Prisoner Volunteers for Study- Ethical or Not?

Part 2: Death discusses how Henrietta Lacks' cells were used for cancer research on inmates in Ohio. In class, we talked a great deal about whether or not it was fair to specifically target prisoners in jail cells to be subjects of this study. It is a complex argument and in my opinion, I think that because Southam only published an advertisement in the penitentiary newspaper, it is as if he is inferring that these prisoners are inferior and therefore, will be more likely to commit to being a volunteer, because they have no other option. It is interesting that some people brought up the fact that they are responsible for the crimes that they executed because that all goes back to what experiences they have gone through and the education that they received, which has a basis of what their race/ethnicity is and where they stand in terms of social stratification. For example, if an inmate was African-American living in an inner-city ghetto, he/she has been subjected to indirect institutional discrimination leading to the lack of high-quality education and a greater exposure to violence and drugs. The fact that we spend so much of federal/state money goes towards sustaining prisons and jails is appalling. We could be spending that money providing educational assistance and emotional intervention to prevent crimes from occurring, but instead we are in away, encouraging illegal crimes to persist. Back to the medical aspect of this study, I do not think what Southam did was ethical in any way, shape or form. Despite the fact that they are prisoners and have done injustice to others, does not mean that they aren't human and don't deserve their natural rights. I know that it was a voluntary study, but just by selectively choosing prisoners as participants, and failing to promote the study to non-prisoners, is a bit discriminatory and unethical in itself.