In 1831, Reuter started to study at the University of Rostock, and in 1832 went to the University of Jena. At Jena he joined a "Burschenschaft" (nationalist students' club). In 1833 he was arrested in Berlin by the Prussian government. They could only prove he had worn the club's colours, but he was condemned to death for high treason. King Frederick William III of Prussia changed this to imprisonment for thirty years. In 1838 he was sent to a prison in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and he spent two years in the fortress of Dömitz. Reuter was set free in 1840, when Frederick William IV became king of Prussia.