Psychedelics and Desistance From Crime: Lessons From the Concord Prison Experiment

Recent investigations of naturalistic psychedelic use purport that psychedelic therapies may be useful in criminal justice contexts for reducing recidivism. The present study applies interactionist theories of desistance to critically explore how psychedelic therapies could facilitate agentic self-transformation to support desistance from crime. Psychedelic experience reports written by inmates as part of the “Concord Prison Experiment” (CPE) were collected from the New York Public Library. Reports from 29 participants were then analyzed using a qualitative content analysis that employed both conventional and directed approaches. Participants frequently reported on changes in emotion and sense perception, interactions with other participants, and self-knowledge. Reports of self-knowledge often emerged from cognitive shifts that led to reflexive thought and novel insights regarding crime and criminality. These findings demonstrate how psychedelics can facilitate cognitive shifts in meaning conducive to inspiring desistance from crime. However, shortcomings of the CPE indicate that the social environment can hinder integration, by constraining the potential to enact changes in one’s life or realize meaningful insights through prosocial relationships. The combination of potentially harmful prison environments and the vulnerable states of consciousness generated by psychedelics should preclude investigations among actively incarcerated participants. Without addressing common social and structural barriers to successful reentry such as housing and employment, the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy as a recidivism reducing intervention will be limited. Alternative approaches might explore how psychedelic therapy can address the psychological impacts of incarceration.