The Penal Colony

In 1980 Joseph Holsinger testified in front of the house foreign affairs subcommittee stating that he believed that CIA operatives working at the US embassy in Georgetown had used Jim Jones and his settlement in a behavioral modification experiment. Holsinger claimed to have information from an unimpeachable source that a CIA agent was present during the assassination of congressman Ryan. He alleged that said agent was likely the deputy chief of missions to Guyana Richard Dwyer. Larry Layton’s defense attorney also pointed this out but was not allowed to question Richard Dwyer in court about his time in South America or his work for the CIA.

 In his statement Holsinger claimed that an elaborate cover-up had been launched by the US government to conceal the truth about Jonestown. A Berkeley professor who had been involved with mind control projects had sent Joseph Holsinger a document called the Penal Colony. This document allegedly proved that the CIA had lied to congress about ending its mind control experiment studies and was in fact transferring resources and projects from institutions and prisons to religious groups. Joseph Holsinger speculated that MKUltra’s new focus was on cults and the CIA had worked with Jim Jones to experiment on the Peoples Temple.

Notes from the Editors of the Jonestown Institute:

Joe Holsinger presented the Penal Colony article during his 1980 presentation on “Psycho-Social Implications of the Jonestown Phenomenon.” According to Holsinger, the article was written in January 1979 by a Berkeley psychologist “who has asked that his name be withheld.” It is almost certain that the author is Richard Ofshe, a professor of social psychology at UC-Berkeley and an associate of Margaret Singer.

To read the their summary of the Penal Colony go