The relationship between psychology, its intervention techniques and the public confrontations regarding the first applications of psychological techniques in Colombian prisons during the 1970s is approached. In this sense, the disciplinary demarcation of psychology as a result of technical devices circulation is described and some of the controversies around the usage of modification techniques such as behavioral economies in prisons are reconstructed. Through the analysis of institutional files, interviews and public media different interest groups are identified as their rhetoric and discourses are addressed. Thus, the confrontation between the Sisters of Charity in charge of the prison, a psychology student, the prisoners, the liberal and conservative parties and the Catholic Church in Colombia are reconstructed and mutual imputations of power, manipulation and control are outlined among such actors. Finally, the implications of the legitimation of experimental psychotherapies in Colombia and Latin America are discussed; the connections between the circulation of these technical devices and the establishment of North-South academic and political relations are also explored as the basis for the configuration of Latin American psychology.