Abstract

Historically, prisoners in the United Stateshave served as an inexpensive and readilyavailable source of human subjects forresearch. Coinciding with the civil rightsmovement, however, was an emerging conceptionof prisoners'' rights that led to the NationalCommission for the Protection of Human Subjectsof Biomedical and Behavioral Research beingcharged with investigating the use of prisonersas research subjects. The recommendations thatevolved and the subsequent guidelines that havebeen implemented by the Department of Healthand Human Services significantly curtail theuse of prisoners as research subjects. Whilethese measures are designed to protect inmatesfrom the abuses of the past, of particularconcern to many health care officials isexclusion of inmates from experimental HIV/AIDSand hepatitis treatments. This paper addresseswhether the vulnerability of prisoners in theUnited States due to their incarceration issufficient to prohibit them from participationin clinical trials that offer the possibilityof life-saving treatment. It first outlinesthe evolution in moral thinking that has led tolaws broadly prohibiting prisoners frombiomedical research studies and then analyzescases in the law to develop ethical argumentsin support of the view that prisoners should beallowed to participate in clinical trials. Theconclusion is that prisoners should be allowedto participate in such trials.