The Black Prisoners of Stateville

Between 1950 and 1974, a series of harmful experiments were performed on Black prisoners incarcerated at Stateville Penitentiary, outside Chicago, Illinois. Those experiments set the foundation for the modern science of genetic testing for drug response; and yet, the role of the Black prisoners has been erased from the historical record. 

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Professor Tabery and Professor Hannah Allen, philosopher at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, have uncovered this history, recentering the experiences of the Black prisoners in the story and the implications of it for contemporary science, medicine, and policy.

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The team's first publication--"The Black Prisoners of Stateville: Race, Research, and Reckoning at the Dawn of Precision Medicine"--was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in June 2025.

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They are now working with museum curators and genetics educators to embed the story of the Black prisoners into exhibits about the prison and lessons about genetic medicine. ​