The Campaigner

47
,exhaustion, thus heightening suggestibility. In fact, the he is moved into a new Jiving situation, where he will be
Federal Prisoners Coalition, a group of radical prisoners, surrounded by members rof the group at all times and
explicitly likens the process to brainwashing.
where the environment in this area of the prison is
programmed to reinforce desired attitudes and behavior.
The Coalition has particularly cited the personality
annihilation going on under the direction of Dr. Martin In these new living conditions, group pressures are
Groder at the maximum security federal penitentiary at intensified. His emotional behavior and psychic characteristics
are studied by the staff and semi=professional
Marion, Illinois. In this "voluntary" program Groder prisoners to detect vulnerable points Of entry to stage
employs an eclectic form of "group dynamics"-- attack-sessions around. During these sessions, on a
mainly transactional analysis and the Synanon attack progressively intensified basis, he is shouted at, his fears
approach, played upon, his sensitivities ridiculed, and concentrated
effort is made to make him feel guilty for real or
The Federal Prisoners Coalition points out just how imagined characteristics of conduct. He is introduced to
"voluntary" this program really is: bouts of sleeplessness and contact sessions. Every effort
The method of securing prisoner participation in the is made toso heighten his suggestibility and weaken his
group has varied from a hard form of coerciVe persuasion character structure so that his emotional responses and
during thatfour-yearperiodoftime(sinceitsinceptiOn in thought-flow will be brought under group and staff
1968 -- C.M.). For some men, serving lengthy sentences
control as totally as possible.
with
been
no
warehoused
hope of ever
for
getting
years, it
out
was
and
only
who
necessary
had simply
to
.. Everything of possible significance that he says, does
indicate that participation could lead'to an early release or shows that he feels is reported back to staff officials on
to secure volunteers.' For others, aggressively 'coerciVe the program; who in turn use this material to devise and
means were used. 'Some examples will be given:' suggest specific measures geared to his personal
susceptibilities for more advanced prisoners to use on
H. Adams was given an isolation experience characterized
by the Associate Warden of Treatment threatening
him in subsequent sessions ....
him with drug-assault chemical straightjacketing, and ... At this stage, it is common for a confusional state to
the staff psychiatrist telling him that the only way he have been induced in the individual that is so
could secure his release was by joining his group of pronounced and overwh'elmingly reinforced by his enprisoners.,
vironment that he can literally no longer distinguish the
"" difference between his own beliefs and convictions and
Ben Daughtery was lodged in segregation .... He was
those being thrust upon him. His emotional state at this
time appears to be (and is intended to be) one of stressful
coerced into taking a chance on the group. On finding uncertainty and disorientation
that it kept _him confused and continually upset Over a "'
• period of some weeks, he notified the staff psychiatrist of To prove to the individual that this new state of being is a
his intention to quit. Before he could do so, by coinci- "winning" one, the reborn individual is given a variety
dence of'some sort, hh found himself back in isolation on of positive reinforcements from his environment rat this
a minor disciplinary infraction .... point. These can take the form of allowing him to move
into the somewhat plush quarters reserved for the elite
Case managers would consistently tell people approach- among this group. Here a dozen men have to'themselves
ing a parole hearing date that since they had no record of the same amount of living space that sixty-four (64)
participation in the experimental group, it was going to persons in the lower-class populace inhabit. This living
be hard to make a favorable impression on the parole area allows him to have (or have access to) stereo-sound
board .... (53) equipment, tape recorders, a typewriter, 'a personal
library, access to any publication from the free world,
Once the prisoner is bribed or dragged into the access to community persons in the forms of being
program, this is what happens: - allowed to have a local woman or other friends on his
visiting list.
First he is told to come to evening encounters with
prisoners who are already off into the program. At these He is now told that he can receive advanced training to
encounters he is indoctrinated in the rudiments of the prepare him to go forth and teach and train the World's
attack-sessions, transactional analysis, and the model masses. He is told that with proper preparation he will be
prisoner attitudes as personified by prisoners 'who are validated as an instructor of the International Transmore
advanced in their thought reform, actional Analysis Association and that this will enable
him to earn many thousands of dollars a year doing unto
• At the end of these'first encounters, he is' given basic others as has been done unto him.
literature formulated by the prisoners 'under the direction
of its (the group's -- C.M.) founder. He is'told to During this final phase of his training he is'polished by
study these rmaterials, and a beginning is made at the founder of the Group, of one of his free-worldstructuring
his thought processes 1:o their content, disciples, and indoctrinated in the Final ends of this
program. He is sounded out, if he is' seen to have the
After thirty days of these 'encOunters( if it is felt by the potential, to determine if' he might be deeply enough
staff and prisoner group that he is'a vulnerable subject, enjoined to the Cause to want to go into the wilderness of'