Prison blood flowed to Canada, despite problems
"The lucrative blood centre at Grady, Ark., was originally run by a company called Health Management Associates, but many operations were run by prisoners themselves, according to Duda's 90-minute documentary."Prisoners drew blood and collected bribes from fellow inmates for the privilege of "bleeding," according to inmates interviewed for the documentary. Prisoners were eager to donate blood because they were paid for doing so.
"The documentary also says at least 38 blood donors at the facility were infected with hepatitis B, rather than four as reported by the Krever inquiry on Canada's tainted-blood scandal. Hepatitis B was later determined to be a strong indicator of HIV infection.
"'It was far worse than anyone knew up there (in Canada), as far as the quality of the blood was concerned,' Duda said in a phone interview."