The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola houses over six thousand men. 80 percent of them will die behind bars. An Angola hospice program trains volunteers from the prison population to care for their dying peers.
From 2007 to 2009, photographer Lori Waselchuk documented the work of these incarcerated caregivers for her series, "Grace Before Dying," which is currently on view in the Historic New Orleans Collection's Captive State exhibition. The HNOC interviewed Waselchuk about the project for their oral history series, NOLA Life Stories.