Why did Washington State Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson decide to suppress historic records of medical experiments on inmates in Washington State?
By Glen Morgan
Washington State’s Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson appear to have colluded to help suppress and prevent the release of recently uncovered records about historic medical experiments conducted on Washington’s prison inmates. The records were part of a trove of paper records (517 pages) apparently discovered by Washington State Department of Corrections employees at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla in 2020.
In 2021, Governor Inslee was informed about these records (which included vaccine, radiation, and other experiments on inmates), but it appears that the Inslee administration and AG employees preferred to suppress these historic records because it could be noisy and potentially disrupting to Inslee’s narrative about his upcoming Vax mandate for state workers. Until now, these records have remained concealed from the public.
An ugly history in Washington State prisons
From the 1950s until the early 1970s, prison inmates were frequently used as test subjects for a variety of medical experiments, most of which would be considered extremely unethical and probably shocking today. The modern concept of “informed consent” was not exactly in vogue at the time, and while these records demonstrate some limited consent by the prison inmates, it appears unlikely they were properly notified about all the side effects and potential harm these experiments could inflict.
These experiments included subjecting the inmates to high dose radiation of the testicles and forced vasectomy after the experiments. These radiation experiments were publicly revealed in the 1990s which led to a class action lawsuit filed by survivors and survivor families. The plaintiffs argued that they were not given adequate informed consent and their Constitutional Rights were violated and this case ultimately was settled in 2000 for $2.4 million (see background articles linked below).
The records uncovered in 2020 included some records which would have been responsive to that radiation lawsuit (and were obviously never provided during the discovery phase of that case), but also records of experimental “injections” given to incarcerated prisoners at the State Penitentiary in Walla Walla and the Dept. of Corrections prison in Shelton.
The records document the use of Ditran on at least 17 participants in the prison system. Ditran was a drug developed by the U.S. military as part of their chemical warfare efforts in the 1960s (see background articles linked below). Ditran is an anticholinergic with mind-altering properties (similar to military experiments using LSD in that era). These records include observations of at least two people experiencing psychotic episodes during these experiments.
These records also included an Influenza anti-viral developed by DuPont and injected in 840 subjects during this time as well as some records of experiments using a cough suppressant called Ethnine.
I have also received a variety of heavily redacted records from the AG’s office and others which clearly indicate a substantial amount of communication and discussion about this uncovered collection of public records and the clear concerns about liability and related issues (these are linked below as well in 5 batches). The first question apparently asked by the Inslee administration was a good one, and the same one I would ask if I was governor. Were any of these experiments conducted during the last 10 years (during the Inslee administration)? The answer appears to be no.
At this point, you would think that since obviously these were historic records from an earlier era and from administrations long since past (most people involved are not even alive anymore), the Inslee and Ferguson administrations would just go public with these records. In fact, you can see from these records (see here) that draft press releases were produced to do just that. However, it appears that Inslee intervened or directed his minions to intervene and suppress these records. Why?
Here is where the skill of reading between the lines and the heavy (and often absurd) redactions comes into play. It appears that this was being discussed in 2021, right as Governor Inslee was preparing his vaccine mandates for state workers. He knew there would be some pushback and it appears that he didn’t want even a historic hint of government wrongdoing or government directed human medical experiments to potentially become part of a counter narrative to his heavy-handed vaccine mandate. So, of course, the preferred narrative must be protected at all costs. Bury the story. Hide the truth.
Would the timely release of these records in 2021 or even 2020 when they were first discovered really have changed the narrative that much? It seems unlikely, but who can really know or quantify the internal drama, special interests involved, or the general arrogance of a Governor enjoying his endless and unchecked emergency powers? By that time last year, the legislature had been essentially neutered, sent home to Zoom, and converted into a shell of itself. The public had been fenced off from access to the Capital campus (Remember my Come Commit an Act of Free Speech and Get Arrested event last year? – see here and here). Department of Labor and Industry employees were tossing out six-figure fines like confetti at a parade, and AG Ferguson was busy destroying as many small businesses in Washington State as he could find.
Would a trove of documents exposing historic government medical abuse of prison inmates have impacted the narrative that much? Who knows, but Inslee clearly was concerned.
The questions we should start to ask
However, this case raises much bigger questions that all of us probably should be asking. For example,
How many other records have been suppressed, concealed, or destroyed by the Inslee and Ferguson administration which would be even more impactful than this? Can anyone even answer this question? Can it be quantified?
Do the Inslee or Ferguson administrations have any ethical boundaries when it comes to destroying embarrassing public records which might really reflect poorly on the state?
Are they also willing to conceal records that embarrass the political leadership?
What else are these guys trying to hide from us?
OUR CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH THE PHRASE “WE THE PEOPLE.” IT WAS THE FOUNDERS’ INTENT THAT GOVERNMENT BE CREATED BY THE PEOPLE, TO SERVE THE PEOPLE. IT WASN’T THEIR INTENTION FOR THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE GOVERNMENT. IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED THAT GOVERNMENT WHICH FAILED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE “ALTERED OR ABOLISHED.” UNTIL WE RETURN TO THE FOUNDER’S INTENT, WE REMAIN WE THE GOVERNED…