You wouldn’t expect one of the darkest chapters in modern American medical history to start with something as harmless as skincare. But Holmesburg Prison wasn’t your average facility, and what went on behind its walls for over two decades makes the phrase “clinical research” feel a lot more sinister.
From the 1950s to the 1970s, a prison in northeast Philadelphia quietly became a sprawling laboratory. Hundreds of men—mostly black, poor, and serving time for minor offenses—were turned into human test subjects. Not for treatment, not for rehabilitation, but for testing. Some of it was cosmetic. Some of it was military. And some of it was so reckless, so disturbing, that it will make your skin crawl.
A Prison Turned Laboratory
Holmesburg Prison was already grim by the time this story begins. It opened in the late 1800s, built like a fortress — thick stone walls, overpopulated blocks, and little ventilation. The conditions were harsh, and there was very little oversight.
So when Dr. Albert Kligman, a dermatologist from the University of Pennsylvania, walked into Holmesburg Prison during the early ‘50s under the guise of studying athlete’s foot among inmates, no one thought much of it. That changed quickly…