Incarcerated and Dying: The Work of the Humane Prison Hospice Project
Recorded September 2023
This webinar was made available to all members as part of membership benefits.
Webinar Moderator:
Kris Kington-Barker | INELDA Director of Outreach and Care Provider Programs
Webinar Guest:
Susan Barber | Program Director
Fernando Murillo | Program Manager
Laura Musselman | Outreach & Engagement Manager
Recorded: September 2023
This webinar is available to all members as part of membership benefits.
Our April webinar is open to all annual and tier members as part of membership benefits.
Webinar Moderator:
Kris Kington-Barker | INELDA Director of Outreach and Care Provider Programs
Webinar Guest:
Susan Barber | Program Director
Fernando Murillo | Program Manager
Laura Musselman | Outreach & Engagement Manager
Since 2017, Humane Prison Hospice Projects has been working with incarcerated people at San Quentin State Prison. A new partnership with the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation is focusing on training incarcerated people to provide emotional support and hands-on care for their aging and dying peers as palliative care workers/volunteers. Join the Humane Prison Hospice Project’s Susan Barber, Program Director, Fernando Murillo, Program Manager, and Laura Musselman, Outreach & Engagement Manager to learn about their latest efforts to pilot the new palliative care and hospice peer support curriculum at California Medical Facility, then at Central California Women’s Facility later this year.
We will discuss their approach and deeply rooted mission to develop a humanitarian, cost-effective, and restorative justice solution to ensure that those aging and dying in prison receive compassionate care. The night will be moderated by INELDA educator Kris Kington-Barker who recently participated in the program at the California Medical Facility.
Since 2017, Humane Prison Hospice Projects has been working with incarcerated people at San Quentin State Prison. A new partnership with the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation is focusing on training incarcerated people to provide emotional support and hands-on care for their aging and dying peers as palliative care workers/volunteers. Join the Humane Prison Hospice Project’s Susan Barber, Program Director, Fernando Murillo, Program Manager, and Laura Musselman, Outreach & Engagement Manager to learn about their latest efforts to pilot the new palliative care and hospice peer support curriculum at California Medical Facility, then at Central California Women’s Facility later this year.
We will discuss their approach and deeply rooted mission to develop a humanitarian, cost-effective, and restorative justice solution to ensure that those aging and dying in prison receive compassionate care. The night will be moderated by INELDA educator Kris Kington-Barker who recently participated in the program at the California Medical Facility.
Guest Speaker Bios:
Susan Barber’s work in end-of-life care happened by accident during the AIDS epidemic when dozens of her friends became ill and many died. Following in the footsteps of her mentors, Stephen & Ondrea Levine, Susan began work as a hospice volunteer manager, and twenty years later as a Community Education Manager at Mission Hospice & Home Care. The work that resonated with her most deeply during her tenure there was the partnership with Humane Prison Hospice Project’s pilot program to train prisoners at San Quentin in compassionate end-of-life care, even though the prison had no palliative care or hospice program.
In July 2021, Susan joined Humane Prison Hospice Project as the Community Outreach Manager, and now serves as Program Director of Humane’s Palliative Care Initiative. Working with leadership at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Susan has led the creation of an evidenced-based curriculum to train incarcerated people to provide compassionate end-of-life care and grief companionship for their aging and dying peers. Susan has trained and oversees a dedicated group of facilitators who will begin piloting Humane’s program at two California Prisons in Summer of 2023, with plans to replicate and scale the program in coming years. For Susan, working with incarcerated people and training them in compassionate end-of-life care and grief companionship is the realization of a dream she has had for more than 20 years.
In addition to her work with Humane, Susan is currently on the Advisory Board for the California Coalition for Compassionate Care and is the curator of the Community Education Program for the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Foundation.
Fernando Murillo is a San Francisco resident and spent over five years working as a Pastoral Care Support Worker in the only licensed hospice in the California prison system. During his incarceration, Fernando received end-of-life palliative care training from the University of Southern California and the University of California, Davis.
Prior to joining the Humane Prison Hospice Project, Fernando spent over two years as a Program Coordinator with UCSF AMEND, where he supported various projects aimed at reducing the harmful effects of incarceration and changing the culture in prison settings. As part of the AMEND team, he was involved with partnering with the Norwegian correctional system to examine the effect of a more humane carceral setting. Fernando also has been a part of a team that worked in Stafford Creek Correctional Center in Washington State to empower both incarcerated residents and correctional staff to work together to improve quality of life at the prison.
Currently, Fernando is the Program Manager for the Palliative Care Initiative at the Humane Prison Hospice Project, where he trains incarcerated people to provide palliative and hospice care for their aging and dying peers. During Fernando’s 24 years of incarceration, he committed himself to improving the overall quality of life in the correctional setting for everyone present, staff and incarcerated people alike.
Following the deaths of both of her parents, Laura Musselman felt compelled to begin work in end-of-life care and left her career in higher education as a college philosophy instructor. Upon her departure from academia, she trained with INELDA as an end-of-life doula and became a hospice volunteer for Hinds Hospice in Fresno, California in 2018. At Hinds, Laura took on roles as a patient care volunteer, a home hospice volunteer, and a vigil volunteer; soon, she began training other volunteers to sit vigil for patients, which led to working with the Comfort Care volunteers at the Central California Women’s Facility located in Chowchilla, California.
In 2022, Laura joined Humane Prison Hospice Project as the Outreach & Engagement Manager where she coordinates and oversees Humane’s work educating community members, palliative care professionals, and key stakeholders as well as engaging support for prison-based palliative care and hospice programs that rely on trained peer caregivers. Laura also creates content for and manages Humane’s social media presence, and serves as a core facilitator in the Palliative Care Initiative program.
A former teacher of ethics at the college level, Laura believes deeply in the accessibility of compassionate end-of-life care, and that the right to die with dignity is an essential human right.
ALL members can view this webinar at no cost as part of the INELDA membership benefits.
Non-members can purchase access to this webinar live for $15 to and will be able to view the recording following the event.
The recording of this September 2023 webinar has been made available to all members as part of your INELDA membership benefits. Non-members who purchased access to this webinar may also view the recording.
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