Das Experiment 2
36 hours into the experiment one of the prisoners became uncontrollably upset. He cried all the time, suffered from disorganized thinking and rage. The prison consultant interviewed him, decided he was just trying to “con” them into an early release and told him he was weak, should expect punishment for this and was sent back. Upon his return to the cell he informed the others that there was no way out and panic arose. After that the upset prisoner began to continue with his crying, cursing and out of control rage. A while later he was removed from the experiment.
Vistors' Day
The next day a visiting hour was set aside for family and friends. To make sure no one removed their loved ones from the dingy jail – the entire place was cleaned, including the prisoners. They were fed a large meal while music was played for them over the intercom system. Guests were welcomed by an attractive secretary and were made to sit for a half hour before the prisoners arrived. Then there was only a short period for conversation with a guard present. Some felt their sons looked fatigued but this was reversed by pointing out to them that they might have a weak son spurring the family to refute the accusation and state that their son was strong and could handle anything. All the families were successfully controlled and convinced all was okay. The prisoners were returned to their cells.
Planned Escape
The guards overheard a prisoner discussing an escape the next day – where the released prisoner would collect his friends – break in and release all of them. A plan was made to dismantled the jail and take out the prisoners. Chain together all the prisoners and cover their heads – bring them up to a storage room and keep them there until the attempted break in was over. When the “friends” showed up there would be only one guard present and he would show them the area where the cells were and tell them the experiment was over. When they left the prisoners would be brought back down and security would be doubled.
When time came for the break in – it turned out just to be a rumor. The prisoners were moved back in and the prison was re installed. The prisoners were harassed to a new extreme by the guards for having to have gone through all this work to foil a false rumor.
Mind Games
By now the prisoners and guards were playing out their roles with a newfound ease. A Catholic Priest who had been a prison chaplain to evaluate how realistic the whole situation was. He met with the prisoners and eventually asked them what they were going to do when they go out. Amazingly enough none of them had an answer. It had not occurred to them as an option. He informed them that the only was out is with a lawyer and offered to contact their families for them. Most of the prisoners took him up on the offer. The priest's visit further blurred the line between role-playing and reality.
The next day all the prisoners who thought they were candidates for parole went before the “Parole Board.” The board asked them if they would forfeit the money they had eared up to that point if they could leave - most said yes. They did not question who had authority to do such a thing. They just complied.
Too Far?
Four prisoners reacted by breaking down. One prisoner developed a psychosomatic rash (physical symptoms caused by emotions or stress) over his entire body when he learned that his parole request had been turned down. Others tried to cope by being good prisoners, doing what the guards asked. By the end, the prisoners were disintegrated, both as a group and as individuals. There was no longer anygroup unity; just a bunch of isolated individuals.
On the fifth night, some visiting parents asked to contact a lawyer in order to get their son out of prison. They said a Catholic priest had called to tell them they should get a lawyer or public defender if they wanted to bail their son out! A lawyer was called in. He knew it was just an experiment and had a set of routeen questions for each prisoner.
By now it was obvious to the experiment leader that the study had to be ended. An overwhelming situation had been created. The prisoners were withdrawing and behaving in pathological ways, and some of the guards were reaching sadistic extremes. Even “good” guards felt powerless to intervene or quit.
Unlike the film no one died in the actual Stanford Prison Experiment. Regardless quite a few scenes in the movie actually happened in the original experiment, including the early fire extinguisher scene and the prisoners being forced to clean the toilets by their bare hands.
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