The Stanford Prison Experiment has had more of an impact as a legend in popular culture than as an actual work of social science in the decades since it was conducted. Notice the capitals in "Prison Experiment." It's become the name of a punk band for Darwin's sake.
Wikipedia says that the experiment violates modern ethical standards. So, if the results were ever replicable (I have my doubts), they won't be replicated now.
I suspect that Stanford University undergraduates tend to come from very different backgrounds than the average prison guard or prison inmate. Also, the conditions of the experiment were sufficiently different from the real-world criminal justice system that I don't think the experiment says much about "prisons." On the other hand, if the results are valid -- again, I have my doubts -- it says something about Stanford. I'm wondering how much of this experiment was really the result of a lot of bright, high-achieving undergraduates guessing Professor Zimbardo's password -- he wanted dramatic results, and they obliged.
Zimbardo discusses the members of the experiment in his book the Lucifer Principle. They were from very different backgrounds than criminals, though they seemed to be very countercultural as well, which still makes the end result surprising. Regarding Zimbardo's take on the whole thing (ethics & impact), I think he does cop to the experiment being unethical, and his behavior being unethical as well. I don't know if it's a case of being localized to Stanford, but I do completely agree that it's a case of guessing the password; in fact, that's pretty muc...
In March, a user on Reddit emailed psychologist Philip Zimbardo (leader of the Stanford Prison Experiment) to arrange an "IAmA" interview. Zimbardo agreed to answer the top 5 questions from this thread. Yesterday his answers were posted here.
The chosen questions touched on research ethics, what he originally expected to learn from the experiment, the role of psychoactive drugs in society, reading recommendations and more.
After responding, Zimbardo posed a question of his own to Reddit: