A Dignified Death

“A Dignified Death” focuses on the release of terminally or seriously ill persons from Pennsylvania state prisons. The language of the current statutory framework for compassionate release, or medical transfer as it is known in Pennsylvania, is arbitrary and ambiguous, and its requirements, quite burdensome. It is so ineffective that only a handful of petitioners have been released since 2009. “A Dignified Death” explores why reform of the current law is justified by economics, negligible risk of recidivism, and preservation of dignity, our own and that of the dying inmate. This video was directed and produced by Hayley Winograd, Rodney Holcombe, and Esther Clovis, all Penn Law Class of 2017.