Date Thesis Awarded

5-2024

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

History

Advisor

Brianna Nofil

Committee Members

Charles McGovern

Mackenzie Israel-Trummel

Abstract

This thesis examines the imprisoned plasma donation programs embedded in the American prison system in the latter half of the twentieth century, specifically through the lens of the prison plasma boycotts at the Louisiana State Penitentiary and the Dixon Correctional Institute in 1979. Using JSTOR’s American Prison Newspaper database, this study centers the voices of the imprisoned who donated at the plasmapheresis centers through various prison publications and attempts to stress the range of opinions held by imprisoned people concerning the plasma programs. This thesis posits that the lack of concern for the rights and health of imprisoned people and the profit-seeking motives of both the plasma companies and the prison administrations aligned to create an industry that endangered both plasma recipients and donors alike. This study begins with the evolution of plasma donation from the voluntary donation of World War II to the incentivized and imprisoned donation that emerged in the decades after. The work then moves into the case of the Louisiana prison plasma boycotts, discussing the coercive economics that created the need for the boycotts and the power imbalances implicit in the prison system that ensured they would fail. Through the reflection of the 1979 boycotts, this thesis investigates the lack of leverage in imprisoned resistance that allowed prison administrators to dismiss legitimate issues.

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