Scientists Want To Shock Prisoners' Brains To Resist Violence Inside Them

Speaking of prison, everyone thinks of violence because prisoners often tend to use fists to solve their problems. Scientists have a desire to create an impact on prisoners' brains so that they do not use violence in all matters. Does this affect moral issues?

New Scientist has announced a new idea of scientists from the University of Huelva in Spain. They plan to apply the treatment method of transcranial direct current stimulation (or TDCS for short) onto the Huelva Prison prisoners as a way to reduce their urge to violence.

Andrés Molero-Chamizo, the leader of this project team, said the main purpose is to find out whether TDCS is capable of impacting the evaluation of individual aggression. This aims to ensure inmates will maintain discipline and calmness in prison.

Researchers need 12 male prisoners who voluntarily participate in project research, especially those who are serving sentences for murder. They said that each participant will attach electrodes to the head and electricity will be turned on within 15 minutes. This process takes place for 3 consecutive days and according to the researchers, it does not hurt prisoners.

At the time when the experiment starts and ends, these male prisoners will have to express how he thinks about a series of statements, for example, agrees or not with the sentence “once in a while, I can’t control the urge to strike another person.”

In addition to the reports collected through their actions, the researchers also take saliva from these participants to measure cortisol levels. They want to study whether stress hormones are one of the factors that cause aggression in prisoners.

In January, researchers from the University of Huelva also did an experiment with 41 inmates. At that time, they tested another type of TDCS and it produced very positive results. Although studies bring promising results, many people are still very concerned about the moral issue of bringing prisoners to be experimental subjects.

Forensic psychiatrist Delaney Smith also said to New Scientist that he had a great concern about this research issue as the prison itself was a coercive environment. Prisoners may always assume that this will bring some benefits for their case in the future.

On the other hand, if TDCS is really effective in helping inmates control their anger and impulses, this will be a viable measure to help prisoners comply with discipline in prison and make the environment become safer.