In the Louisiana penal system, a ‘life sentence’ means just that. But behind bars and razor wire at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a maximum-security facility once called the “bloodiest prison in America,” inmates face death with dignity through Angola’s hospice program, a volunteer-run program established in 1998 and licensed by the American Hospice Association. In late 2003, I had the privilege of travelling back and forth several times through the prison gates to document the program as inmate David Mackey, Louisiana inmate number 369289, lay in his bed, skin and bones, dying of lung cancer. Mackey had been incarcerated at the prison for the past eight years for shooting fellow construction worker Richard Dennis Davis, Jr. to death while drunkenly playing Russian roulette in 1993.
His fellow inmates, who ceremoniously buried him with a military honor guard sans rifles on the prison grounds on November 20, 2003, cared for Mackey around the clock until the end.
Inmate Ted Durbin, Louisiana prisoner #132464, trims the beard of fellow inmate David Mackey, Louisiana prisoner #369289, in the hospice ward at Angola on October 15, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Inmate Ted Durbin helps fellow inmate David Mackey into a chair in his hospice room at Angola on October 29, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
An inmate comforts dying fellow inmate David Mackey on November 11, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
An inmate comforts dying fellow inmate David Mackey on November 11, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Inmate Ted Durbin comforts David Mackey in the hospice ward of Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on November 11, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Angola hospice volunteer Ted Durbin feeds fellow inmate David Mackey on November 11, 2003. Inmates also rubbed his feet, bathed, changed and read to him while in the hospice ward. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
With caring eyes, inmate hospice volunteer Ted Durbin watches his friend and fellow inmate David Mackey wilt away due to lung cancer on November 13, 2003. Serving 140 years for armed robbery, Durbin realizes that since he will probably never leave Angola, he would like the same care and compassion he gives to his patients when his time comes to lie in a hospice bed. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
While David Mackey’s sister Joyce Demars holds her brother’s hand, Angola hospice volunteer Ted Durbin, left, tries to get some shuteye after being awake for 24 hours straight on November 14, 2003. During the vigil, inmates take four-hour shifts with the dying inmates. As Mackey’s primary caregiver and friend, Durbin spends his entire days in the room, leaving only to clean the prison’s hobby shop after midnight. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
At 292 pounds, inmate Ted Durbin’s hands dwarf his patient’s shrinking wrist and fingers. Between trying to feed his friend glazed donuts dipped in black coffee, Durbin stroked Mackey’s arm continuously, barely letting go. Durbin makes jewelry for sale and for friends when not participating in hospice, giving rings to Mackey’s two sons as they visited. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Inmate hospice volunteer Ted Durbin stays with David Mackey’s during the early-morning hours of November 13, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Fellow inmates and family members prepare David Mackey’s body following his death at 8:20 a.m. on November 19, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Inmate hospice volunteers cover David Mackey’s body following his death on November 19, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Forever behind a razor-wire fence, inmate David Mackey’s body is taken to the prison morgue by inmate hospice volunteers Stan Smith, Lane Nelson, Ted Durbin, Wayne Johnson and Michael Shulark. Soon after death, the volunteers gathered to wash Mackey’s body, as part of their process of closure. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Angola hospice volunteer Ted Durbin makes a call to David Mackey’s relatives following his death on November 20, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
A personal moment is kept impersonal for caregiver Ted Durbin as he goes through his friend’s belongings following David Mackey’s death. Cadet Christopher Bell checks off each item before it is released to Mackey’s family on November 20, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Inmate Ted Durbin goes through Mackey’s belongings, including a photograph of the two of them, following his death on November 19, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Inmate Ted Durbin touches the flag-draped coffin of his friend David Mackey on November 20, 2003. Photo by Richard Alan Hannon, The Advocate 
Inmates attend Mackey’s funeral in a chapel at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on November 20, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Inmate David Allen Mackey’s body is driven through the prison sallyport on its way to the cemetery on November 20, 2003. As is routine, guards at the gate opened the ambulance’s rear door to make sure nothing was inside except the body. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
An inmate color guard removes David Mackey’s coffin from an ambulance before his funeral on the Angola grounds on November 20, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Percheron horses and a hand-made wooden carriage take inmate David Mackey’s body on a quarter-mile walk to the cemetery. Mackey’s inmate friends, chaplains and relatives followed along, all singing “Amazing grace.” Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
An inmate-comprised color guard escorts inmate David Mackey’s body, draped in an American flag inside a hand-made carriage, to the prison cemetery. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Inmates gather around the grave of inmate David Mackey on November 20, 2003. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
An inmate friend of Mackey’s looks out the bus window at his grave. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon 
Inmate Ted Durbin watches as the American flag is removed from David Mackey’s inmate-made wooden coffin on November 20, 2003. Mackey, who died of lung cancer at age 57, was a U.S. Army veteran and was given an inmate color guard escort with honors, minus the 21-gun salute. Advocate staff photo by Richard Alan Hannon
The Advocate’s staff writer Brett Barrouquere’s story, “Inmate Volunteers Help Dying Fellow Prisoners at Angola’s Prison Hospice,” ran in The Sunday Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), December 21, 2003.