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Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal is a feature-length documentary by Arkansas filmmaker and investigative journalist Kelly Duda. Through interviews and presentation of documents and footage, Duda alleges that for more than two decades, spanning 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 a blood product derived from these plasma products, Factor VIII, died as a result.[1][2]

Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal
Title screen image to the documentary, 'Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal'
Title screen image to the documentary, 'Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal'
Directed byKelly Duda
Produced byKelly Duda
StarringEdwin Barron Jr.
John Byus
Kelly Duda
Hezile Earl
Francis ′Bud′ Henderson
Rolf Kaestel
Mark Kennedy
James Kreppner
Jim Lovel
Randal Morgan
John Schock
Narrated byKelly Duda
CinematographyKelly Duda, Clinton Steeds, Jon Ruffiner
Edited byKelly Duda
Music byNick Devlin
The Salty Dogs
Distributed byConcrete Films USA
Release date
2005
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States of America
LanguageEnglish

Factor 8 uses in-depth interviews and key documents as well as never-before-seen footage, to allege wrongdoing at the Arkansas state government, and at the United States federal level.[3]

Factor 8 examines a prison blood-harvesting scheme run by prisoners to earn them an income; the blood was then sold by blood companies for millions of dollars. The harvested plasma was then shipped around the world,[4] where it has been reported to have infected thousands of haemophilia patients.[5] Haemophilia is a genetic condition which means that the person′s blood does not form clots.

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.[3] It won a special mention award at AFI and received a commendable review from critic John Anderson in the industry newspaper Variety.[6]

After Cummins prisoner Rolf Kaestel became a key whistleblower in Duda’s documentary, state corrections officials abruptly whisked him off to Utah, where he’s been incarcerated ever since. “It is my firm belief that Rolf Kaestel became a political prisoner and was ‘disappeared’ for speaking out,” Duda told The Daily Beast.[7]

As of 2021, Kaestel had served 40 years of his life imprisonment without parole sentence for robbing a taco hut with a water pistol of $264 in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, in 1981.[8] The victim, Dennis Schluterman, who was not harmed in the crime, has said for years that Kaestel should be freed. Kaestel also has 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. “There’s something fundamental to our justice system: the punishment should match the crime,” Duda said. “In this case, it makes absolutely no sense why he’s still there.”[9][7]



In the United States, lawyers have won settlements for 8,000 US haemophilia sufferers after they were given infected blood.[10]

In 2002 the UK Government promised an inquiry if it was proven infected blood came from a US prison, although to date no inquiry has taken place. The UK Public Health Minister, Caroline Flint, has said: "We are aware that during the 1970s and 80s blood products were sourced from US prisoners" and the UK Haemophilia Society has called for a Public Inquiry. The UK Government maintains that the Government of the day had acted in good faith and without the blood products many patients would have died.[11] In a letter to Lord Jenkin of Roding the Chief Executive of the National Health Service (NHS) informed Lord Jenkin that most files on contaminated NHS blood products which infected people with HIV and hepatitis C had been destroyed "in error".[12] However, copies that were taken by legal entities in the UK at the time of previous litigation may mean the documentation can be retrieved and consequently assessed.[13]

On November 3, 2005, Carolyn Leckie, Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP), tabled a motion highlighting the need for a wide audience for Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal, in the light of the destruction of key documents. 22 MSPs signed the motion. Citing the documentary, the motion also called for a full independent public inquiry "to get to the truth of the circumstances that have caused horrendous levels of infection from blood products in the haemophiliac population."[14]

In Canada, the federal government approved in July, 2006 a $1 billion compensation package for the so-called "forgotten victims" of tainted blood. [15][16] Prior to this, the Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to distributing tainted blood products and infecting Canadians with HIV and hepatitis C.[17][18][19] The Royal Canadian Mounted Police blood task force has an ongoing investigation into the Arkansas sells.[20]

In Japan tainted blood victims won two class-action lawsuits in 2006 against two Japanese pharmaceutical companies and the Japanese government. Japan also used blood harvested from the Arkansas Department of Correction. On March 23, 2007, the Tokyo District Court became the third court to rule in favor of more Hep-C suffering tainted blood victims, awarding the plaintiffs 259 million yen. A fourth lawsuit victory for victims led to a compensation package by the federal government for hundreds of victims and a formal apology from Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in December, 2007.[21]


International exposure


A special 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's (he was Governor of Arkansas during much of the period in which the blood factor sales had taken place) visit to Glasgow where he gave a speech about global politics.[22] The British premiere of Factor 8 was held on September 29, 2006, as part of the 14th Raindance Film Festival in Piccadilly Circus, London.[23]

In April 2007, the United Kingdom began a highly publicized public inquiry into contaminated blood, garnering significant media coverage.[24] In May, Scotland announced an impending inquiry of its own into tainted blood.[25]

On July 11, 2007, Duda testified at the Lord Archer Inquiry on Contaminated Blood in Westminster, United Kingdom.[26] The inquiry's aim was to uncover the British government's part in a scandal that led to thousands of infections and deaths. Duda gave evidence as to the United States' (and Arkansas's) role in the tragedy in what Lord Robert Winston has dubbed as "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the National Health Service".[27]

On July 11. 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May ordered an 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, an episode that members of Parliament have called “one of the worst peacetime disasters in Britain’s history.”[28]


See also



References


  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. "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.
  5. 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.
  6. "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)
  7. "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.
  8. "Victim pleads for Rolf Kaestel - Mara Leveritt". 30 October 2014.
  9. Frazier, Colby (27 August 2014). "Invisible Man". Salt Lake City Weekly.
  10. Shaw, Donna (15 August 1996). "Judge OKs $640 Million Pact For HIV–Infected Hemophiliacs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, USA. Retrieved 2020-04-14. The four clotting–drug manufacturers estimate that 5,000 to 8,000 people will apply for the settlement. Of the $640 million total, $600 million is for the hemophiliacs and $40 million is set aside to pay their attorneys.
  11. Martin, Nicole (18 April 2007). "Government knew of Factor 8 dangers". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2020-04-13. The Government of the day acted in good faith, relying on the information available at the time.
  12. Lord Warner, The Minister of State, Department of Health (20 December 2005). "NHS Blood Products: Inquiries". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Lords. col. WA261. However, we acknowledged early on in Lord Jenkin′s enquiries that a number of papers from the 1970s and 1980s have been destroyed in error.
  13. "Files on infected blood destroyed". BBC News Channel. Scotland. 13 January 2006. Retrieved 2020-04-13. ″The information released in December by the executive will contain some copies of papers which will have been in the files destroyed by the Department of Health, and DoH is aware of this,″ said an executive spokesman.
  14. "Haemophilia Blood Product Disaster". Scottish Parliament. 3 November 2005. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  15. "Blood money". Salon.com. 1998-12-24. Retrieved 2020-04-15. Last week the Canadian government established a $1.1 billion (Canadian) fund to compensate some hepatitis C victims, but advocates say the fund won′t be enough.
  16. "In depth: Tainted blood scandal". CBC News Online. Canada. 30 May 2005. Archived from the original on 13 January 2006. Retrieved 2020-04-14. The federal and provincial governments were releasing details of a $1.1–billion package to compensate people who had contracted hepatitis C from transfusions of tainted blood.
  17. Kilpatrick, Ken; Freeze, Colin (31 May 2005). "Red Cross pleads guilty, offers apology in blood scandal". The Globe and Mail. Canada. Retrieved 2020-04-14. The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty yesterday to a single charge arising from the tainted–blood scandal and publicly accepted responsibility for the disaster that left thousands of people infected with HIV and hepatitis C, saying it ″is deeply sorry for the injury and death caused to those who were infected by blood or blood products it distributed″ in the 1980s and early 1990s.
  18. "Aids scandals around the world". BBC News. 2001-08-09. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  19. André Picard (1995). The gift of death: confronting Canada′s tainted-blood tragedy. Toronto: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-255415-1.
  20. Dobbin, Murray (2003). Paul Martin: CEO for Canada?. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company. pp. 27, 31, 34. ISBN 9781550287998. Working from the findings of the Krever Inquiry, the RCMP created a special unit, the Blood Task Firce, and launched its own five–year investigation. This investigation has so far resulted in thirty–two criminal charges, with the possibility of more in the future.
  21. Fujioka, Chisa (25 December 2007). "Japan PM apologizes to hepatitis patients". Reuters. Tokyo. Retrieved 2020-04-15. Japan′s prime minister met and apologized on Tuesday to hepatitis patients at the centre of a high–profile scandal over tainted blood products as he tried to quell a row that risks further eroding his support ratings.
  22. "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.
  23. "Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal". Raindance.co.uk. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  24. "Contaminated blood inquiry begins". BBC News. London. 18 April 2007. Retrieved 2020-04-13. An independent public inquiry into the supply of contaminated NHS blood to haemophilia patients is set to hear evidence from those affected.
  25. 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″.
  26. 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.
  27. "Haemophilia grant protest at Lords". Channel 4. 2008-10-09. Archived from the original on 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
  28. "U.K. Orders New Inquiry Into Contaminated-Blood Scandal". New York Times. 2017-07-11.




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