The Law of Private Imprisonment: Fifty Dark Years for the Mentally Ill in Japan
Y. KUMASAKA M.D.1, and
S. YOSHIOKA M.D.2
1 Research associate, department of psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 128 Fort Washington Ave., New York, N. Y. 10032
2 Staff psychiatrist, Matsuzawa Mental Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
In Japan from 1900 to 1950 the so-called law of private imprisonment provided for the confinement of the mentally ill in private cells. The authors describe the conditions to which the mentally ill were subjected during this time, with special reference to the political and social origins of the legislation.
