Dave Eshelman and Clay Ramsay on The Stanford Prison Experiment

NEWS x MUSE Michael Sandoval talks with Dave Eshelman and Clay Ramsay about the next National Geographic docu-series, The Stanford Prison Experiment.

A groundbreaking look at history’s most notorious psychology study through the firsthand accounts of the original prisoners and guards, many of whom are speaking on camera for the very first time. Their stories unravel a new narrative that interrogates the motives of the man pulling the strings, Dr. Philip Zimbardo, while exploring larger questions of human nature and the power of perspective.

In 1971, Dave was a student at Chapman University studying music, theater and film. He was hired as a guard in the Stanford Prison Experiment, and given the nickname “John Wayne.” Dave is famous for being one of the most dramatic and cruel guards, but as a theater kid, he maintains he was acting, inspired by the movie Cool Hand Luke. Today, Dave is a mortgage salesman residing in Los Gatos, CA. He still loves to perform, and is a member of a British Invasion cover band called Nigel and Clive.

Clay Ramsay was Prisoner #419 in the Stanford Prison Experiment. He was an intellectual from the Bay Area who went into the Merchant Marines after high school in hopes of finding enlightenment and finishing his first novel. He applied to the Stanford Prison Experiment thinking it would be a good way to make some money before starting college at UC Santa Cruz. Clay is best known for going on a hunger strike during the experiment on Day 4. Today, Clay is a research associate at University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, living between Maryland and California.

Watch The Stanford Prison Experiment on National Geographic.