Reflections on the Concord Prison Project and the follow-up study
Metzner, R.
This commentary (1998) by Ralph Metzner reflects on the Harvard Psilocybin Project and the Concord Prison Experiment, concluding that the original positive findings regarding reduced recidivism were likely erroneous and no better than chance. He suggests that while psychedelics can induce insight, lasting behavioural change requires sustained rehabilitation and support.
Abstract
From the second paragraph of the paper: It is disconcerting, of course, to discover 35 years after the fact that a research project I was involved in and wrote about made quantitative errors and reported erroneous conclusions. As I read Rick Doblin's findings, and re-read our original papers, it did give me occasion to reflect on that period, and what was called the Harvard Psilocybin project-and to come to the depressing conclusion that none of it did any better than chance (as far as one could tell from the tests).