

His decision to end his schooling shattered his parents. His father got him an entry-level position at the packing plant but after the first day on the job Herky quit. “I could make more money in an hour selling dope on the streets, than my Dad could make in a week at the plant.” When he entered prison as a youth, Herky quickly became known as a troublemaker; spending many months in lock down for violently attacking guards as well as other prisoners.

Quickly approaching 50, Herky has matured in many ways over the years. He understands that the quality of his life is dependent upon his comportment within the walls. As an honor lifer Herky has been granted a more relaxed living situation; his cell remains open from morning until night, allowing him ample time on his days off to play pinochle with his fellow prisoners and to crochet lap blankets for the hospice rooms.

In his 25 years of incarceration Herky has never seen anything as positive as the hospice program take hold in corrections. “Among the lifers we used to ask each other who was going to be the last one to take care of us when we start passing away?” But with the advent of hospice here in prison “we know we have some dedicated people to take care of us and even the last lifer will have somebody to take care of him now."

SUG, 32, is serving a life sentence for murder in the first degree. While growing up in Detroit, Michigan, Sug’s home life was riddled with drug abuse. Sug dropped out of school in 7th grade, spent the next 13 years running on the streets, and at the age of twenty-four was arrested for murder. Though many would view his home life as fractured and unstable Sug contends his upbringing by his mother and grandmother has given his character a solid foundation that to this day he is proud of.

A large and amiable man, Sug keeps to himself as he obsessively maintains the hospital rooms and hallways immaculately clean. He spends much of his free time in the prison law library trying to reopen his case in order to overturn his current sentence of life without parole.

Prior to his incarceration, Sug's mother became terminally ill and was placed under the care of their community hospice. Sug recalls watching the visiting nurse care for his mother but not being capable of assisting in cleaning and caring for his mother during her illness. Sug’s mother passed away a few weeks after he was incarcerated.

He is painfully aware that he may very well die in prison. Being a part of the hospice program at the Iowa State Penitentiary has given him peace of mind and he is determined to make the program a success “We all know that we have to keep this program running because ultimately it’s for us, it’s also my way of giving back to my mother for things I couldn’t do for her when she needed me most”

PHOTO ALBUM

Inmate ADL Workers and
Hospice Volunteers

GLOVER, 47, is serving a life sentence for murder in the first degree. Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky Glover was number ten of thirteen siblings in a two-parent home. His father was a career military-man and his mother managed the busy household. After graduating from high school Glover attended college on a football/basketball scholarship. After suffering a football injury Glover never returned to school.

“You hear about these hard luck stories, about guys having a hard life on the streets and all - but I don’t have one. I was never in trouble before I came to the penitentiary.” Now with a quarter under his belt and the rest of his life to go, Glover takes it one day at a time. “When you find yourself doing a life sentence, the thought of your death comes to mind. So when the prison administration started looking for guys to do volunteer work in the hospice program I said sign me up.”

Glover feels the time is right for prison hospice because there are many guys dying behind these walls and “they’re not only lifers. Out of the three deaths that have happened in the hospice, only one guy was doing life. The other guys were fairly young and had a chance at freedom.” Glover views the hospice program as a move in the right direction since the elderly prison population is growing annually. "I definitely don’t want to pass in prison, but since I’m gonna have to, I want to be as comfortable as possible and surrounded by my friends.”

WOO, 42, is serving a life sentence for kidnapping in the first degree. Woo was raised in a loving family and recalls his childhood was picture perfect. Both his parents were working professionals and provided a secure and fertile home life for their children. At the age of 13 the entire family was involved in a tragic automobile accident and Woo emerged as the sole survivor.

Shuttled off to relatives after the terrible misfortune, Woo found himself living with an emotionally unavailable, but financially supportive family – in fact, Woo had it all. His studies after High School took him to the Tyler School of Art in Rome, where he studied sculpture and traveled the European continent.

Woo was enamored with the good things in life and recalls the thrill he would receive when he swindled and cheated others. “I am in prison because I wanted to do crime, I got a rush out of doing crime. I was a thrill seeker at the time. I’m not in here because of alcohol, I’m not in here because of drugs, I’m not in here because of an impoverished, economically disadvantaged background, none of that. I’m exceptionally smart, I could have probably done anything in the world that I wanted to. I just wanted to do crime because I got a thrill out of it.”

Woo has done sixteen years on a life sentence and is thankful to be a part of the Iowa State Penitentiary hospice program. “I can’t say enough about the hospice program. It’s a good program. This is the best thing that’s ever happened in this place, and you can’t say that very often”

BACK TO PHOTO ALBUM