Lavon Miller

Survivor

Interview: 1 Hour, 2 Cameras

LaVon Miller from our interview in August 2025

LaVon Miller, age 76, reflects on growing up between Philadelphia and the South, finding belonging in neighborhood gangs, and entering the justice system as a teenager. He describes life at Holmesburg Prison in the late 1960s, where poverty and survival pressures pushed inmates toward medical experiments run by outside researchers. LaVon recounts taking pill studies, patch tests, and other trials that left him hospitalized and dealing with lifelong health issues, while emphasizing that inmates had no real understanding of what the substances were or what risks they carried. He explains how his father, who worked on H-Block, tried to protect him from the system’s worst harms, and how family reputation helped keep him safe inside. Later, LaVon’s cousin Howard joins the interview, describing how their family’s history in West Philadelphia shaped them, how he avoided the experiments because LaVon and their uncle warned him off, and how inmates saw testing as a way to get food, cigarettes, and basic survival items. Together they detail the violence, fear, overcrowding, and mental illness inside Holmesburg, and they describe the experiments as exploitation of poor men who trusted the state. LaVon expresses frustration that the city’s apology came without material help, calls for medical care and support for survivors, and anchors his survival in faith, resilience, and family loyalty.