ment for a mental breakdown. It is true, imprisonment acts more
deleteriously upon the psyche of the criminal by passion, the accidental
criminal, but even the recidivist who would be expected to feel less
keenly the painful loss of freedom, falls a prey to the deleterious
effects of prison life. The unfavorable hygienic surroundings which are
found in most prisons, the scarcity of air and exercise, readily prepare
the way for a breakdown, even in an habitual criminal. Above all,
however, it is the emotional shock and depression which invariably
accompany the painful loss of freedom, the loneliness and seclusion,
which force the prisoner to a raking occupation with his own mind, to a
persistent introspection, making him feel so much more keenly the
anxiety and apprehension for the future, the remorse for his deed, that
play an important role in the production of mental disorders. This is
especially true when it concerns an accidental criminal, one who still
possesses a high degree of self-respect and honor. Imprisonment
furnishes us with a great variety of mental disorders, the origin of
which can be traced in a more or less direct manner to the emotional
shock and influence upon the psyche which it brings about.

The psychogenetic origin of the psychoses of criminals can be
established far more clearly in prisoners awaiting trial. Here the
deleterious effect of confinement upon the physical health can be ruled
out almost entirely, and the etiologic factor must be sought for
exclusively in the emotional shock which the commission of the crime and
its attending consequences provoke. The strong effect upon the psyche
produced by the detection and confinement, the raking hearings and
cross-examinations, and the uncertainty and apprehension of the outcome
of it all are the factors that are at play here.

Reich,[3] in 1871, was the first one to call attention to the mental
disorders of prisoners awaiting trial. He could observe the development
of mental symptoms even during the first hours of confinement, and the
relation between the psychosis and the emotional shock of the situation
at hand could not be doubted. He describes this acute mental disturbance
as follows:--"Already in the first hours or days after imprisonment, or
soon after a severe emotional shock, a sort of psychic tension sets in.
The prisoner becomes silent, chary of words, lost in brooding. He
observes little that goes on about him and remains motionless in