Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal
| Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Kelly Duda |
| Produced by | Kelly Duda |
| Starring | Edwin Barron Jr. John Byus Kelly Duda Hezile Earl Francis ′Bud′ Henderson Rolf Kaestel Mark Kennedy James Kreppner Jim Lovel Randal Morgan John Schock |
| Narrated by | Kelly Duda |
| Cinematography | Kelly Duda, Clinton Steeds, Jon Ruffiner |
| Edited by | Kelly Duda |
| Music by | Nick Devlin The Salty Dogs |
| Distributed by | Concrete Films USA |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal is a feature-length documentary by Arkansas filmmaker and investigative journalist, Kelly Duda, released in 2005. Through interviews and the presentation of documents and footage, Duda alleged that in the 1970s and 1980s, the Arkansas prison system profited from selling blood plasma from inmates infected with viral hepatitis and HIV. The documentary contends that thousands of victims who received transfusions of blood products derived from these plasma products, Factor VIII, died as a result.[1]
Summary
[edit]Factor 8 examines a prison blood-harvesting scheme run by Arkansas prisons for profit. The blood was sold by blood companies for millions of dollars. The harvested plasma was then shipped around the world, where it infected haemophilia patients.[2][3] This is shown with interviews of former prisoners and employees and the presentation of documents and footage. The film demonstrates how leaders in the prison system falsified prisoners’ medical records, and nothing was done even though needles were shared by the prisoners. A deputy director of the department of corrections from 1981 to 1996 is quoted as saying that Bill Clinton must have known that the plasma programme was experiencing problems.[4]
Release
[edit]Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal was screened at Slamdance 2005 and at the American Film Institute′s Los Angeles Film Festival in November 2005.[4] It won a special mention award at AFI and received a commendable review from critic John Anderson in the industry newspaper Variety.[5]
A screening of the film was held in Soho, London on May 5, 2006. On May 9, 2006, AIDS victims demonstrated against former US president Bill Clinton, who had been Governor of Arkansas when the blood factor sales had taken place, during his visit to Glasgow.[6] The British premiere of Factor 8 was held on September 29, 2006, as part of the 14th Raindance Film Festival in Piccadilly Circus, London.[7]
Reception and impact
[edit]Prison Legal News called it a "straight-for-the-throat film".[8] Variety called Factor 8 "hard-headed journalism practiced by a filmmaker who sometimes seems like a pit bull with a bureaucratic bone. He follows subjects fearlessly and ventures into hostile environs but comes away, most of the time, with the information he wants to get."[9]
An assistant warden at the Cummins Unit, who talked to Canadian reporters about the blood program was later shot by an "escaped" prisoner.[8]
After Cummins Unit prisoner Rolf Kaestel had given testimony in Duda’s documentary, state corrections officials relocated him to Utah. Duda alleged that this was in retribution for his comments, calling Kaestel a, "political prisoner",[10] and an Arkansas Assistant Attorney General admitted this was in retaliation.[8] Kaestel was paroled in 2021 after serving 40 years of his life imprisonment without parole sentence for robbing a taco hut with a water pistol of $264 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 1981.[11][12] The victim, Dennis Schluterman, who was not harmed in the crime, had said for years that Kaestel should be freed. Kaestel also had a contingent of high profile supporters that includes actress and MeToo activist Rose McGowan, CNN commentator Van Jones, music executive Jason Flom, and GOP fundraiser Jack Oliver.[10]
On November 3, 2005, Carolyn Leckie, Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP), submitted a motion recognizing the need for a wide audience for Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal, which 22 MSPs signed. The motion also called for a full independent public inquiry into what led to the infections and what the response should be.[13] In May 2007, they announced an impending inquiry into tainted blood.[14]
On July 11, 2007, Duda testified at the Lord Archer Inquiry on Contaminated Blood in Westminster, United Kingdom.[15] Duda spoke on the United States' (and Arkansas's) role in the events.[citation needed][16][failed verification]
Infected Blood Inquiry
[edit]On July 11, 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May ordered another inquiry in the UK into how contaminated blood in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in the deaths of at least 2,400 people and infected thousands more.[17] As of 2018, in the UK alone 4,689 haemophiliacs became infected with hepatitis C and HIV after they were treated with contaminated blood products supplied by the NHS in the 1970s and 80s, and 2,883 died.[18]
See also
[edit]- Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale
- Contaminated haemophilia blood products
- Health Management Associates (Arkansas company)
- Royal Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada
- Tainted blood scandal (United Kingdom)
References
[edit]- ^ Herron Zamora, Jim (3 June 2003). "Bad blood between hemophiliacs, Bayer: Patients sue over tainted transfusions spreading HIV, hep C". San Francisco Chronicle. USA. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
A San Francisco attorney filed a class–action lawsuit Monday on behalf of thousands of hemophiliacs who claim that Bayer Corp. and several other companies knowingly sold blood products contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C.
- ^ "Blood money". Salon.com. 1998-12-24. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
Administrators then sold the blood to brokers, who in turn shipped it to other states, and to Japan, Italy, Spain and Canada.
- ^ Elizabeth J. Cabraser (28 August 2003). First Amended Class Action Complaint for Damages and Injunction Relief (Report). Lieff Cabraser. p. 2. CASE No. C 03–2572 PJH. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
Plaintiffs′ claims arise out of the most egregious misconduct in the history of the pharmaceutical industry, which resulted in the killing of thousands of hemophiliacs worldwide, with a continuing death rate of hundreds of victims per year.
- ^ a b McDougall, Liam (30 October 2005). "Scandal of infected US blood revealed in film exposé". Sunday Herald. Scotland. Archived from the original on 10 August 2006. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
The documentary also reveals for the first time how senior figures in the prison system doctored prisoners′ medical records to make it look like they were not carrying the deadly diseases. Even after it was known there was a problem, the film reveals, blood products were allowed to be supplied to Europe, including to the UK, where thousands of patients were infected with HIV and the potentially fatal liver virus, hepatitis.
- ^ "Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal". 15 November 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-05-12. Retrieved 2006-09-17.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Clinton warning on global warming". BBC News Channel. Glasgow. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
Mr Clinton′s visit provoked protests from some groups. Andy Gunn, who contracted HIV and hepatitis from infected blood products, said that while Mr Clinton was governor of Arkansas, contaminated blood from prisons was exported to other countries.
- ^ "Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal". Raindance.co.uk. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
- ^ a b c "Factor 8: the Arkansas Prison Blood Mining Scandal Movie review and Director Interview". Prison Legal News. March 2008. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
- ^ "Factor 8: the Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal". Variety. November 2005. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
- ^ a b "He Robbed a Taco Joint With a Toy Water Gun for $264. He Got Life in Prison - Kate Briquelet". The Daily Beast. 31 May 2021.
- ^ "Victim pleads for Rolf Kaestel - Mara Leveritt". 30 October 2014.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Briquelet, Kate (2023-02-08). "Man Who Got Life for Toy Gun Robbery Will Finally Walk Free Next Month". The Daily Beast.
- ^ "Haemophilia Blood Product Disaster". Scottish Parliament. 3 November 2005. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
- ^ Lord Mackay of Drumadoon (5 February 2008). Opinion of Lord Mackay of Drumadoon (Report). Scottish Courts and Tribunals. p. 13.
It is clear that the Scottish Government, which assumed office in May 2007, has given a commitment to hold a public enquiry to ″find out why people were infected with Hepatitis C through NHS treatment″.
- ^ Hilderbrandt, William (16 July 2007). "Tainted blood: Infected blood, the American filmmaker, and allegations of a government cover-up". The New Statesman. London. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
By the time he was done testifying to Lord Archer of Sandwell′s Inquiry, those in the audience who weren′t familiar with his work had been swayed that the scandal was even worse than they realised – an idea that seemed impossible only one hour earlier.
- ^ "Haemophilia grant protest at Lords". Channel 4. 2008-10-09. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
- ^ "U.K. Orders New Inquiry Into Contaminated-Blood Scandal". New York Times. 2017-07-11.
- ^ Hattenstone, Simon (3 March 2018). "Britain's contaminated blood scandal: ′I need them to admit they killed our son′". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
In the 1970s and 80s, 4,689 haemophiliacs became infected with hepatitis C and HIV after they were treated with contaminated blood products supplied by the NHS. Of those infected, 2,883 have since died.