Cons as Guinea Pigs

Prisoners today furnish virtually the entire pool of subjects for the initial human testing of all new drugs in the U.S., Author Jessica Mitford reported recently. Not everyone is happy about that fact--least of all Superintendent Hoyt Cupp of the Oregon State Penitentiary. In the Walled Street Bulletin, the prison's newspaper, Cupp argued that the poverty or prisoners as well as the reality of their incarceration meant that it was impossible for them to be truly "free agents" when asked to participate in medical-testing programs. For those reasons, all the Oregon prison's experimentation programs have now been phased out.

Cupp's unusual action ended the participation of some 200 convicts in various projects, some of which had been going on for 20 years. The research had included allergy experiments in which inmates got various substances injected under their skin to gauge their effect; the pay was $6 per visit to the doctor. More controversial was testing in connection with development of a male contraceptive pill. Volunteers received $10 a month for weekly sperm specimens, plus $25 for periodic biopsies of the scrotal skin. After a year, they were paid a $100 bonus, and underwent mandatory vasectomies because, in some cases, their testicles had been exposed to the possibility of radiation damage.

The prison's 1,200 inmates may not be all that happy about the warden's action on their behalf. Law Professor Herman Schwartz of the State University of New York (at Buffalo), who was a key legal adviser to inmates during and after the Attica riots, opposes such experiments because he believes the convicts are generally "too beaten down to give meaningful consent." But he also admits that "some of the prisoners do want it." And not only for the money involved, or for a possible break from parole boards. A major attraction in many cases, says Schwartz, is that "for a while you are treated as a human being, even though you are a guinea pig."

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