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When life draws to a close, who do you want to be at your bedside?

For the growing population of inmates serving long to life sentences in prison, those that end up dying in prison will, most likely, not have a choice and may end up finding themselves alone.

However, a lucky few will have someone there to help ease the pain of their suffering. Indeed, a recent New York Times article put a spotlight on the growing number of inmates choosing to sit with dying inmates during the last few month of their lives, as volunteers for prison-based hospice programs. According to the article, about half of the 75 prisons that have started hospice programs use inmate volunteers.

Why even care about these inmates? The reason you're reading it here…

According to the article, not only are the dying inmates grateful for the companionship, the volunteers are also grateful for the experience and the opportunity to discover a new respect for life. These prison hospice programs appear to show the power of kindness no matter what its source or inspiration may be.

"It's helping me mature," said one of the volunteers as quoted by the article. "My views of life and death are changing. I was unsympathetic when it comes to death. I've had friends die, and I was callous about it. Now I can't do that. I've come to identify with these guys, not because we're inmates, but because we're human beings. What they're going through, I'll go through."

TAGS:NEW YORK TIMES