In The Death Row Complex, forthcoming prequel to The Vesuvius Isotope, one of the themes explored is the concept of experimentation on humans for research purposes. This is not a new concept. It was done many times throughout history from Cleopatra to the Nazis and then some. What came as a surprise to me was the history of this practice at San Quentin State Prison, the very same prison that is featured in The Death Row Complex.

I saw this story on Mysteries at the Museum and had to Google it to find out more.

The story revolves around Dr. Leo Stanley, San Quentin's chief surgeon in the early 20th century. Stanley had a fascination with the elusive formula for the fountain of youth, and he happened to be practicing medicine at the same time when the field of endocrinology (the study of hormones and their functions) was in its infancy.

Stanley hypothesized that old men could be made young again through testicular transplants, and he was in the perfect place to test his hypothesis. He was working in an environment with active execution facilities, and the majority of those executed were young, healthy men. Stanley began grafting the testicles of healthy young men who had been executed onto elderly inmates… and it worked. The elderly men reported feelings of rejuvenation and it appeared that Stanley had turned back the clock. The jig was up when a family excavated their deceased loved one and found out that his testicles had been removed without their permission.

During his tenure at San Quentin, Stanley also experimented with eugenics and forced sterilization of prisoners.