The author discusses the special aspects of his psychoanalytic work within a prison setting, and maintains that he is able to establish psychoanalytic space within this setting in spite of what might be thought to run counter to the analytic process. He cites the work of Aichhorn, and Freud's preface to Aichhorn's study. He utilizes his experiences within the prison setting to explore the fate of aggression in individuals manifesting psychopathic behavior and, in general, borderline states with a tendency toward impulsive action. He notes the recourse to economic solutions, in which extreme excitation is followed by discharge as a protection against a psychotic disorganization. This is combined with the use of aggressive impulses to maintain both the object and the subject within the framework of external reality. Aggression, in this context, even auto-aggression, has as its aim the preservation of the ego, and, in some cases, the aim of suicide is to protect the integrity of the ego. The mastery of the object by aggression leads to an effacement of representation and a psychic