By Susan Donaldson James
Good Morning America
LEE COUNTY, Iowa — Hospice workers gently adjust Jack Hall’s oxygen tube and lovingly massage his withered hands, making sure he is not alone as death approaches.
Hall, an 82-year-old former World War II prisoner of war who is serving a life sentence for murder, has spent nearly a decade in the infirmary at Iowa State Penitentiary with a terminal heart ailment. But now, struggling to breathe, he is in his final weeks.
His unlikely comforters -- kidnappers and murderers -- are paid nothing for their hours of care-giving to a growing population of aging inmates. These volunteers do it willingly, knowing one day they, too, will be old and can look forward to a gentle end.
“Prison is cold, but death is colder,” says one hospice volunteer. Another says he benefits as much from the all-volunteer hospice program as those who are dying. “For me, I’m somebody no one thought I could be.”
Full story: ‘Prison Terminal': Kidnappers Care for Murderers at End of Life