Holmesburg Prison

From 1896 up until 1995 the Holmesburg Prison in Pennsylvania was in constant use. Much of the history at Holmesburg’s has instances of rioting, murder, rape and even medical experimentation. Most prisons claim some violence in their past, but Holmesburg’s borders on barbaric. Maybe this strong negative energy is what keeps the ghosts of Holmesburg Prison so active.

There was a hunger strike held in 1938. As a disciplinary action, guards took the 25 leaders of the hunger strike to a section in the prison called the Bake Ovens or Klondike. In mid-August the heat reached 190 degrees. The doors opened after 2 ½ days and four inmates had, according to the coroners own words, “roasted to death”. After an investigation, the courts tried ten officials and guards. Only two got convictions and given sentences of just 1-3 years.

In 1952 an inmate named Thomas Donato was found dead in a bathtub. Officially reports were that he drowned, but an autopsy report later showed he was actually beaten to death. In 1970, 250 inmates armed with knives and meat cleavers took over part of the prison after attacking other inmates and guards. It took a 400 man team to restore order and resulted in the hospitalization of 69 inmates and 27 guards.

In 1973, Warden Patrick Curran and his deputy Robert Fromhold met with two inmates who proceeded to stab them both to death with prison shivs. In 1989 a riot broke out that produced injuries to 54 guards and 94 inmates. Prisoners claimed that guards repeatedly beat them in retaliation for the riot. There were many claims of abuse and corruption among officials and guards.

In 1951 Dr. Albert M. Kligman, a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist, inventor of Retin-A, came to Holmesburg. He got called in to take a look at an outbreak of athlete’s foot and turned it into a 20 year dermatology test with inmates as the lab rats. Dr. Kligman carried out tests involving toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, skin creams, detergents, liquid diets, eye drops, foot powders and hair dye. As a result the prisoners had to endure frequent painful procedures as constant biopsies to check progress. Kligman used inmates in the early testing of Retin-A as well.

The U.S Army paid Kligman in 1967 to apply chemicals that caused the skin to blister to the faces and backs of inmates. Kligman said it was to “learn how the skin protects itself against chronic assault from toxic chemicals, the so-called hardening process.”

It seems the ghosts of Holmesburg Prison are still living the nightmares of the past. Neighbors have reported hearing loud screams coming from behind the large stone wall surrounding the prison. Also they claim to hear sounds of gunfire and rioting and guards still standing guard in the towers on top of the wall.

Most who come to Holmesburg Prison get the feeling of a heavy energy throughout the prison. It is not uncommon to hear doors slamming and hear audible voices echoing through the halls. Claims of electric devices malfunctioning and batteries draining are also a common occurrence. There are claims by guards of seeing full figure apparitions in the prison even before it closed its doors and even on the hottest days of summer, parts of the prison stay so cold it would make you shiver.

After it closed, Holmesburg was the scene for the 1995 film Condition Red, the 1996 movie Up Close & Personal, the 2000 motion picture Animal Factory and the 2009 film Law Abiding Citizen.

Many of the incarcerated Black victims developed lifelong health issues.

October 10, 2022 at 10:24 am

The city of Philadelphia is apologizing to Black individuals who were subjected to unethical medical experiments when they were incarcerated at the Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s.

According to CBS News, the city issued a formal apology, granting the request of many community members who have been pressuring officials to speak on the issue.

“Without excuse, we formally and officially extend a sincere apology to those who were subjected to this inhumane and horrific abuse. We are also sorry it took far too long to hear these words,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney wrote in a statement.

Many members of the Black community have a distrust for doctors with one reason being that for 25 years in Philadelphia, Black prisoners were guinea pigs for chemical tests. NBC10's Brandon Hudson shows us what happened behind the walls of Holmesburg Prison.

Albert Kligman, I hope you burn in HELL

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Before sharing his experience during the April 26 panel, Irvin Moore declared slowly and assuredly, “This is the truth.” The assertion is important because, for decades, the story of Holmesburg went ignored in the medical halls that benefited from the experiments’ scientific findings, and until recently, went unacknowledged by the city of Philadelphia and some of its most powerful institutions.  

Dr. Kligman may not be a household name today, but the products he developed are staples in the skincare and pharmaceutical industries. Perhaps the most well-known of these is the increasingly popular tretinoin, or Retin-A, a topical medication for acne that is also remarkably effective as an anti-aging treatment. But Kligman’s discoveries came on the backs of scores of incarcerated men—an overwhelming number of whom were Black—detained in Philadelphia’s now-shuttered Holmesburg Prison. Kligman’s development of Retin-A was directly made possible by the tests conducted on men imprisoned at Holmesburg. These men—and the family members to whom they returned upon their release–have maintained over decades that Dr. Kligman’s experimentation was tortuous, unethical, and that it forever changed their lives.

Amidst national conversations about reparations, attention has turned to Holmesburg and those who survived Kligman’s experiments. The St. Joseph’s panel is a part of this new reckoning and served as a space where survivors laid out renewed demands for institutions that allowed for and benefited from Kligman’s experiments, including the University of Pennsylvania. Survivors are also demanding that these institutions meaningfully acknowledge the harm they caused and reconsider whether the scientific community should celebrate Kligman. The enduring harm of the Holmesburg experiments helps us understand why ethical standards for medical experimentation in prisons and jails have shifted, while also triggering larger questions about the risks and benefits of continuing to allow clinical trials in the prison system.

For a class I took I read a book about human experiments in prisons in the 20th century, focusing on Holmesburg in Pennsylvania, and what was interesting about it was a lot of prisoners were against the experiments being shut down, because even though they were pretty fucked up, they were one of the best sources of income prisoners had.

I found this on NewsBreak: Husband, wife and daughter found dead in Northeast Philly home, family says

I found this on NewsBreak: Husband, wife and daughter found dead in Northeast Philly home, family says

Frankford Avenue Bridge - Oldest Bridge in the USA

Frankford Avenue Bridge is the oldest bridge in the USA, located at Frankford Avenue(U.S. 13), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not just a bridge, it is the evidence of the oldest civil engineering footprint. Frankford Avenue Bridge is also known as King’s Highway Bridge, Pennypack Creek Bridge, and Holmesburg Bridge. This bridge is 22 meters or 73 feet long. The bridge was built in 1697 using…

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Homeowner shoots intruder in Holmesburg, police say

A homeowner shot an intruder in the city's Holmesburg neighborhood.

Former inmates experimented on at Philadelphia Holmesburg Prison call for reparations at St. Joseph's University | 6abc.com

Holmesburg Prison

Pipe Bomb Found Behind Church in PA, Day After Bishop Killed in Los Angeles – RedState#Pipe #Bomb #Church #Day #Bishop #Killed #Los #Angeles #RedState

Philadelphia police are investigating an 18-inch pipe bomb that was found behind a Catholic church in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon. The bomb was found near train tracks behind St. Dominic Catholic Church on Frankford Ave, in the Holmesburg area. The streets were shut down while the bomb squad responded to the scene and removed the bomb. No one was injured. It’s not clear why the bomb was put…

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[ad_1] Edward Anthony speaks of his time at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia and the checks wherein he participated whereas an inmate, pictured right here on Oct. 24, 2007. Michael Bryant/AP cover caption toggle caption Michael Bryant/AP Edward Anthony speaks of his time at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia and the checks wherein he participated whereas an inmate, pictured right here on Oct. 24, 2007. Michael Bryant/AP PHILADELPHIA — The metropolis of Philadelphia issued an apology Thursday for the unethical medical experiments carried out on largely Black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison from the Fifties by the Seventies. The transfer comes after group activists and households of a few of these inmates raised the necessity for a proper apology. It additionally follows a string of apologies from numerous U.S. cities over traditionally racist insurance policies or wrongdoing within the wake of the nationwide racial reckoning after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The metropolis allowed University of Pennsylvania researcher Dr. Albert Kligman to conduct the dermatological, biochemical and pharmaceutical experiments that deliberately uncovered about 300 inmates to viruses, fungus, asbestos and chemical brokers together with dioxin — a part of Agent Orange. The overwhelming majority of Kligman's experiments have been carried out on Black males, lots of whom have been awaiting trial and making an attempt to save cash for bail, and plenty of of whom have been illiterate, the town stated. Kligman, who would go on to pioneer the pimples and wrinkle remedy Retin-A, died in 2010. Many of the previous inmates would have lifelong scars and well being points from the experiments. A gaggle of the inmates filed a lawsuit towards the college and Kligman in 2000 that was finally thrown out due to a statute of limitations. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney stated within the apology that the experiments exploited a susceptible inhabitants and the influence of that medical racism has prolonged for generations. "Without excuse, we formally and officially extend a sincere apology to those who were subjected to this inhumane and horrific abuse. We are also sorry it took far too long to hear these words," Kenney wrote. Last 12 months, the University of Pennsylvania issued a proper apology and took Kligman's title off some honorifics like an annual lecture sequence and professorship. The college additionally directed analysis funds to fellows centered on dermatological points in individuals of colour. [ad_2] Source link

Holmesburg Prison In Philadelphia Experimented On Black Inmates For Decades

Philadelphia Mayor Gives Apology For Decades of Horrible Experiments Conducted on Black Inmates

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Philadelphia Apologizes for Medical Experiments on Black Inmates

Philadelphia Apologizes for Medical Experiments on Black Inmates

By TCR Staff | October 7, 2022 The city of Philadelphia has issued an apology for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly Black inmates by University of Pennsylvania researcher Dr. Albert Kligman at Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s, reports the Associated Press. Kligman conducted dermatological, biochemical and pharmaceutical experiments that intentionally exposed…

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