Introduction Nowadays, significant restrictions are imposed on the participation of prisoners in scientific research, and these restrictions are the result of the disturbing history of inhumane and unethical experiments. At the same time, prisons do contain the population that is often suffering from diseases that still have no cure. Therefore, involving them in drug testing can bring positive results for themselves and the community. This paper reviews the events that led to the introduction of restrictions and considers the positions of their opponents and proponents. The paper uses two peer-reviewed articles, a book from a reputable publisher, two websites (one governmental and one belonging to a professional medical organization), and two articles from the New York Times. New legislation is described by the most recent source, but the historic part uses less contemporary materials. I conclude that we are not ready to lift the restrictions, but the improvement of the quality of life in prisons and the control over ethics in research might allow us to consider changes. History of the Issue: Dr. Kligman Dr. Albert M. Kligman was an outstanding scientist. He described human hair cycle and the acne development, discovered the beneficial effects of tretinoin (the ingredient of remedies for acne and wrinkles), and found treatments for poison ivy effects. Moreover, he made dermatology scientific in nature and sponsored the University of Pennsylvania’s dermatology department with the help of the money that his cosmetics discovery generated (Gellene, 2010). Unfortunately, this success was based on abusive, unethical experiments that were run at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia between 1951 and 1974 (Urbina, 2006). The prisoners who had been experimented upon in the 1960s kept reporting skin problems like blisters and rashes in the 2000s (Reiter, 2009). The inmates did not only test shampoos and tretinoin (which caused wounds and sores as the right dosage was sought for); they were also exposed to a variety of harmful (radioactive, toxic and hallucinogenic) substances and infections, which were of interest for pharmaceutical companies and governmental bodies (Gellene, 2010, para. 10-12). As a result, Dr. Kligman left another trace in our history: the scandals related to his experiments led to the development of federal human experimentation restrictions that were introduced in 1976 (Reiter, 2009) and nowadays can be found at the National Institutes of Health (2016) website in their updated version. Admittedly, Kligman’s studies were not the only ones that had caused public outrage. Between 1944 and 1975, the US Government was involved in chemical weapons testing and radioactive exposure studies (The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, n.d.); the Tuskegee Study that was carried out between 1930s-1970s involved infecting Alabama black males with syphilis and not treating them to study the development of the disease (Urbina, 2006, para. 4). However, the Holmesburg Prison was unique in demonstrating the vulnerability of inmates, which led to the restrictions aimed at protecting them. The restrictions also had an adverse effect: because of them, ev