Innovations in End-of-Life Care
an international journal of leaders in end-of-life care

Tanya Tillman is a registered nurse employed by Louisiana State Penitentiary, an all-male maximum security facility located in Angola, Louisiana. She has been employed by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections for seven years. Together with community hospice professionals and prison staff, she worked to create the hospice program that currently operates on the penitentiary grounds to provide quality end-of-life care to terminally ill inmates and their families. Currently, she functions as the hospice case manager. In addition, as inmate volunteer coordinator, she directs the selection and training and provides direct supervision of inmate volunteers.

As a representative of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Ms. Tillman provides assistance to correctional facilities across the nation in planning and developing prison end-of-life care programs. She is an ongoing participant in the GRACE (Guided Responsive Action for Corrections at End of Life) Project, the ultimate goal of which is to improve the care of persons dying in prisons. This project is directed by Volunteers of America and funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Ms. Tillman serves the GRACE Project as a subject matter expert in the areas of establishing inmate volunteer programs and developing palliative treatment plans of care.

Ms. Tillman was a contributor to Prison Hospice Operational Guidelines, a practical manual developed by the National Prison Hospice Association, and is a member of Louisiana State Penitentiary’s Nursing Education Committee.

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