In 1966 about 1000 prisoners in Pennsylvania were subjected to scientific experimentation. The prisoners were forced to participate in the experimentation against their will. They were threatened with 90 days in the prison hole if they refused. They were not even paid for their participation.
Two hundred prisoners from each of five Pennsylvania prisons: Cresson, Graterford, Muncy, Pittsburgh and Somerset, were required to donate part of their bodies, albeit, only their hair, to the state. Though there was no court order compelling the prisoners to make these tissue donations, those prisoners who refused were given prison misconduct reports and tossed into the hole.
In Pennsylvania, a prisoner doesn't even have the right to parts of his own body. (Didn't the Nazis do something like that?)
What makes the experiment especially offensive is its purpose. One of the many tentacles of the United States Department of Justice wants the hair in order to establish yet another drug test! The National Institute of Justice wants to create a basis for punishing prisoners (and us "free" citizens, too) for using drugs. The scheme is that some drugs will leave residue in the growing hair. For up to 90 days, Big Brother will be able to detect the residue.
Prisoners are being forced to help to establish a basis for a test which will be used against them!
Return to Crime Stories Menu.
Return to HOMEPAGE.