Dr. Leary's Concord Prison Experiment: A 34-Year Follow-up Study

Introduction

Earlier research on psychedelic-assisted interventions in forensic settings included small studies of LSD and psilocybin that reported promising changes in symptoms, behaviour and personality, but these studies generally did not focus on recidivism (defined here as return to prison post-release for parole violations or new crimes). The Concord Prison Experiment (1961–1963), directed by Timothy Leary and reported in several papers and books, tested psilocybin-assisted group psychotherapy with the explicit aim of reducing recidivism among inmates approaching parole. Initial reports from the project claimed substantial short-term reductions in recidivism, though later reporting from the project included follow-up data that did not show an overall reduction at longer timepoints. This paper by R. (Doblin) is a long-term follow-up and reanalysis of the Concord Prison Experiment. The follow-up sought to reassess the original claims about reduced recidivism by searching state and federal criminal justice records for as many of the original subjects as could be located, to re-evaluate how recidivism was counted in the original reports, and to interview any located subjects and surviving investigators to gather qualitative perspectives on long-term outcomes and on aspects of the original intervention that might explain results or inform future work. The stated aim was to determine whether the originally reported treatment effect was supported by the archival records and to examine longer-term criminal histories over a 34-year period.