Dorothy Alston

In her interview, 89-year-old Dorothy Alston reflects on her life from childhood in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood through decades marked by poverty, addiction, incarceration, and medical exploitation. She describes a happy youth that unraveled after early arrests for shoplifting and the death of her teenage son, which led her into heroin use and repeated jail sentences. While imprisoned at the House of Correction, Alston participated in several paid experiments overseen by Dr. Albert Kligman and the University of Pennsylvania, including a “tampon test” that caused permanent internal injury and forced her to undergo a hysterectomy. She recounts the physical pain, humiliation, and loss of her marriage that followed, condemns Kligman as “evil,” and expresses anger that he profited from the research while survivors were ignored. The conversation ranges from her memories of Philadelphia and her family to the brutal conditions of prison life, her humor and resilience, and her continuing demand for an apology and acknowledgment from the institutions responsible.

On May 19, 2026, Dorothy Alston passed away at the age of 90. She was the last confirmed female survivor of The University of Pennsylvania’s prison experimentation program.