The foregoing two cases are representative of a group which
unquestionably forms the most difficult part in the problem of caring
for the insane criminals. Here we have a couple of individuals whose
entire psychotic manifestations, if such they may be considered, consist
of a most wild and vicious rebellion against imprisonment. They are
individuals who cannot be kept under any prescribed mode of living, and
when this is insisted upon, they react to it in an insane manner.
Bonhoeffer justly termed them "wild men", for wild indeed they are when
in one of their tantrums. The question arises, "Wherein lies the cause
of this rebellion against discipline?" It certainly cannot be wholly
attributed to the environment, for these individuals behave in a similar
manner even when removed to the far more lenient régime of a hospital.
We must seek an explanation for the behavior of these individuals in the
individual himself, in his make-up.
Looking at the life history of the two foregoing patients we find them
both to be of the most depraved class of society. The one is a
professional prostitute; the other subsisting upon the earnings of a
prostitute. Their relation with man has always been characterized by a
sort of vicious vindictiveness. Their high-strung emotional make-up
brought them into serious conflict with those about them on many
occasions before. Being finally taken hold of by the law and made to
submit to a certain well-regulated mode of existence, their inherent
characteristics assert themselves in a most decisive way and they react
to the situation in the manner of a trapped tiger, stopping at no means
to gain their point. The one commits a homicide during one of her
outbreaks of passion; the other risks his life to obtain his purpose, by
jumping out of a moving train with his hands shackled. Their life seems
to be one long series of impulsions, fostered and sustained by the
extreme lability of their emotions. Intellectually they show no defect.
They are keen and alert to every opportunity which presents itself to
them and are very shrewd in the execution of their criminal acts.
Finding themselves under a régime which exacts from them a certain
submission to rules, to regulations, they begin to misinterpret ordinary
occurrences in their environment in a sort of delusional manner: They
are persecuted by the warden because the latter insists upon making them
behave themselves; the keepers are a bunch of anarchists, whose entire
occupation seems to be to persecute them and down them. This for no
other reason than because they are made to work and to behave
themselves. J. J. M. tells me that he will not behave himself, that he
is not here to please anyone but himself and recognizes no authority
other than that of Christ. The other says she raised so much hell at the
prison that they had to send her back to the hospital. The
distinguishing feature of their psychotic manifestations is that they
are provoked essentially by definite situations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account