Hospice volunteer Harun Abdul Sharif-El, left, and inmate Calvin Dumas, right, lift George Alexander out of bed. Alexander is a hospice patient diagnosed with terminal lung and brain cancers. Sharif-El and Dumas are helping him get ready for a trip to a hospital in Baton Rouge, LA.“There is a team atmosphere,” explains Melody Eschete, Angola’s hospice coordinator. “Everybody has a part to play and nobody is more important than anyone else.”

Paul Krolowitz said goodbye to his longtime friend Richard "Grasshopper" Liggett, who was fighting advanced liver and lung cancers. Krolowitz and Liggett had worked side by side for many years in Angola’s carpentry workshop. Krolowitz talked very little that day as he stood with fellow prisoners around Liggett’s bed. Just days earlier, Krolowitz received his "call-out," the official notice of his impending release from prison. Within hours, Krolowitz would walk out of Angola for good.Finally Liggett called Krolowitz closer and whispered, “You were the best friend I ever had. I love you.” “I love you too,” Krolowitz said, and hugged his friend for the last time.

In 'lock down" for disruptive behavior, hospice patient Terry Kendrick, 46, receives a visit from volunteer Warren Joseph. The maximum security setting presents many challenges to accepted hospice care practices.

Calvin Dumas, left, helps turn George Alexander in his bed. Alexander is a hospice patient dying of brain and lung cancers. Dumas and Alexander have been very close friends for the 30-plus years they have been incarcerated at Angola. With permission from security and support from his coworkers at his prison job, Dumas is able to stay with Alexander continuously for days at a time. “When I’m around, he looks like he’s getting better. When I’m not here, he looks like he’s going down,” says Dumas.

Because the hospice volunteers are inmates themselves, they are subject to the maximum security checks and restrictions enforced at Angola Prison.

Hospice volunteer, Randolph Matthieu, far right, shows Paul Krolowitz, Carlo DeSalvo, Joseph Greco how to reduce swelling in their friend Richard Liggett. Liggett is a hospice patient diagnosed with lung and liver cancers. Liggett is a carpenter at Angola prison and trained Krolowitz, DeSalvo and Greco in the carpentry shop. In addition to caring for the patients, hospice also helps the loved ones they leave behind.

Hospice volunteer Nolan James, left, and hospice patient, Kenny Mingo, right, lift Albert "Tut" Soublet from his wheelchair so he can go through a security checkpoint. Soublet is a palliative care hospice patient and he continues to live in the main prison. Volunteers visit palliative patients daily and help them live in the main population for as long as possible.

Felton Love, right, watches Timothy Minor closely in the hospital courtyard at Angola Prison. Love has volunteered to care for Minor, who is dying from a brain tumor. Minor has lost much of his muscle control. To enable Minor to sit up in his wheelchair, Love has wrapped him with bedsheets.

Mary Bloomer, a prison security guard, watches from the levee as prisoners form Field Line 15 from Wolf Dormitory at Camp C at Angola, Louisiana's maximum security prison. Angola is a massive top-security prison, occupying flat delta land equal to the size of Manhattan. Prisoners walk or ride in buses to and from their jobs every day.

Jimmie Burnett, left, laughs with his mother, Buerat Coleman, who is visiting him in his hospice room. Coleman, 75, has to travel five hours from Shreveport, LA to visit her son and the journey is difficult for her. But their visits lift Burnett’s spirits. “It lifts me all the way up!” Burnett says. “For the rest of this week and part of next week, I’ll be good to go. Sure will.”

Hospice volunteer Diego Zapata washes Richard Liggett's face. Liggett, 55, is fighting advanced liver and lung cancers.

Hospice volunteer, Morris Oselen, 67, keeps his hand lightly on Jimmie Burnett's legs so Jimmie always knows that he is there. Burnett has been placed on 24-hour vigil and he is slipping in and out of consciousness.

Hospice volunter George Brown places his hand lightly on Jimmie Burnett's chest for comfort and reassurance. Burnett's breathing has slowed and become shallower. Brown stays close to his patient during his shift.

The six hospice volunteers that cared for Jimmie Burnett say a prayer over his body after they ended they washed and prepared his body. The volunteers cover their patients with a hand made shroud for the procession from the hospital to the morgue.

Hospice volunteers roll George Alexander's coffin from the prison hospital to an ambulance where it will be driven to meet the hearse and the procession of mourners. The hospice volunteers’ commitment to create a tone of reverence for the dead and dying has touched the entire prison population. From left to right: Jeffrey Lewis, Robert Matthews, Eric Bernard, Sidney Delco.

Lloyd Bone, a prisoner at Louisiana's State Penitentiary, rides atop a horse driven hearse carrying the body of fellow prisoner George Alexander, who died at the age of 56. The hearse was hand built by prison carpenters. The elaborate funerals for inmates buried in the prison's cemetery is an example of how hospice volunteers (with the support of Warden Burl Cain) have created a tone of reverence for the dying and the dead at Angola Prison.

Rosa Mary White, the aunt of prisoner George Alexander, sits next to Alexander's coffin during his burial ceremony at the Angola State Penitentiary cemetery. The Louisiana State Prison's Hospice program is responsible for planning memorial services and funerals for its patients. These services allow for family members to grieve alongside the inmate's prison friends.

Calvin Dumas, second right, is consoled by a friend after the burial of Dumas' closest friend, George Alexander, at the Angola State Penitentiary cemetery. The Angola Prison hospice program is responsible for planning memorial services and funerals for its patients. These services allow for family members to grieve alongside the inmate's prison friends.

Prisoners walk in lines from the main prison to a bus pick up point inside Angola State Penitentiary.