boogie , n.³ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

boogie n.³

[SE bougie, ‘a thin flexible surgical instrument made of waxed linen, india-rubber, metal, etc., for introduction into the passages of the body, for the purpose of exploration, dilatation, or medication’ (OED); see cite 1931;the tool was used for STDs although the notorious Tuskegee experiments (clandestinely inducing African-American prisoners with syphilis) did not start until 1932]

syphilis.

1960, 1975

Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

In compounds

boogie house (n.) [the prevalence of syphilis]

1. (US prison, also boogie) the prison hospital .

1926		J. Tully Jarnegan (1928) 31: The ‘big house’ was the penitentiary itself. The hospital was the ‘boogie’.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 34: Boogie. – [...] a prison hospital ; in this sense the word arises from the fact that many of the men who require treatment are suffering from a disease which renders the use of a bougie necessary.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

boogie n.3

In compounds

boogie n.³