Since the beginnings of the division of society into a hierarchy of human importance, the bottom of the social pyramid has always been the one considered lacking in morality. Whether immoral qualities were synonymous with skin color or profession, a supposed lack of moral integrity allowed those of higher stature to impose sometimes exhausting oppression on degraded people. As society has evolved, many advances have pushed for equality among the masses so that every man or woman has the freedom of prejudice or judgment. However, no matter how advanced the human race, there always exists a hierarchy and at the lowest of its levels are the prisoners. Modern-day prisoners are often seen as morally deficient and depraved monsters who deserve the worst punishments to repent of their crimes. Therefore, since prisoners occupied the lower levels of society's class division, history suggests that they must be subject to oppression by their proclaimed superiors, the unleashed populace. The use of prisoners for medical research has gone from something that was considered adequate to something unacceptable and inhumane. The use of prisoners for medical research is absolutely cold. Forcing someone to undergo experiments for medical research without their informed consent is both illegal and immoral. Medical ethics requires that doctors or pharmaceutical companies conduct their experiments with the informed consent of patients or volunteers, meaning that an individual must be fully informed of the potential harms or benefits that the experiments would wish to bring. There is no point that such a fundamental moral principle can be trampled on, it should be applied equally to the general public and prisoners, because the latter group although disadvantaged...... middle of paper . .....prisoners are unfairly lured into something they may not want to do. Because prisoners are so easily accessible, the benefits of research can be considerable and better controlled. This is very tempting for government and businesses who see huge potential profits in prison research. This can lead to laws being circumvented and, as has happened in the past, prisoners may well be treated like laboratory animals. Overall, using prisoners as research subjects is one of the most immoral and unethical issues of our time. This problem began in the 1940s and when opposition to these actions began in the 1960s, new regulations were put in place making this problem a little more acceptable, but not at all completely. The use of prisoners in medical research is a matter of exploitation and profiteering and this heinous activity contributes to the corruption of health care in our country..