Working for the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS), Cutler infects incarcerated men with syphilis at Sing Sing prison in New York in an attempt to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. Syphilis causes significant health problems if left untreated.

Cutler spends two decades leading research projects that objectify and abuse incarcerated people. These projects include his prior syphilis study in Guatemala and his later involvement in the Tuskegee Study in the 1960s.