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The Lucifer Effect
senseless stupidity of this chore. But that is exactly the point. Senseless, mindless
arbitrary tasks are the necessary components of guard power. The guards want to
punish the rebels and also to induce unquestioning conformity. After initially re-
fusing, 5704 reconsiders when he thinks it will get him on the good side of Guard
Ceros and gain him a cigarette, so he starts picking and picking out the hundreds
of stickers in his blanket. The chore was all about order, control, and power—who
had it and who wanted it.
Guard Ceros asks, "Nothing but the best in this prison, wouldn't you all
agree?"
Prisoners mutter various sounds of approval.
"Really fine, Mr. Correctional Officer," replies someone in Cell 3.
Nevertheless, 8612, just released from solitary back to Cell 2, has a some-
what different answer: "Oh, fuck you, Mr. Correctional Officer." 8612 is ordered to
shut his filthy mouth.
I realize that this is the first obscenity that has been uttered in this setting. I
had expected the guards to curse a lot as part of establishing the macho role, but
they have not yet done so. However, Doug-8612 does not hesitate to fling obscen-
ities around.
Guard Ceros: "It was weird to be in command. I felt like shouting that every-
one was the same. Instead, I made prisoners shout at each other, 'You guys are a
bunch of assholes!' I was in disbelief when they recited it over and over upon my
command."
4
Vandy added, "I found myself taking on the guard role. I didn't apologize for
it; in fact, I became quite a bit bossier. The prisoners were getting quite rebellious,
and I wanted to punish them for breaking up our system."
5
The next sign of rebellion comes from a small group of prisoners, Stew-819
and Paul-5704, and, for the first time, 7258, the previously docile Hubbie. Tear-
ing the ID numbers from the front of their uniforms, they protest loudly against
the unacceptable living conditions. The guards immediately retaliate by stripping
each of them stark naked until their numbers are replaced. The guards retreat to
their quarters with an uneasy sense of superiority, but an eerie silence falls over
the Yard as they eagerly await the end of their much too long first shift on this job.
Welcome to the Rebellion, Day Shift
When the day shift arrives and suits up before their 10 A.M. duty, they discover
that all is not as under control as it was when they left yesterday. The prisoners in
Cell 1 have barricaded themselves in. They refuse to come out. Guard Arnett im-
mediately takes over and requests the morning shift to stay on until this matter is
resolved. His tone implies that they are somehow responsible for letting things get
out of hand.
The ringleader of the revolt is Paul-5704, who got his buddies in Cell 1,
Hubbie-7258 and Glenn-3401, to agree that it was time to react against the vio-
lation of the original contract they made with the authorities (me). They push
Monday's Prisoner Rebellion
6]
their beds against the cell door, cover the door opening with blankets, and shut off
the lights. Unable to push the door open, the guards vent their anger on Cell 2,
which is filled with the usual top-of-the-line troublemakers, Doug-8612, Stew-819,
veterans of the Hole, and Rich-1037. In a surprise counterattack, the guards
rush in, grab the three cots and haul them out into the yard, while 8612 struggles
furiously to resist. There are pushing and shoving and shouting all around that
cell, spilling out into the Yard.
"Up against the wall!"
"Give me the handcuffs!"
"Get everything, take everything!"
819 screams wildly, "No, no, no! This is an experiment! Leave me alone! Shit,
let go of me, fucker! You're not going to take our fucking beds!"
8612: "A fucking simulation. It's a fucking simulated experiment. It's no
prison. And fuck Dr. Zimbargo!"
Arnett, in a remarkably calm voice, intones, "When the prisoners in Cell 1
start behaving properly, your beds will be returned. You can use whatever influ-
ence you can on them to make them behave properly."
A calmer-sounding prisoner's voice importunes the guards, "These are our
beds. You should not take them away."
In utter bewilderment, the naked prisoner 8612 says in a plaintive voice,
"They took our clothes, and they took our beds! This is unbelievable! They took
our clothes, and they took our beds." He adds, "They don't do that in real prisons."
Curiously, another prisoner calls back, "They do."
6
The guards burst into laughter. 8612 thrusts his hands between the cell door
bars, open palms facing upward, in a pleading gesture, an unbelieving expression
on his face and a new, strange tone to his voice. Guard J. Landry tells him to get his
hands off the door, but Ceros is more direct and smacks his club against the bars.
8612 pulls his hands back just in time to avoid his fingers being smashed. The
guards laugh.
Now the guards move toward Cell 3 as 8612 and 1037 call out to their
Cell 3 comrades to barricade themselves in. "Get your beds in front of the door!"
"One horizontal and one vertical! Don't let them in! They'll take your beds!"
"They've taken our beds! Oh shit!"
1037 goes over the top with his call to violent resistance: "Fight them! Resist
violently! The time has come for violent revolution!"
Guard Landry returns armed with a big fire extinguisher and shoots bursts of
skin-chilling carbon dioxide into Cell 2, forcing the prisoners to flee backward.
"Shut up and stay away from the door!" (Ironically, this is the same extinguisher
that the Human Subjects Research Committee insisted we have available in case
of an emergency!)
But as the beds are pulled from Cell 3 into the corridor, the rebels in Cell 2 feel
betrayed.
"Cell 3, what's going on? We told you to barricade the doors!"
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