In 1971, the Palo Alto police in California rounded up a group of young men and dropped them off at a newjail - in the Stanford University Psychology
Department. The "prisoners" were part of an experiment to test people's reactions to power dynamics in social situations. Othervolunteers-the "guards" -were given authority to dictate the rules. In only a few days, the "guards" became sadistic and the "prisoners" became severely depressed and the experiment had to be terminated. Thirty years on, a film - The Experiment- has been made about the events surrounding those six days; Isabel Hilton and guests delivertheirverdict.