Facts first: because of very harsh sentencing laws, the U.S. imprisons a large number of people, many without the possibility of parole. John and Ken explain that we have one quarter of the world’s total prison population, yet we are not even 5% of the world’s total population. The U.S. prison population is also rapidly aging and getting sicker with age, and many prisoners die alone in their cells from conditions which are often times treatable. Ken says it sounds like cruel and unusual punishment which should be prohibited, and yet it happens all too frequently. They discuss the merits of the Eight Amendment via questions like: is a longer-than-necessary parole cruel and unusual? John brings up the example of a man who in his youth commits a serious crime, then in his forties is a completely different person, and then finds out he has a terminal illness. Surely the most humane thing to do would be to release said prisoner so that he can die with dignity. What about compassionate release, programs, Ken brings up? John explains that even where there are those programs, the backlog of applications makes it so most prisoners still die alone. And who experiences these dire situations? For the most part, non-violent drug offenders or mentally ill individuals. Hospitals are being closed but prisons are being built, and healthcare in prisons is a tricky thing, Ken says. Sometimes it even takes a lawsuit to get things moving!

John and Ken welcome guest Edgar Barens, whose documentaryPrison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall获得奥斯卡金像奖提名约翰问埃德加，他是如何开始对拍摄关于监狱，尤其是狱中死亡的纪录片感兴趣的。埃德加解释说，他对制作社会问题纪录片很感兴趣，试图改变目前运转不太好的体制。20世纪90年代末，他在纽约市为路易斯安那州安哥拉监狱的临终关怀项目工作时拍摄了一部短片。那所监狱是全国最糟糕的监狱之一，拥有先进的临终关怀项目是独一无二的。随着时间的推移，纪录片中强调的问题变得越来越严重，所以他决定重新讨论这个话题。自上世纪90年代以来，监狱的人数翻了一番，囚犯的衰老速度比监狱外的人快7到10年。许多囚犯在入狱前就已经生病，因为他们没有医疗保健。在大多数情况下，惩教机构都没有做到这一点，人们被忽视了，从而死于其他可治疗的疾病。

肯问埃德加，对尊严的思考如何帮助我们弄清楚哪些权利应该给予囚犯，哪些权利可能会被剥夺。Edgar explains that once you commit a crime and are put in prison,thatfreedom is the right you are losing. But prolonged torture once imprisoned is a violation of human rights. Healthcare is indeed a human right, he explains, and we should not deny it to a prisoner regardless of how heinous a crime he or she committed. But does said right involve only minimal, basic healthcare, or something more? And how do we determine what is basic healthcare? Edgar does believe there are certain limits we should keep in mind in delineating basic healthcare rights, but he admits it is a tough line to draw. If the main problem is that the healthcare system as a whole is dicey, then that is what we should fix while at the same time granting to prisoners their full rights.

Edgar, John, and Ken welcome questions from the audience, and they continue the discussion by tackling questions such as: should priority be given to prisoner healthcare when there are equally sick individuals who have not committed crimes? Would a system of paying prisoners minimum wage and allowing them to purchase insurance be viable (or even desirable)? The intricacies of hospice care for prisoners are also discussed in depth.

• Roving Philosophical Reporter(Seek to 5:01):舒卡·卡兰塔利与北加州一所主要州立监狱的初级保健医生雷内·阿尔瓦雷斯探讨了监狱护理不足、托管项目以及是否每个人——无论情况如何——都有权获得医疗保健的问题。
• 60-Second Philosopher(Seek to 49:00):Ian Shoales speeds through just how extensively concerns about prison - is the death penalty justified? What does humane killing mean? – permeate our culture.