Barrow, Barbara White, Conrad Chorover, Stephan L Rodman, Edward Coles, Arnold Clapp, Richard Nicholas, Huntley, Jr

Description

Program focuses on the surgical and psychotropic research being proposed (and in some cases, implemented) to curb violent tendencies via the testing of prison inmates. Host Topper Carew speaks with inmates of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk and two groups of professionals in two separate interviews: the first with Rev. Edward Rodman (of the Episcopal Diocese of Boston) and Professor Stephan L. Chorover (of the MIT Psychology Department) to discuss "psychosurgery"; the second with Arnold Coles (Chairman of the National Prisoners Reform Association) and Richard Clapp (formerly with the Prison Health Project) to discuss drug experimentation. Discussion topics included reactions to the theory of dysfunction in the brain as a source of violent behavior, whether surgery is necessary to remedy behavior, what the political implications of surgery are, what diseases "pyschosurgery" is justified for, what the ethics of "psychosurgery" are, and how drug companies end up doing much of their experimentation in prisons. This program examines the ways in which psychology and the carceral system have been complicit in the oppression of African Americans. It investigates the use of psychosurgery as a method of social control, the practice of pharmaceutical testing on prisoners, and the ways in which prisoners are allowed to languish in prisons without access to rehabilitation or education. The program alternates interviews with community leaders and experts on public health with interviews with prisoners about their experiences.

Record Contributed By

WGBH

Record Harvested From

Digital Commonwealth