Former Inmates Protest They

Say They Still Suffer From

Experiments Performed On
Them In Philadelphia Prisons.

By Herbert Lowe, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: November 06, 1998
Fifty former inmates protested yesterday outside the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania to draw attention to the pain and suffering they say resulted from
medical experiments performed on them in Holmesburg Prison.
``We are the experimentation survivors,'' Leodus Jones shouted through a
bullhorn, as other ex-offenders displayed placards.
Doctors working with the university and Holmesburg officials conducted a
number of experiments on thousands of inmates from 1951 to 1974, according to
a book published in June by a former prison literacy instructor. The experiments
included collecting and preserving skin for medical studies as well as the use of
mind-altering drugs and dioxin.
The former inmates say they hold the hospital and its doctors responsible for the
physical, emotional and mental pain that for years they could not explain.
Holmesburg Prison closed in 1995.
``These tests were unfair; they were barbaric,'' said Jones, who was among
those subjected to experiments. He was in Holmesburg in the 1960s on charges
of larceny and receiving stolen goods. ``We were lied to; we were used and were
exploited. We were human guinea pigs.''
The men and women are seeking free follow-up medical treatment,
compensation for pain and suffering, and money for rehabilitation programs.
They want state lawmakers to ensure that prisoners never again endure unsafe
experiments.
The hospital will provide free medical evaluations, Richard Tannen, senior vice
dean in charge of research and academics at the university's School of Medicine,
told reporters. But Tannen said he could not guarantee free treatment. He also
said the university would not pay for evaluations or treatment done elsewhere.
James L. Guy, 62, of South Philadelphia, said he was in Holmesburg at various
times between 1955 and the early 1970s on drug and theft charges. He said he
had undergone three stomach operations because of liquids he was required to
drink as part of a test.
``I'm trying to get a little justice for some of the experiments done on me,'' he
said.
Jones directs Community Assistance for Prisoners, an advocacy group for
current and former inmates in Pennsylvania. He started a support group soon
after the publication of Allen Hornblum's book, Acres of Skin: Human
Experiments at Holmesburg Prison, A True Story of Abuse and Exploitation in the
Name of Medical Science.
According to the book, the experiments involved toothpastes, deodorants,
shampoos, skin creams, detergents, liquid diets, eyedrops, foot powders and hair
dyes - ``seemingly benign,'' Hornblum wrote, ``but accompanied by constant
biopsies and frequently painful procedures.''
The experiments were led by Albert Kligman, then a Penn dermatologist.
Kligman has said his research was ``in keeping with this nation's standard
protocol for conducting scientific investigations at the time.''
In an earlier interview, Tannen said no one had proved that the tests had caused
long-term complications.
The tests yielded information about skin disease and helped lead to the
discovery of Retin-A, a skin cream used to treat acne and remove wrinkles,
according to the book.
Two elected leaders yesterday promised support to the former inmates.
City Councilman David Cohen said he expected to introduce a resolution calling
on the university to provide reparations.
State Rep. Harold James (D., Phila.) said he was pursuing investigative hearings
on the matter in Harrisburg.
Tannen said he believed new hearings were unnecessary. Congressional
hearings in 1973 produced federal laws that put an end to most human testing
involving prisoners and mental patients, Tannen said.
That was too late for Dorothy Alston, 62, of Overbrook. Convicted of shoplifting,
Alston served in the House of Corrections - where women inmates were kept -
for 14 months in 1962 and 1963. She said she was unable to have more children
after undergoing a womb biopsy while incarcerated.
``They used my body; they did things to me that were inhuman,'' Alston said
yesterday. ``I feel less than a woman because of the things they did to me. This
brought me pain. A lot of pain.''