Kriti Mehrotra
With Hulu’s ‘The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth’ living up to its title in every way conceivable, we get a three-part documentary series that is truly gripping. That’s because it incorporates not just archival footage and recreations but also exclusive interviews to really underscore the reality behind the titular controversial 1971 psychological experiment. Of course, amongst those to thus feature in this original is the willing “prison guard” John Mark, who has long since claimed the whole ordeal was much more than what anybody thought.
John Mark Has Never Shied Away From Expressing His Opinions
Although not much is known about John’s early years or experiences, we do know he was a student at Stanford University from 1969 to 1973, pursuing a degree in anthropology. He was thus just about to begin his junior year (1971-1972) at the school when he became a part of this experiment by Professor Philip Zimbardo, following a year as an exchange student in France (1970-1971). The truth is he had spent Thanksgiving the year before in Amsterdam with a friend, and since the 1960s had just come to an end, there were a lot of recreational drugs available to them.
According to John’s account, the duo purchased hash and actually brought it back to France with them, only to be caught at the French border and interrogated for hours. He believed he was close to being thrown into jail with no chance of freedom, which scared him out of his wits and left a lasting impression on him even though he was released without any issues. Therefore, when he saw the prison experiment, he was genuinely intrigued and thought he could bring some life experience into it, totally unaware that tensions would lead to some extreme behavior.
John Mark Has Always Believed Professor Philip Zimbardo to be an Instigator
While John admits that he sometimes let things go out of control during his shifts as a guard, he claims that the professor overseeing the entire ordeal “went out of his way to create tension.” Whether it be in terms of calling the prisoners by numbers, throwing them in solitary confinement, or forcing them to do degrading things as a form of punishment, he claims everything was encouraged. Therefore, even though he was admittedly high during most of his shifts and often even distributed joints amongst prisoners to help them calm down, he noticed something was amiss.
Therefore, he has since come out to allege that he doesn’t think the experiment was ever meant to go the full two weeks it was planned for – it was shut down after five days, and he thinks it was deliberate. In fact, he has gone as far as to say the professor likely “wanted to create a dramatic crescendo, and then end it as quickly as possible… He wanted to be able to say that college students, people from middle-class backgrounds — people will turn on each other just because they’re given a role and given power.” In other words, he thinks it was never about understanding true human behavior but about raising controversy and pushing a set narrative.
John Mark Has Since Built a New Life for Himself
Although John evidently prefers to stay away from the limelight these days, he is likely based in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, as of writing. There, he’s seemingly surrounded by loved ones, friends, and family at every step of the way, all the while focusing on his professional life in the medical field. After all, according to a report from 2011, while he earned his anthropology degree in 1973, he has served as a medical coder for Kaiser Permanente for atleast two decades. We should even mention that he has never wavered in his opinions on this entire ordeal and even asserted the same in a Reddit Ask Me Anything Session with the help of his nephew.
Read More: Richard Yacco: Where is Stanford Prison Experiment Prisoner Now?
