Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study

During the 1940s, there was a rise in human experimentation to further medical advancement and research. This was especially the case during World War II. Together with the United States Army and the State Department, the University of Chicago (UChicago) Department of Medicine worked to understand the effect of antimalarial drugs on malaria. Malaria is a tropical that causes chills, sweating, and fevers after one is bitten by mosquitos carrying the Plasmodium parasite. Due to the numerous battles in the Pacific, malaria harmed the soliders’ health and decreased US military numbers during World War II. 

 

In the hospital wing of Stateville Penitentiary near Joliet, Illinois, the UChicago, United States Army, and State Department coerced the inmates to volunteer as human test subjects for new antimalarial treatments. UChicago physicians produced Anopheles quadrimaculatus mosquitoes and then infected them with a Plasmodium vivax malaria strain collected from a military patient. Once the mosquitoes were prepared, prisoners received 10 mosquito bites, with UChicago and Stateville Penitentiary healthcare teams monitoring their symptoms. 

 

Over 4,000 inmates participated in the malaria experimentation. No prisoners were forced to participate. However, levels of proper consent in prison are questionable due to the harsh environment, the mental state of inmates, and uncomfortable conditions that potentially lead to coercion to participate. Despite questionable informed consent, the human experimentation at Stateville Penitentiary underwent for 29 years until it closed with the rise of the Nuremberg Code, a code detailing basic ethical principles to protect individuals regarding medical experimentation.

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References

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Bionity. (2023). Stateville_Penitentiary_Malaria_Study. Www.bionity.com; Bionity. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bionity.com/en/encyclopedia/Stateville_Penitentiary_Malaria_Study.html&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1680496172283964&usg=AOvVaw0st0XrDiEqMtDdt7YSux_F

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Comfort, N. (2009). The prisoner as model organism: malaria research at Stateville Penitentiary. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 40(3), 190–203. National Library of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2009.06.007

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Frankenburg, F. R. (2017). Human Medical Experimentation. ABC-CLIO, LLC. (Original work published 2023)

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Harcourt, B. E. (2011). Making Willing Bodies: The University of Chicago Human Experiments at Stateville Penitentiary. Social Research: An International Quarterly, 78(2), 443–478. https://doi.org/10.1353/sor.2011.0045

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Kalata, K. (2020). The Exploitation of Inmates: Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Experiment. Western Illinois Historical Review; Western Illinois University. http://www.wiu.edu/cas/history/wihr/pdfs/WIHR%20spring%202020%20Kalata%20final%20version.pdf

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Mayo Clinic. (2023). Malaria - Symptoms and causes. Mayo Clinic. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/malaria/symptoms-causes/syc-20351184&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1680496424416396&usg=AOvVaw25mxbsXiUUa2JB6TVwjqL7

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Miller, F. G. (2013). The Stateville penitentiary malaria experiments: a case study in retrospective ethical assessment. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 56(4), 548–567. https://doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2013.0035

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New York Times. (1974, April 28). Prison Official in Illinois Halts Malaria Research on Inmates. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1974/04/28/archives/prison-official-in-illinois-halts-malaria-research-on-inmates.html