Prisoner Medical Research Lacks Oversight, Group Says

An Institute of Medicine panel has called for Congress to ensure better oversight of medical experiments carried out on US prisoners and parolees.

"Humane, respectful treatment of all prisoners is a hallmark of decent society," said committee Chairperson Lawrence Gostin, associate dean and professor of law at Washington's Georgetown University Law Center.

The U.S. prison population has increased nearly five-fold since 1978, with more than 7 million people currently in prison or jail, on probation or on parole, the committee said. Due to this explosive rise and because prisoners are known to receive inadequate health care, the Health and Human Services Department charged the committee with issuing a report on the matter.

"Correctional facilities are increasingly overcrowded, and more of the country's disadvantaged populations, racial minorities, women, people with mental illness, and people with communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and tuberculosis are under correctional supervision," the report noted.

Therapeutic medical research on prisoners is permitted in 15 states, the report found. While much of this appears to involve AIDS, few findings have been published in medical journals, it said.

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