Jimmy Carter's grandson reveals the ex-president, 99, is 'no longer awake' daily 16 months into hospice care

Jimmy Carter's eldest grandchild Jason said that the 99-year-old former president is no longer awake every day.

Nearly a year-and-a-half after entering end-of-life hospice care in February 2023, Carter's loved ones remain by their patriarch's side.

Jason Carter revealed that the latest decline began after the death of the 38th president's beloved wife Rosalynn in November 2023 at the age of 96.

'After 77 years of marriage… I just think none of us really understand what it's like for him right now,' Jason told Southern Living during a conversation this month. 'We have to embrace that fact, that there's things about the spirit that you just can't understand.'

'[He's] experiencing the world as best he can as he continues through this process,' Jason, 48, added.

He said Carter is not awake every day, but that his four children frequently visit – although they are unable to predict how alert he will be day to day.

Overall, Jason said that there has 'really been no change' in the Democrat and oldest living former president's health in recent months.

Even into his early 90s, Carter's baseline was very active. He was often seen building homes and teaching Sunday school at his Baptist church as recently as 2020.

The onetime commander-in-chief moved into hospice care 16 months ago at his home in Plains, Georgia that he built with Rosalynn in 1961.

'[Plains] is the place that has given him the greatest support and it is the only place where he would go through this part of his life,' Jason, who lives in Atlanta, said. 'That's his home in every way, and he really cherished that time and that support.'

The Carters deeded their property to the National Park Service – and when he dies they plan to turn their home into a museum.

Carter was last seen publicly at his wife's memorial events in November in a wheelchair and covered by a blanket but has largely remained out of view since deciding to terminate medical intervention.

He will be buried alongside her when he dies.

'I think the fact that he and my grandmother both came from that small town — it's a 600 person village, really — and it's not near any interstate and it is truly out in the country and it is a fundamental part of who he is and who he has been for his whole life,' Jason said.

'There is no other place in the world that he would be at peace other than Plains.'

'It is such an American story... to go to Plains and see the house that my grandparents built and lived in for all their time and came home to after being president,' the eldest Carter grandson said. 'It is a really incredible story to go from that little town to the White House and back again.'