I didn't see the programme in question (Panorama?) but they've sentenced some of those involved today...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9635581/Corrupted-cruel-debased-six-jailed-for-Winterbourne-care-home-abuse.html
Going off the details in the report above, it sounds like a real-life enactment of 'The Stanford Prison Experiment'.