The Concord Prison Experiment, conducted from 1961 to 1963, was designed to evaluate whether the experiences produced by the psychoactive drug

psilocybin Psilocybin ( , ) is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungi. The most potent are members of the genus ''Psilocybe'', such as '' P. azurescens'', '' P. semilanceata'', and '' P.&nbs ...

, derived from

psilocybin mushrooms Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms, are a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain psilocybin which turns into psilocin upon ingestion. Biological genera containing psilocybin mushrooms include ''Psilocybe'', ''Pan ...

, combined with

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

, could inspire prisoners to leave their

antisocial Antisocial may refer to: Sociology, psychiatry and psychology *Anti-social behaviour *Antisocial personality disorder *Psychopathy *Conduct disorder Law *Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 *Anti-Social Behaviour Order *Crime and Disorder Act 1998 * ...

lifestyles behind once they were released. How well it worked was to be judged by comparing the

recidivism Recidivism (; from ''recidive'' and ''ism'', from Latin ''recidīvus'' "recurring", from ''re-'' "back" and ''cadō'' "I fall") is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of th ...

rate of subjects who received psilocybin with the average for other Concord inmates.

Staff

The experiment was conducted between February 1961 and January 1963 in Concord State Prison, a

maximum-security prison Maximum security prisons and supermax prisons are grades of high security level used by prison systems in various countries, which pose a higher level of security to prevent prisoners from escaping and/or doing harm to other inmates or security guar ...

for young offenders, in

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...

by a team of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

researchers. The team were under the direction of

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

and included

Michael Hollingshead Michael Hollingshead (?–1984?) was a British researcher who studied psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin and LSD, at Harvard University in the mid-20th century. He was the father of comedian Vanessa Hollingshead. He evangelized the use of LS ...

, Allan Cohen, Alfred Alschuder, George Litwin,

Ralph Metzner Ralph Metzner (May 18, 1936 – March 14, 2019) was a German-born American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later named ...

, Gunther Weil, and Ralph Schwitzgebel, with Madison Presnell as the medical and psychiatric adviser. The original study involved the administration of

manufactured by

Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

to assist

group psychotherapy Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, ...

for 32 prisoners in an effort to reduce

rates. The researchers would administer psilocybin to themselves along with the prisoners, on the grounds of " reatinga sense of equality and shared experience, and to dispel the fear that often accompanies relationships between xperimentersand ubjects.

Results

Records at Concord State Prison suggested that 64 percent of the 32 subjects would return to prison within six months of

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

. However, after six months, only 25 percent of those on parole had returned, six for technical parole violations and two for new offenses. Few short-term projects with prisoners have been effective to even a minor degree. In addition, a selection of

personality tests A personality test is a method of assessing human personality constructs. Most personality assessment instruments (despite being loosely referred to as "personality tests") are in fact introspective (i.e., subjective) self-report questionnaire ( ...

were administered to the prisoners both before and after the psilocybin experiences, consisting of the

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a standardized psychometric test of adult personality and psychopathology. Psychologists and other mental health professionals use various versions of the MMPI to help develop treatment ...

, the

California Psychological Inventory The California Psychological Inventory (CPI) is a self-report inventory created by Harrison G. Gough and currently published by Consulting Psychologists Press. The text containing the test was first published in 1956, and the most recent revision w ...

, the Maher Sentence Completion Test (designed to measure cynicism in prisoners), and a

Thematic Apperception Test Thematic apperception test (TAT) is a projective psychological test developed during the 1930s by Henry A. Murray and Christiana D. Morgan at Harvard University. Proponents of the technique assert that subjects' responses, in the narratives they ...

(constructed to measure motives). The personality test scores indicated a measurable positive change when pre-psilocybin and post-psilocybin results were compared.

Follow-up study

The results of this experiment have been largely contested by a follow-up study, citing several problems including differences in the length of time after release that the study group versus the control group were compared, and other methodology factors including the difference between subjects re-incarcerated for parole violations versus imprisoned for new crimes. This study concluded that only a statistically slight improvement could be shown (as opposed to the radical improvement originally reported). In his interview within the study, Leary expressed that the major lesson of the Concord Prison experiment was that the key to a long-term reduction in overall recidivism rates might be the combination of the pre-release administration of psilocybin-assisted group psychotherapy with a comprehensive post-release follow-up program modeled on

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

groups to offer support to the released prisoners. The study concluded that whether a new program of psilocybin-assisted group psychotherapy and post-release programs would significantly reduce recidivism rates is an empirical question that deserves to be addressed within the context of a new experiment.

Related research

A study by led by Dr. Peter Hendricks at the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

collected data on 25,622 individuals under community corrections supervision in Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities and found that hallucinogen use predicted a reduced likelihood to fail the TASC program. Results suggested that hallucinogens may promote alcohol and other drug abstinence and prosocial behavior in a population with high rates of recidivism.Hallucinogen use predicts reduced recidivism among substance-involved offenders under community corrections supervision
J Psychopharmacol January 2014 vol. 28 no. 1 62-66.

References

External links

Metzner, Ralph ''Reflections on the Concord Prison Experiment and the Follow-Up Study''

{{Timothy Leary Clinical trials History of Harvard University Timothy Leary Medical experimentation on prisoners Psychedelic drug research Psychology experiments 1960 in Massachusetts 1961 in Massachusetts 1962 in Massachusetts 1963 in Massachusetts Prison Experiment History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts