Rules for Clinical Tests on Inmates Are Drawn Up
A panel of experts drafted preliminary guidelines Friday for clinical tests on prison inmates across the country, promising not to repeat mistakes of the past.
Dr. Anne S. De Groot, co-chairwoman of the HIV/Prison Project at the Brown University AIDS Program, said prisoners who have AIDS must be given access to cutting-edge clinical tests but also must be protected from possible abuses. As a result, the panel recommended some tighter restrictions for testing in prisons than in the general population.
“The committee believes that research trials should be made accessible to inmates under certain conditions,” De Groot said. But she said prisoners may be particularly vulnerable to testing abuses.
De Groot said clinical tests are currently being done in some prisons and jails across the country, but there is little oversight.
Friday’s meeting concluded a three-day conference convened by the Brown University AIDS Program and the HIV in Prisons Program of Yale University.
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