Psychedelic Drugs in Correctional Treatment
Crime & Delinquency – July 01, 1972
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Early **psychedelics and drug studies** revealed intriguing potential for **psychotherapy techniques and applications** in **prison** settings. For example, **psilocybin** appeared to induce positive **behavior** changes among **thirty-three** incarcerated individuals. Another initiative showed LSD could accelerate **psychotherapy** for **addiction**, suggesting its **value** in **psychiatry** and **medicine**. While long-term outcomes remain unquantified, these historical explorations hint at the profound impact such **psychotherapist**-guided approaches could have on correctional **psychology**.
Abstract
Psychedelic drugs have been used for individual psychotherapy in prison settings. This paper outlines two studies that explore the use of psychedelic drugs in correction. In 1961 Timothy Leary and Walter Houston Clark administered psilocybin to thirty-three prisoners at the Massachusetts Correctional Insti tution. This program seemed to have positive effects on the inmate-subjects. William H. Lyle gave doses of LSD to inmate- addicts from the Clinical Research Center in Lexington, Ky. Lyle's treatment indicates that LSD can accelerate certain forms of psychotherapy. Since long-term follow-ups were not made on either study, their full value cannot be determined. However, these two programs do indicate that further research should be conducted on the use of psychedelic drugs in the correctional setting.