WEST WINDSOR – How to care for an aging prison population that includes elderly inmates – some that are terminally ill – will be the topic of an upcoming lecture at Mercer County Community College (MCCC), featuring an Oscar-nominated filmmaker.

Edgar Barens, an independent filmmaker and documentarian at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will present his lecture “Prison Hospice: Dignified End-of-Life Care for the Aging Prison Population” as part of MCCC’s Distinguished Lecture Series at noon on Tuesday, April 18, in room 107 of the Communications Building on the West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Barens will address the aging of the prison population in the United States, which can be attributed to what some have called a “perfect storm” in the world of corrections: tough-on-crime legislation, with harsher sentences and curtailing the power of judges; and the elimination of parole. As a result, the U.S. correctional system is saddled with a booming population of long-termers and the terminally ill.

Barens will screen excerpts from his Oscar-nominated film Prison Terminal, and discuss the pressing issue of providing terminally-ill prisoners with a dignified death.

Barens received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film and Photography, and a Master of Fine Arts in Cinematography from Southern Illinois University.

For more information on MCCC’s Distinguished Lecture Series, call (609) 570-3324 or visit www.mccc.edu/events.