Psychiatry: Marsens, writing and describing the asylum

Opened in 1875, the Asile psychiatrique de Marsens, in the canton of Fribourg, was initially home to 125 patients divided into three categories according to their social conditions. The establishment was run by a renowned French alienist, Jacques-Henri Girard de Cailleux, who practiced "moral treatment". In this closed universe, writing enabled patients to maintain links with the outside world, and to address their complaints to relatives or the authorities. However, these letters must reach their addressees, as censorship is practiced by the asylum's management.