Panel Suggests Using Inmates in Drug Trials (NYT)

[Don Claybrook]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/us/13inmates.html?hp&ex=1155441600&en=cc3e2c1795323e27&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Panel Suggests Using Inmates in Drug Trials

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 7 — An influential federal panel of medical advisers has recommended that the government loosen regulations that severely limit the testing of pharmaceuticals on prison inmates, a practice that was all but stopped three decades ago after revelations of abuse.

The proposed change includes provisions intended to prevent problems that plagued earlier programs. Nevertheless, it has dredged up a painful history of medical mistreatment and incited debate among prison rights advocates and researchers about whether prisoners can truly make uncoerced decisions, given the environment they live in.

(more)

There's also this sidebar with the article:
* Reports on Experiments Conducted on Prisoners at Holmesburg and Elsewhere Chemical Warfare Study by the U.S. Army (March 1969)
* Dioxin Experiments for Dow Chemical (Dec. 1964)
* Radioactive Isotope Experiments (March 1966)
* Project MKULTRA, The CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification (Aug. 1977)
* Human Drug Testing by the CIA (Aug. 1977)

Office for Human Research Protections (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

=====

soulless corporate Nazi filth. And yeah, I mean Nazi; I'm not seeing a real difference at the intersection of incarceration and medical experimentation.

[Joanne98]

1. Prison Industries!

Prison Labor Links
What's here?
http://www.prisonactivist.org/prison-labor/

Links to all of the state-owned prison industry operations in the U.S., state by state - see what they are saying! Also, compiled here are direct links to all of the state Department of Corrections that have an on-line presence. Finally, there is a valuable collection of links to other information banks and articles investigating the role of prison industry in the prison industrial complex.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

State-Owned Prison Industries

Information provided by the state agencies themselves.
UNICOR - Federal Prison Industries, Inc.
Alabama Correctional Industries
Alaska Correctional Industries - contact info only
Arizona Correctional Industries
Arkansas Correctional Industries
California Prison Industry Authority
California Joint Ventures Program - private corporations purchasing prison labor from the state
Colorado: Juniper Valley Products
Connecticut Prison Industries
Florida Prison Industry Enhancement program
Florida: PRIDE Enterprises
Georgia
Idaho Correctional Industries - empty page as of 4/14/99
Illinois Correctional Industries
Iowa
Kentucky Correctional Industries - "Kentucky's Best Kept Secret"
Maryland State Use Industries
Massachusetts Correctional Industries - MassCor
Michigan State Industries
Minnesota MINNCOR
Mississippi Prison Industries Corp.
Missou ri Vocational Enterprises
Montana Correctional Enterprises
New Hampshire Correctional Industries
New Jersey DEPTCOR - "And you thought we only made license plates."
New Mexico Correctional Industries
New York Corcraft
Nevada Silver State Industries
North Carolina Correction Enterprices
North Dakota Rough Rider Industries
Ohio Prison Industries
Oklahoma State Industries
Oregon Corrections Industries Programs
Pennsylvania Correctional Industries
Rhode Island Correctional Industries
South Carolina Prison Industries
South Dakota Prison Industries
Tennessee TRICOR
Texas Correctional Industries
Utah Correctional Industries
Virginia Correctional Enterprises
Washington State Correctional Industries


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Profitting from Prisons
Corrections.com
National Correctional Industries Association, Inc.
National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center
Oklahoma Private Prison Administration - with contract information and more
Texas Operational Support Department - private prisons used by Texas, including an FAQ
Mississippi Private Industries - private facilities


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information Banks
Private Corrections Project - well-maintained information source
National Institute of Justice - specific page for Freedom of Information Act
National Institute of Corrections - very good database for information sources; also maintains a library in Boulder, CO
CA Prison Industrial Complex - PARC's summary web page on the PIC



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prison Industry Articles

Reforming the Prison Industry Authority - by the Legislative Analysts Office of California, 1996.
Working for Nothing: The Failure of Prison Industry Programs by Lucia Hwang
The Economic Impact of Production in California's Prison Industries - Goldman, George, Bruce McWilliams, and Vijay Pradhan. Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley, March 1998.
Wyoming Corrections Facilities Task Force Initial Report - very interesting focus on prison industries as an area for development; reference to a law (?) that prohibits direct competition with private industry
NC - "Prisoners work more than 18 million hours in 1998" - March 31, 1999 press release with data table
Tennessee Community Work program
CA PIA - article by Willie Wyley

http://www.prisonactivist.org/prison-labor/

[DRoseDARs]

2. I see no problem with this...

...just as long as we start collecting and experimenting on the infirm, the homosexuals, the Jews, the intelligentsia, the communists, the gypsies, and other "undesirables" too. You can never have enough involuntary Human guinea pigs. :sarcasm:

[liberaltrucker]

3. Fine by me, if AND ONLY IF

The inmate gives informed consent with a physician
and lawyer-independent of the prison system, present
when the papers are signed.

Of course, that won't happen. So HELL NO!

[EFerrari]

4. Are we having on outbreak of predatory m@therf@ckers

in this country or have we always been this way.

I just don't know any more.

[Miss Chybil]

5. I think we've always been this way. The difference now is they are so

arrogant they don't even try to hide it anymore.

[EFerrari]

6. They don't , you're right, and that should concern us. n/t

[EFerrari]

7. And another thing: Given the uneven distribution of justice

along ethnic and minority lines, and the disproportionate number of Black and Latino men in prison, doesn't this amount to one more way to exploit brown men?

It just makes your head explode.

[Don Claybrook]

9. Do you remember when there were songs about prison?

Maybe that's a hoaky way to try to index this thing, but there used to be popular songs about prison, lonliness, regret, redemption, etc. But it seems like no one much wants to hear songs anymore about people we have largely marginalized as subhuman. I'll grant I haven't listened to popular music in years, so maybe I'm missing some tunes that have come out.

We've thrown these people away, and I think it's largely been done to satisfy the profit motive. And that constitutes a good working definition of evil.

[EFerrari]

10. You're so right. I didn't know, for example, that the prison lobby

was the most powerful one in CA until I read Joan Didion's "Where I Was From" where she mentions it in passing.

When most people think about political power in CA, "prison industry" doesn't spring to mind. It's not even on the radar.

[Dr.Phool]

8. Most of them got there because of drug trials.

:spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank:

Drug companies must be pushing it. Every now and then. the University of Florida advertises for people with hepatitis C to come in for 16-18 day inpatient trials, and offers to pay them $4000 for it.

[BeHereNow]

11. What, are they running out of foster children lab rats?

Or have they decided that they can increase profits
even more by using our tax dollars to experiment
on a population with no constitutional rights, therefore
no threat of lawsuits for any damages done?

BHN

[nealmhughes]

12. To the pharmaceutical industry this makes a match made in heaven: the

perfect candidates for a longitudional study whose diet, sleep, etc. and every other factor can be controlled/manipulated for long range effect.

What a disgusting way to do science, though....

Actually, my opthomologist and I were discussing this two weeks ago when she asked me about Lasix and I told her it would not help my astigmatism, only my nearsightedness, but that my former eye specialist (back when I had a union job and full as in FULL insurance) told me about this cornea shaving experiments he was then doing -- on prisoners...he told me to check back in 5 years as his long term study would be done then...

We both agreed 'What a perfect population, but what a horridly immoral, unethical thing to do!'

[Don Claybrook]

13. a kick for the Sunday AM crowd

Good morning.

[rayofreason]

14. ACLU endorsement?

From the NYT article:

Alvin Bronstein, a Washington lawyer who helped found the National Prison Project, an American Civil Liberties Union program, said he did not believe that altering the regulations risked a return to the days of Holmesburg.

“With the help of external review boards that would include a prisoner advocate,” Mr. Bronstein said, “I do believe that the potential benefits of biomedical research outweigh the potential risks.”



I don't care what "checks and balances" are in place. This will give way to much power to prison authorities. It is a very bad idea.

[crim son]

15. What next? Euthanasia of the sick, infirm and mentally ill?

Stories of prison abuses pop up every day. How will this be any different? And what has changed from three decades ago? Nothing, I'd say, except civil rights have gone down the tube.

[EFerrari]

16. If you euthanize then you cut yer ability to "provide services"

and so, your profits.

[crim son]

17. I suppose that's true. However, money's tight and the government is

unable to pay for the services for the masses of poor and uninsured. Killing 'em would be a great savings, no? :sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

18. It's so horrible,isn't it. n/t

[MrSlayer]

19. I'm for it.

It's always best to test products that are going to be used by humans, on humans. Why not let the scumbag murderers, rapists and other lifers who are never going to see the light of day anyway do something good for the society they have inflicted damage on? I'd rather see this than see people do experiments on innocent animals that may or may not benefit humans. What works for a rat or a dog doesn't necessarily work on people. I say, full steam ahead.

[Liberal Veteran]

20. Shouldn't the drugs be tested on the people who actually have the disease.

...that the particular drug is supposed to treat?

And quite honestly, I'm appalled at the notion of using inmates as guinea pigs.

[Don Claybrook]

22. In that case, I contend that you do not understand

what it means to be human.

Let's go get those recreational drug users, Dr. Mengele!

[The2ndWheel]

23. So we should test on other animals?

I think we all lost whatever it was to be human a long time ago.

[MrSlayer]

26. Where did I say anything about recreational drug users?

I said murderers, rapists and other lifers. I said nothing about short timers. If you bothered to read what I said instead of flailing out irrationally against the headline you might have understood that. Dr. Mengele my ass.

[Don Claybrook]

28. Why do you hate the 8th Amendment?

?

[MrSlayer]

30. I don't.

!

[Liberal Veteran]

21. Let's also make them sew clothing and build electronics.

So we can be even more like China.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. Actually, that already happens

[noonwitch]

25. It needs to be voluntary participation, and only for medical testing

No defense testing should be allowed.

but for new meds, especially if you have a large number of inmates suffering from AIDS or cancer and they want to try a new approach, I'm all for that.

The idea is scary, though, in general, and I wouldn't trust any government to stick to a voluntary program.

[Megahurtz]

27. Sounds like another form of torture to me. n/t

[AlienGirl]

29. Can I wake up in America again? Please?

I keep having this nightmare. :-(

Tucker