THE CRITIQUE SCORES THE FOLSOM PRISON STUDY, WHICH FOUND FAVORABLE EFFECTS FOR TM, ON GROUNDS OF INADEQUATE DESIGN AND ERRONEOUS INTERPRETATION OF STATISTICAL RESULTS, EMPHASIZING THE RESEACHERS' FAILURE TO GUARD AGAINST EXPERIMENTAL BIAS. THE RESEARCHERS ARGUE THAT THE EFFECTS OF EXPERIMENTAL BIAS ARE NOT SO PERVASIVE AS TO JUSTIFY THE ABANDONMENT OF A PROMISING TREATMENT. FURTHERMORE, PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED DATA INDICATE THAT THE EVALUATIVE TEST SCORES OF STUDY SUBJECTS WERE NOT UNDULY INFLUENCED BY THE SUBJECTS' DESIRE TO PLEASE THE EXPERIMENTERS, AS IS SUGGESTED IN THE CRITIQUE. PRELIMINARY DATA ON RECIDIVISM RATES AMONG STUDY PARTICIPANTS INDICATE FAVORABLE EFFECTS OF TM ON POSTRELEASE BEHAVIOR, OFFERING FURTHER SUPPORT FOR THE RESEARCHERS' INITIAL CONCLUSIONS. BY REDUCING RECIDIVISM, A 450-INMATE TM PROGRAM COSTING $135,000, COULD SAVE THE STATE $748,000 ($612,500 OVER PROGRAM COSTS) EACH YEAR--A BENEFIT-COST RATIO OF 4.5 TO 1. TM PROGRAMS APPEAR TO MERIT SERIOUS OBJECTIVE CONSIDERATION ON FINANCIAL GROUNDS ALONE. IT SHOULD ALSO BE RECOGNIZED THAT SUCH TM PROJECTS AS FOLSOM AND SEVERAL OTHER CORRECTIONS SETTINGS HAVE BEEN FUNDED THROUGH PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS. SUPPORTING DATA ARE INCLUDED. SEE NCJ-46073 FOR THE ORIGINAL STUDY. (LKM)