The Prison Visit

This scene follows Herb Rice as he returns to the site where he was subjected to unethical medical experiments in the 1960s and 70s. In a reflective conversation with his grandchildren, he recounts the radiation, drug, and skin tests conducted under Dr. Albert Kligman and funded by major pharmaceutical companies and the University of Pennsylvania. Herb describes how the experiments caused lifelong psychological trauma, addiction, and violent outbursts, and how many fellow test subjects later died by suicide. His grandchildren connect his experiences to modern systems of exploitation, likening the tests to a form of slavery and exposing how products like Retin-A and tretinoin—developed from those experiments—remain profitable today. Together, the family confronts the generational impact of the abuse, calling for transparency, reparations, and acknowledgment of the systemic racism that enabled it.