A clipping from the newspaper that the ad for this study was placed in.
An ad was in the newspaper for male college students needed to participate in a psychological study on prison life. In response to this ad, over seventy applicants answered and were given interviews and personality tests to eliminate those with medical disabilities, psychological problems, or a crime history. After, they were left with twenty four college students from the U.S. and Canada who happened to be in the Stanford area. The approved applicants then went on to be randomly picked as the role of a guard or a prisoner.
The arrest of one of the study's participants.
It was a calm Sunday morning in August when the arrests began to happen. A police car drove through town, picking up college students as part of a mass arrest for burglary and armed robbery. The students were picked up at their home, charged, searched, and handcuffed before being driven to the police station, where they were brought in, booked, read their Miranda rights, and made a complete identification of. After, they were made to wait in a holding cell blindfolded for as long as two hours.
Two prisoners on their cots in their assigned cell.
The prisoners were brought to the prison, beginning with a strip search. Then they were sprayed for germs and lice. They were then given a uniform, which was a dress, or smock, with no underclothes on. On their smock was their prison ID number, and on their right ankle was a heavy chain that was worn at all times. In order to minimalize individuality, prisoners either had their head shaved or were given a stocking cap. The setting of the prison was constructed in the basement of Stanford's Psychology Department building. The cells were small, only big enough for three cots. The corridor was known as "The Yard", which was the only place prisoners were really allowed to walk around, eat, and exercise.