What do prison, Netflix and a local entrepreneur have in common? A new reality TV show called, “The New Stanford Prison Experiment.”

Among the 30 people featured in the six-episode show are the CEO of Pasco-based Next Level Pros, Chris Lee. The 42-year-old Pasco man also was the founder of a solar installation company that grew rapidly before he sold it and shifted his focus to marketing and education for other businesses. 

His leadership and training background followed him to the prison where the Netflix show, released Oct. 21, was filmed.  

Business background

Lee grew up in Connell, where his dad was the high school football and wrestling coach as well as a teacher. After getting married, Lee left the area and moved 14 different times throughout the country with his wife. His background is in trades and home services. 

He moved back to the area in 2015, and a few years later, he founded solar installation company Solgen Power out of his garage. 

The company grew to $200 million in revenue within five years, according to Next Level Pros’ website, before filing for bankruptcy in early 2026. Lee had sold the company in 2022 and walked away in 2023 to take a break before launching a podcast and starting Next Level Pros.  

“(In) my time of running Solgen, we grew from zero to 1,100 employees, and so a lot of that was training and developing people and building out culture in a place where people could get more than just a job, but personal development … (I) always loved that and loved developing out people,” he said, so he knew he wanted to work on the training aspect after selling Solgen. 

Lee owns 13 companies around the U.S., including recently founded Pasco company AllSet Home, an HVAC, electrical and plumbing service.

On a day-to-day basis, Lee is involved in marketing and helping to train salespeople and technicians at his companies across the country. He also hosts events to train other businesses nationwide in leadership and personal development. 

His business also trains and deploys hundreds of artificial intelligence agents to do some of the daily work across his various businesses. 

TV show selection

Lee said he’s always been involved in different forms of media, from running a podcast and making local news appearances, as well as speaking on stages about business practices. 

Lee speculated that perhaps it was his social media presence that led the producer of Netflix’s “The New Stanford Prison Experiment,” Alfred Street Industries, to reach out to him. Lee said he was initially contacted about a possible opportunity through a private message on Instagram in July 2025, saying he matched the profile of what the producer was looking for. 

Lee said that the producer reached out to some people to feature on the show, while others applied to participate. Once he expressed interest, he had a rigorous process to go through, including interviews, background checks and psych evaluations. 

He didn’t find out it would be a Netflix show until right before filming – he only knew it would be with a major streaming company. 

All he knew at first was that he would be part of a social experiment that required going to prison, Lee said. He said the information he was given was intentionally vague. 

He decided to participate to experience incarceration, both for the challenge of having agency and power taken away and as a time for reflection and introspection. It was also an interesting experience to be in a diverse group of people that he wouldn’t normally interact with on a daily basis. 

Although participants were given a small stipend throughout the three weeks of filming, Lee said it wasn’t close to what he normally would get paid, so his participation wasn’t about making money. 

A reimagined experiment

The TV show is based on the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment which placed 24 male college students in a simulation of a prison environment as either prisoners or guards, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. The experiment was stopped after just six days of a proposed two weeks due to mistreatment of the prisoners.

Netflix frames “The New Stanford Prison Experiment” as a “modern reimagining of the infamous study” in which “30 people enter a real prison for two weeks and shifting power dynamics expose what they’re capable of.”

Filming took place over three weeks last fall, including two weeks in the prison without phone access, Lee said. He flew to Atlanta, Georgia, for the show. 

While it was difficult to be away from his work and family, Lee said he relied on his management team and business partners to handle things while he was gone. 

“It’s tough for sure to detach and not be involved,” he said. He has an executive team of 12. 

During the show, Lee got to play a unique role. He started as a guard and then swapped into the role of prisoner later on. He was one of five to change roles. 

Lee said he was surprised at how quickly the mind can adapt to a new situation, and he learned that people are not powerless in any circumstance. 

He said he turned his time as a guard into something like a “leadership boot camp.” 

“I chose to use my power to influence for good rather than any negative,” he said. 

Lee didn’t get a chance to see any part of the show prior to its release, but he’s been pleased with how the show portrayed him and the response he’s gotten. 

It’s been “overall positive, (I’ve) probably received several thousand DMs, and another several thousand comments on some of my social media and stuff, probably 98% positive,” Lee said. 

While Lee doesn’t have any major plans following the Netflix series, “the hope is that I can build more of my personal brand and bring even more attention to our market and the Tri-Cities.”