Acres of Skin

{{Short description|1998 nonfiction book by Allen Hornblum}}

{{Infobox book

| name = Acres of Skin

| image = Acres of Skin (book cover).jpg

| author = Allen M. Hornblum

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| subject = Experimentation on prisoners

| genre = Non-fiction

| publisher = Routledge

| pub_date = 1998

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| isbn = 0-415-91990-8

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Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison is a 1998 book by Allen Hornblum. The book documents clinical non-therapeutic medical experiments on prison inmates at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia from 1951 to 1974, conducted under the direction of dermatologist Albert Kligman. The title of the book is a reference to Kligman's reaction on seeing hundreds of prisoners when he entered the prison: "All I saw before me were acres of skin"; "It was like a farmer seeing a fertile field for the first time".{{cite book|last=Hornblum|first=Allen|title=Sentenced to Science: One Black Man's Story of Imprisonment in America|publisher=The Pennsylvania State University Press|year=2007|pages=ix, 52}}

The book discusses issues surrounding the inadequate consent procedures of the 1950s and 1960s when using prisoners. Prisoners, attracted by the compensation, were angry when two of the experiment's participants testified before Congress.{{cite journal|last=Hilberman|first=Mark|title=Acres of Skin|journal=Journal of Medical Ethics|year=1999|pages=353–354|pmc=479251|pmid=11645179|volume=25|issue=4|doi=10.1136/jme.25.4.353}}

The publication of Acres of Skin in 1998 attracted considerable international media interest. The book has been reviewed in several journals including the International Journal of Dermatology,{{cite journal | last1 = Millikan | first1 = Jeanine | year = 1999 | title = Book Review: Acres of Skin | journal = International Journal of Dermatology | volume = 38 | issue = 2| page = 158 | doi = 10.1046/j.1365-4362.1999.00684.x | s2cid = 4719539 }} Social History of MedicineT.W. Laqueur. [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/oup/sochis/2003/00000016/00000001/art00159 Book Review: Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison] Social History of Medicine, Volume 16, Number 1, April 2003, pp. 159-161. and Canadian Journal of History.Theresa Richardson. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121026143114/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-76020675.html Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison (Review)] Canadian Journal of History, April 1, 2001.Democracy Now. [http://www.democracynow.org/2000/8/1/holmesburg_prison Holmesburg Prison news segment, Aug. 1, 2000]{{cite journal | last1 = Hornblum | first1 = A. M. | year = 1999 | title = Ethical Lapses in Dermatologic "Research" | journal = Arch Dermatol | volume = 135 | issue = 4| pages = 383–5 | pmid = 10206044 | doi=10.1001/archderm.135.4.383}}{{cite journal | last1 = Weyers | first1 = W | year = 2009 | title = Medical experiments on humans and the development of guidelines governing them: the central role of dermatology | journal = Clin Dermatol | volume = 27 | issue = 4| pages = 384–94 | doi = 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2009.02.011 | pmid = 19539167 }}