Abstract:
The penitentiary environment institutionalizes several vulnerable categories, even if this general vulnerability refers to all persons deprived of
liberty. Sick detainees are also part of the groups with increased vulnerability.Various treatises on penitentiary ethics and medicine have been written
in this regard. An unsolved problem is the suffering of the incarcerated
patient, this being the main factor that underlines the vulnerability.The
suffering of the sick detainee needs to be analyzed from the perspective of
social bioethics and avoided/improved through bioethical-spiritual counselling mechanisms.