title: End of Life in High-Security Prisons in Switzerland.
abstract: Similar to other institutions, the Swiss prison system faces a growing number of elderly prisoners, trends toward securitization, and, in consequence, more prisoners who will spend the end-of-life (EOL) period of time in prison. By law, prisoners should have the same access to care as the rest of the population. However, custody makes meeting the demands of medical and palliative care difficult. This article focuses on the organizational challenges related to EOL care. Based on ethnographic and documentary research, it examines the institutional logic of the prison and the competing "new" logic emerging with EOL care. It illustrates the ambivalences within these logics and the blurred distinction between "care" and "custody" and evaluates how prison staff interpret this overlap and the effects in shaping everyday practices.
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Penal Law and Criminology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marti
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Penal Law and Criminology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ueli
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hostettler
authors.affiliation: 2 Division of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richter
mesh_terms: D032722:Advance Care Planning; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011329:Prisoners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011330:Prisons / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: Switzerland; end of life; institutional logics; prison; prison health care