A year after I added “The Stanford Prison Experiment” to my To-Watch list, I had the opportunity to see it. The tag line for the film is intriguing.

THEY WERE GIVEN 2 WEEKS. IT LASTED 6 DAYS.

The 2015 film is based on a psychological study conducted in August of 1971 by Dr. Philip Zimbardo, a Stanford University professor. Dr. Zimbardo recruited male volunteers who would be paid $15 a day for an experiment that was expected to last up to two weeks. After testing and questioning the applicants, a set of volunteers was selected. Volunteers were given conduct guidelines and contracts to sign. A coin toss decided which volunteers would be guards and which would be prisoners. Zimbardo and fellow researchers were to serve as warden of the prison. He and his research team transformed the basement of a campus building into The Stanford County Jail. Cameras and microphones were set up to provide the opportunity to observe the experiment.

At the start of the study the volunteers assigned to be guards arrived at the prison and were given uniforms which included mirrored sunglasses intended to limit social intimacy between guards and prisoners. As guards, they would work in shifts and be allowed time off. Volunteers assigned the role of prisoners were rounded up from their homes and taken to the jail in police cars. Upon arrival the inmates were told to strip, and after a delousing, given only a dress displaying their assigned number and a hosiery cap to be worn at all times. Unlike the guards, the prisoners were to be allowed no time off. Continue Reading