#inmates handcuffed

[male-us-prison-experience]

WHY AMERICAN PRISONERS HAVE TO WEAR A UNIFORM

In (almost) all American prisons, prisoners are now required to wear a uniform (again). This uniform is either a two-piece, consisting of trousers and a shirt, with the trousers held up by an elastic band around the waist, or a one-piece, a kind of overall, a so-called jumpsuit, which is usually closed at the front with a row of snaps. Nowadays, these uniforms have short sleeves; in cold weather, prisoners often are allowed to wear a sweater underneath.

The appearance of prison uniforms in the United States varies from state to state and from institution to institution, and is usually determined by the prison authorities themselves. The uniforms are either made in a solid color - preferably orange, but also red, pink, green, blue, gray and yellow - or as a horizontally striped kind of zebra suit, colloquially known as 'prison stripes', with black and white stripes being the standard, but green and white, orange and white and red and white also occur.

Such prison stripes have become very popular again, especially in recent decades, and harks back to the classic convict uniform that was common at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The current striped uniform differs from this in two respects: the sleeves were still long at the time, and the stripes were much narrower. The jumpsuit version did not exist in the past either.

Prison uniforms are common in most countries, although they are usually not as strikingly designed as the American ones; as far as I know, prison stripes aren’t in use nowadays in any other part of the world. In Europe, it is usually a two-piece uniform in a grey or blue colour, which does not make a prisoner stand out very much in a larger crowd. This one underneath is from England.

In America, too, khaki or a blue type of denim was common in many prisons until a few decades ago. Regularly, it was even still permitted to wear your own clothes, at least in your own cell(block). That has changed. This picture shows a working crew of inmates in Texas.

What are the main reasons why prison authorities require all prisoners to wear a (conspicuous) uniform (permanently)? This is not only done – that morally controversial motive is often certainly present in the background – from the point of view of the call for a certain stigmatization, to make the wearer of such a uniform a social outcast, both to make him feel that himself, and to show him that way to others, the latter as a warning: watch out for this guy.

There are also a number of rational arguments for doing this. Searching for information on the internet, I come to the following motives based on various sites

1.First of all, safety. A (conspicuous) uniform makes a prisoner easily recognizable as such. Bright colours also make him clearly visible from a greater distance. It reduces the risk of escape attempts, because a prisoner is also recognizable to outsiders, and in his uniform it is less easy to mingle with the public unseen.

This is extra important because many prisoners - although usually only those with lighter sentences, and only those who are not considered really dangerous - do community work outside the prison during the day, as cleaning roads or digging fenches.

In order to prevent any escape attempts, they almost always have to wear leg-irons, but a recognizable uniform puts a stop to this too.

This recognizability is increased because the name of the correctional institution is usually printed in capital letters on the back of his uniform, in the case of prison stripes often in read.

Incidentally, that is one reason why prison stripes - also the standard outfit for the chain-gang - have become popular in that case. Since road workers often wear orange clothing, a prisoner in an orange uniform can be more easily confused by the general public. With prison stripes, that risk does not exist. They stand out in the crowd.

2. A uniform emphasizes the equality of all prisoners, and also the sharp distinction with the guards. It makes things much clearer for the latter; the risk of confusing the inmates with visiting outsiders (family, workers, doctors) is then minimal.

The obligation to wear a uniform moreover prevents the development of a visible hierarchy among the prisoners, which can be expressed in the wearing of expensive brand clothing; a discussion that also plays a role with regard to school uniforms. The risk of theft or violent robbery of each other's clothing is thus nil.

A uniform also strengthens the mental awareness of the inmates themselves that they are prisoners now, and thus has a positive influence on their behaviour: they become more compliant, as confirmed by testimonies of their own. This awareness of the loss of their citizen identity together with the loss of their freedom becomes even stronger if their prison number is printed on their uniform too.

A uniform hairstyle – in a number of American prisons, all new prisoners are not only forced to put on a uniform immediately upon arrival, but then also get a complete headshave – also contributes greatly to this. Those two pics underneath shows this transformation, showing a new inmate from Oklahoma before and after his make-over.

3.In line with this: a prison uniform also somewhat prevents gang formation – a major problem in American prisons – because gang members usually want to distinguish themselves by external markings.

The more strictly the uniform requirement is enforced, including THE WAY in which the uniform is worn – in the case of a two-piece shirt tucked into, or not tucked into, the pants, in the case of a jumpsuit all the snaps closed to the last, not only when going to court – the less possible this is. Prisoners are also always explicitly forbidden to make any changes to their uniform themselves, or to provide it with any 'decoration' (which could after all form a certain code).

4.With a prescribed prison uniform, which often (but not always) includes certain footwear, the prison authorities can ensure that all prisoners wear the clothing that, according to the circumstances, is the most practical and safest. No belts in the trousers (but elastic) or laces in the shoes, to prevent suicide. Cotton slippers or plastic sandals, to make it more difficult to run away quickly outside.

Sturdy short boots are often prescribed as work shoes, especially for the chain-gang, because in this case a heavy chain, secured with a padlock, is fastened around the (left) ankle of the prisoner.

Clothing with a minimum number of pockets, so that concealing weapons (and this can also be a knife from the kitchen) or contraband becomes much more difficult. In the two-piece uniform, the trousers have no pocket, the shirt only one, for a handkerchief or glasses. The same applies to the jumpsuit: a small breast pocket for that purpose is all, nothing more.

Jumpsuits have the advantage from a security perspective that they are not only a real eyecatcher, but also that they take a little longer to get rid of (to exchange for other clothing on the run) and offer more protection to the prisoner himself against potential anal rape; with a two-piece uniform, trousers can be pulled down by force more quickly.

5.A fixed uniformstyle also, on the other hand, offers the prison authorities the possibility to differentiate between prisoners themselves, with colour codes. It makes it possible to place prisoners of very different kind who live together in visible categories, from more to less (escape) dangerous. This is also useful for the guards, because then they know more easily who they should pay special attention to. Red in that case usually means dangerous, green safe.

This can also be done in the striped version, where black and white is standard, and red and white (or orange and white) is then also usually considered the biggest security risk, green again as the lowest.

[inmate62763]

[manumikku]

Traffic accidant poliec arrest me

[mus1g4]

I'm handing myself into custody at Franklin County Jail in 2 weeks and I'm extremely excited for my first incarceration role-play experience in a real jail! Any advice you'd give for those of us getting locked up for the first time?

Do I have any advice?! Yes!!

1. Have fun! Don't hold back at all. This is a rare chance to play!

2. Push yourself. Try everything you can. This is all about self-discovery. Try uniforms, restraints, jail yard, and misbehave a bit!

3. Let go! If you're a quiet guy, then cut loose! I am a very "confrontation adverse" person in my real life. In role play, i earned the name Pitbull.....for a reason!!

4. Have a story in mind and define your role. EX.: Innocent and mistakenly arrested for bank robbery

5. Cherish this first time. You will never be this scared or this excited by prison role play again!!

6. Journal! Write this shit down. You will be shocked how much you forget by October when you reread the journal. And years from now, you will be grateful for the memories!

Question about Hampton Jail Role Play (Advice)

[male-us-prison-experience]

WELCOME IN MY PRISON - THE ONLY ONE THAT OFFERS ALL PLEASURES OF ALL AMERICAN PENITENTIARIES TOGETHER

After that fatal car crash, causing serious traffic victims, it always starts with arrest and being handcuffed at your back. Then you're driven to the police station. There follows the intake, the body search, the mugshot, the inevitable alcohol test and finally the finger prints.

As the test is positive your brandnew prison uniform, a simple nice black and white striped jumpsuit, to be closed with just six shiny snap buttons at the front, is already waiting for you, one of the kind you will have to wear from now on for many years to come - as is the barred bare cell with just a bed of cold steel, a stool made of the same stuff and a toilet, to spend your first night locked up and think all over....

Your beautiful new villain suit will only be taken off from now on when you have to shower, together with other prisoners. You better prepare yourself for that too: in prison we don't do privacy. The first time you will hesitate to undress in the presence of others just as much as that shy new inmate on the right, but that will soon be over, i promise you.

You soon will learn to wear your striking prison stripes always and everywhere. No separate trousers and shirt for you anymore, just a jumpsuit. And you soon will learn that you have to dress yourself properly once you're out of your bed , so to button up that jumpsuit always and everywhere completely, all six snaps up to the last one just under your chin. If not, the police officers will learn you to do so.

You also soon will get used to the fact that this is just how you will look henceforth, that your visiting family will see you dressed like this. No, there will not be any exceptions to that rule in the future. You soon will discover that your prison uniform has only one small pocket, on your left chest, and none further down as your pants once had. As you will never need cash money in the future again, this is sufficient for a pair of glasses, or perhaps a handkerchief. After all, the fewer pockets your jumpsuit possesses, the smaller the risk of any contraband.

Yes, from this moment on wearing solid steel handcuffs will become nearly inevitable as soon as you are somewhere outside your own cell. Safety comes first - at the police station they have their experience with new prisoners who suddenly go crazy and thus become violent.

A few days later you're already on your way to court for trial, in your new prison stripes clearly contrasting to the accompanying officers in their grey uniforms. Of course you're already since you left your cell in full restraints, shuffling along with difficulty in your uneasy leg irons, while your wrists in handcuffs are fixed to the frontal D-ring of a thick leather belt around your waist, with which the jailers lead you with firm a grip like some wild dog on the leash to the dock to get sentenced....

After your perp-walk in front of the eager local press and the curious public you enter the courtroom, where your lawyer pleads in vain for a conditional sentence on the grounds of mitigating circumstances. But the facts are clear and the sentence of the judge therefore is too.

You will have to spend many years in prison - which one, you don't hear yet. The next days, or perhaps weeks, you will stay in your cell at the local jail again. When you move back from the courtroom to the exit of the court-house, the sound of the rattling of your leg-irons, each time when the connecting chain hits the stone floor tiles of the corridor, sounds more ominous than ever. You will get used to them...

And now, first back to the county jail. Now you've been sentenced, you're aware that you indeed will have to wear this black and white striped prison jumpsuit the next years. And yes, because of that, on your way out of the courthouse those damned handcuffs also stay on.

Outside the prison van is already waiting for you. No, there is no chance to escape your fate. Too much police officers around, apart from your shackles - and your prison stripes, that will betray you. There is only one choice for you: to obey to the law and step inside.

And yes, this time, on your way back, you're not the only one in the prison van. As small as it is, there is space enough for two - or more...

Back in your cell at the county jail you've just to wait, till on some very early morning in the next days or weeks you're suddenly awakened and taken out for transport. The handcuffs and leg-irons you have to wear during the next hours already are waiting outside your cell. This time even a black box is added to your handcuffs, fixing them in an immovable way to the belly-chain padlocked at your back.

Outside, the special prison bus is already waiting for you. Inside that van, behind the driver's cabin, there is a lockable compartment for you and your fellow inmates, with bars on the windows. For the rest there are only very basic chairs on a steel floor. Now, you have a very long ride ahead of you, during which you will stay fully restrained the entire time. At no point will your shackles come off, that's strictly forbidden, not even allowed when you are given food and drink on the way, or have to piss, or when a short stop is made to pick up a couple of recently convicted inmates, already shackled, at the next county jail.

If you are unlucky, if you are considered a flight risk, you will not only have to wear the hand and foot cuffs that have already been put on you in advance, but you might also be chained to your place for the entire ride, presumably with your legs to a ring in the floor. As you can see, the necessary extra cuffing-equipment for this is already present in the bus in enough amounts to do so just behind the driver's seat.

It's a long drive of many hours from the small jail in your own county town to the huge isolated prison complex in the middle of nowhere. Then suddenly your new home for the next years comes into sight. The wires, the walls, the watch towers, al those frightening forbidding structures you can watch now for a couple of minutes through the windows of the prison van from the outside before it enters, make you immediately realize: once inside, there will be no way out.

And when the prison gate opens and the van finally drives into the court yard, you already catch a glimpse of the other inhabitants, all wearing exactly the same black and white striped prison uniform as you. You're not the only one here, that's for sure.... A new, harsh, unknown life with a lot of strict rules now lays ahead!

And when you are taken to your cell block for the first time, and you encounter a whole column of fellow prisoners while crossing the courtyard in your full restraints, you realize something else: outside of that cell block, your hands and feet will always be shackled for safety's sake, that fucking tight leather belt around your waist with those bloody handcuffs attached to it, will from now on become your standard equipment as soon as you leave it, heavy leg-irons included.

EXPERIENCE THE UNIQUE AMERICAN WAY OF PRISON LIFE!

I have started this new blog about one of my greatest phantasies: to experience a real American prison from the inside. After being transported to a huge state penitentiary of the maximum security category, surrounded by barbed wire, walls and moats, and the obligatory humiliating stripsearch immediately at arrival, a hidden severe world is welcoming all new inmates for many years to come, offering a lot of rest, partly to be spend in solitary confinement:

Barred cells, serious shackles, rattling chains, prison stripes and finally the famous chain gang - always secured in full restraints: that's the way i like it!

Well, and there is your cell, completely for your own, your home for the next years. Which one will be yours? Is your new neighbor already winking you? Will it be No.2, 4, 5, 6? They are all identical - in a good prison all inmates are treated equal, as they are all dressed the same, their individuality reduced to their identification number stamped on their plastic wristband and maybe printed on their new uniform too.

And then one of those cell-doors is opened for you, and you have to go inside. After your handcuffs and leg-irons are taken off, the guards leave your cell, the barred door is banged shut and you're left alone.

You're locked up now, and the only part of your captive body that you can now move past those damned iron bars of your cell by yourself are your hands. The rest remains inside and has to wait till the door will be unlocked again - next morning or next week or next month, or whenever, that's no longer up to you...

[inmate62763]

Get those cuffs and shackles on!

[astrianchan]

I was fully restrained using a standard setup: handcuffs connected to a waist chain, and leg irons. These measures are commonly used to ensure minimal movement, often seen during prisoner transport or controlled interactions. The restrictive setup serves as a stark reminder of the emphasis on safety and control in these environments.

[male-us-prison-experience]

THE SPECIAL SHACKLE-SHUFFLE IN PRISON STRIPES (PART II)

A new prisoner who is placed in full restraints for the first time in a way has to learn to walk again, because he is not yet used to wearing leg irons. And walking in leg-irons isn’t easy, regardless of the length of the connecting chain. You have to get used to that. This results in the famous shackle shuffle, which can be admired in many video clips. About that special kind of shackle-enforced shuffling I will talk in this blog another time. In this episode I would like to briefly focus on an aspect that mostly receives less attention. That is the rest of the prisoner's body position, as a result of being forced to wear the special leather restraining-belt with handcuffs.

Take a good look at this photo; I give a detail-view of it below. If you look closely, you will first see that the inmate, already clad in prison stripes, has slumped shoulders and holds his handcuffed hands in the middle of his crotch. That is of course a rather unnatural position, but the cuffs leave him no choice. Thanks to being attached to the belt, his hands not only pull his arms tightly down, but also tightly inwards, where you would normally let them hang relaxed at the side. You can of course hold them up, but that quickly becomes quite tiring. Especially those with relatively short arms have little room for maneuver, their arms will be just stretched from shoulders to belt.

Holding the hands far forward is also not possible due to the D-Ring. You perhaps can bend them a little forward on both its sides until the chain is taut against the arch of the D, but you can't keep that up indefinitely either. Result: you quickly just let them hang down.

However, in that case they will constantly press against your crotch and rub with every footstep. To avoid that, as this can quickly become irritating, you unconsciously adjust your posture. You pull in your stomach to make a bit room for your cuffed hands and you also bend your upper body slightly forward to make even more room below, and therefore you automatically stick your butt out back.

That is what you can see in this photo: as a result of the full restraints, the prisoner walks slightly bent forward all the time, and therefore automatically with his butt clearly pushed back and up. That is a very humiliating position to have to move around in or to enter the courthouse, especially if there are also many spectators or even photographers from the press present during such a prep walk to capture your arrival. Such a constantly visibly raised butt then gives you an extra feeling of great vulnerability, because in that case it is inevitably captured forever for a large audience in their pics too.

The leg-irons obviously will make that gait even more uncomfortable for the prisoner, as they force him to take careful steps and often look at the ground, which of course causes his butt to stick out in this humiliating way even further.

If you pay attention, you can also see it in many other prisoners walking in full restraints, this position that expresses powerlessness: the stomach drawn in, the upper body leaning slightly forward, the butt back and up. Sometimes more, sometimes less - a prisoner will always try to minimize the attention his bottom might attract, but the discomfort of his restraints often leaves him little choice. Here are a few examples, with the same psychologically uncomfortable body position as that of our main hero.

In the pic above, the protruding butt is somewhat hidden by the swinging end of the belt, but you can see from the prisoner's body position that all in all it is sticking out considerably. The triptych of the next photo is actually even more telling. Right from the front, in the right photo, at first sight nothing seems to be 'wrong'.

But in the middle photo, straight from the side, where the shackled inmate is taking long strides (the chain between his ankle cuffs is stretched to its maximum length), you can see, as a result of the tight fastening of the belt, a slightly rounded upper back above that, and below that the prominent arched bulge of his protruding buttocks. The jumpsuit accentuates that extra. The buttocks also look good in the photo on the left, from the back.

When wearing this kind of restraint-belt, the tendency to raise the butt is probably stronger in average than when wearing a belly chain, because the latter allows just a little more freedom of movement. As a rule, it is easier to slide it up a little further, unless it’s applied in an idiotic tight way, but then it will pinch you, and carrying it thus can become very painful and even unhealthy.

That risk is much lower with such a leather belt. It quickly becomes stuck. It can actually always be quite tight without causing any danger, and if it is placed exactly at the narrowest zone of the waist as tight as possible, it is virtually immobile due to its width.

This tightly applied belt also contributes to accentuating the inmates bum itself, because it firmly constricts the prisoner's abdomen and back from all sides. Due to that pressure, it forces the wearer to both hold in his stomach and arch his back slightly, and thus it creates automatically a concave lower back directly above the buttocks, thanks to which the already prominently protruding butt is even further accentuated. In most cases it therefore will be very difficult, or at least fatiguing, for an inmate shackled like this to prevent his bum from extending backward and upward.

You can also study that effect very well in this group photo - all four inmates of course wearing the same prison uniform (a black-and-white striped two-piece, with open plastic sandals, although not all in the same color!), and restrained in the same way , including leg-irons (recognizable in case of the second man from the right).

The enforced protruding butt is clearly visible on the leftmost prisoner, who looks back. The belt with the cuffs clearly pulls in his stomach. His shirt hides the effect a little, because it naturally stands out a bit wider, thereby partly concealing the butt part of the trousers that protrudes towards the back. If he would wear a jumpsuit, his literally outstanding butt would come in full view.

The second guy stands almost still, then it is easier to keep your back straight again. The third struggles to take the step up, and holds his hands very convulsively against his chest, as if he indeed wants to hold his butt at all costs, with that bloody photographer nearby. The fourth also just steps up, automatically straightening his back slightly.

The effect is also visible in this video-clip, during the regrettably rather short moments the inmate going to court is shown from the side. You can see his buttocks moving in a slightly unnatural position.

As mentioned: whether or not there is an effect probably depends largely on the arm length - and possibly also on the prisoner's own choice: to tolerate the discomfort of hands pressing against the crotch rather than the humiliating position of the helplessly pronounced buttocks raised up.

Here is a tableau of a whole series of prisoners who have all been strapped with the belt and the handcuffs. They all struggle with the question of what the best posture is. As a result, they all walk slightly differently than they would without the belt, with their butts further back - some more, some less. Some inmates are better at preventing this than others.

The two outer prisoners in the bottom row, seen from the front, are clearly making an effort to suppress the natural tendency to just stick their butts out in this situation. The two next to it, on either side of the large square detail shot in the middle, are equipped with a belly chain instead of a belt; for them the effect is less strong, but still present.

However in the case of the inmate on the pic we started with, that ass must really stick out very, very humiliatingly far to the rear. Comparing his posture to that of many others, in his case it must result in an extra pronounced upward standing bum. He struggles more than the others with finding the least awkward and embarrassing position while walking. In the photo at the top right, he has just gotten off the car and is still trying to walk upright and not give in to the natural tendency to bend over because of the belt. Walking like that isn't easy, as his concentrated, pained look shows. In the photo above left he therefore actually lets it all go, and his butt promptly shoots back and up.

At the same time he still seems to be trying frantically to suppress this with all force while climbing the steps - his gaze is still very tense - because such an emphatic presentation of your bottom in the context of the homosocial environment of a male prison quickly has a connotation of sexual submissiveness and sexual availability. His deeply felt degrading posture, and this is rather exceptional, for that reason is even noticeable from the front.

Finally: have a look again on the clip i gave a link to at the last entry ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vzE4JSmzLw) . Between 6:00 and 6:15 you see the inmate entering court from the side (see the technically bad, but clear video-still inserted here). This makes his buttocks stand out well - and because his upper body has been pulled forward by the belt and handcuffs, it is now clearly visible how he cannot prevent them from protruding very vulnerable far back, and how he is forced to emphatically present them in this humiliating situation to the already waiting photographer.

To be continued......

[inmate62763]

Chain him up.

[mus1g4]

Waiting to hear his sentence

[male-us-prison-experience]

A CRUCIAL TOOL OF DISCIPLINE IN MOST AMERICAN PRISONS: THE LEATHER WAIST BELT WITH STEEL HANDCUFFS IN FRONT

Well, let's start with a simple pic, which i like very much: a new prisoner, presumably just arrested a few days before, brought to the court-house for trial by two police-officers. They just brought them there with the car you see on the background.

This is always a very humiliating moment for a new prisoner, who in this case indeed does not look very happy. He now has to bridge the distance from the car to the front door of the courthouse, in full view of family, random onlookers and - if the crime for which he is to appear appeals to the imagination - often also the local (sometimes even national) press: the so-called perp walk. This can be just a few meters, but sometimes also a considerable distance.

The suspect no longer appears in his own civilian clothes, but has already put on a prison uniform. Presumably he was forced to wear it immediately after his incarceration in the local jail, prior to his first night behind bars.....

The bright orange color makes him very visible and makes him contrast sharply with the police officers behind him and all bystanders.

The stigmatizing effect of this will not go unnoticed by the wearer of this uniform: it clearly separates the (not yet convicted) criminal from the civil society that will soon keep him behind impenetrable concrete walls for many months or even many years because of the crime he has committed. from a state prison. The forced wearer of such a uniform immediately feels like an inmate, and it influences his mindset and his behavior. It often automatically makes them a bit more docile.

For this uniform, the prison has not opted for a so-called two-piece, trousers and shirt, but for a very basic one-piece jumpsuit, which is simply closed at the front with a row of six or seven silver-colored press studs one above the other. This was indeed done neatly, in accordance with prison regulations, so that the top snap button is not clearly visible. This also applies to the bottom one(s) for another reason. These jumpsuits are often much too big and fit around the wearer like a bag. But it fits well here - and it looks good on him too, I must add.

Most prisoners - but they don't have a say in that - would prefer a two-piece, because it is more practical and you look even more out of place in such a jumpsuit, especially with that row of clearly visible press studs on top of each other. Its compulsory wearing is experienced by many as extra humiliating. Perhaps this also plays a conscious role for the prison authorities, but such a jumpsuit is moreover considered 'safer' because it is more difficult to hide everything in it.

The guy is of course extra recognizable as a prisoner because, as is prescribed in almost all states for the transport of prisoners (and often also in court), he is carefully handcuffed. He wears a wide leather belt around his waist, to which a set of handcuffs is attached in a very simple but effective manner in the middle of the front. This combination is very effective in making any possible attempt at resistance impossible. There are circulating on the internet many pics showing inmates in court shackled this way, like this one.

Only after the belt is placed, with the buckle out of reach of his side at the rear, the cuffs are put on. At the front, where on a normal belt the buckle would be, there is fixed a large steel D-ring that protrudes straight forward. The D-Ring is wide enough to pull an open cuff through it. The short connecting chain between the two separate cuffs then passes through this D-ring, so that one handcuff hangs down on each side. Only thereafter are the handcuffs themselves placed on the prisoner's wrists one by one.

With that they are immediately inextricably attached to the belt, because the prisoner can now no longer possibly free himself from this situation – nor from the shackles, nor from the grip of the D-ring on his shackles. He is forced to keep his hands low in front of his crotch all the time, because the D-ring plus the short chain offer little room for maneuver. He can no longer do anything dangerous with them, and it is also completely impossible for him to hold them in front of his face to avoid the curious eyes of onlookers.

I’ve here inserted a photo of another prisoner in the courtroom itself, this time in a two-piece uniform, which clearly shows how in fact a normal belt has been reversed, with the buckle at the back. In addition, I deliver underneath a detailed photo that shows much better how exactly the handcuffs are attached. A video is also circulating on the Internet, showing how a brand new juvenile detainee is handcuffed in this way immediately after he has had to change clothes and put on his new (this time black-and-white striped) prison uniform. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vzE4JSmzLw

An alternative to the leather belt with handcuffs consists of a steel chain around the waist, to which the handcuffs are attached, sometimes in advance, sometimes on the side. The latter is a much more natural position than both hands right in front of your crotch. Although steel is more uncomfortable than leather, most prisoners - but of course they are never asked  - seem to prefer it. This socalled belly-chain offers more freedom of movement, as you can with some physical flexibility move it up or down rather far. The belt is usually stuck to your waist. Because your belt is really fixed, so are your handcuffs. Even swearing an oath in court is this way difficult, as the pic underneath shows. Of course, seen from the opposite perspective, it is very safe and therefore convenient for the guards.

Many prisoners find having to wear such a leather belt, to which the handcuffs are attached by inserting them through the D-ring, and in which case the handcuffs after locking also automatically are attached to the belt too, more humiliating than a belly-chain with handcuffs on it. It feels a bit like being a dog on a leash. The belt indeed can offer a good grip for the guard...

Moreover, a leather belt around the waist is traditionally a symbol of male pride and self-confidence, hence the striking buckles in cowboy culture. There, such a belt embodies male freedom. And that male symbol of freedom is turned into its opposite here: by attaching his handcuffs, to a prisoner it becomes the symbol of his loss of freedom, of his powerlessness.

The photo ends just above the prisoner's knees. Although his feet are not raised, it is almost certain that he is, as its called, 'fully restrained', meaning that in addition to the belt and handcuffs, he is also wearing foot cuffs. That is the standard combination, especially for prisoners on transport. Naturally, these were also applied to the video clip just now. There is little chance that they were omitted in this case. Also he will thus have looked like this outside on the street.

[inmate62763]

[male-us-prison-experience]

Of course in full restraints. No half measures! As is written on the wall of his barred cell: "Inmates outside of cell must be cuffed & shackled at all times". First handcuffed, then black box over it, then attached to a belly-chain, then the leg-irons locked on, and finally hand- and foot cuffs connected with an extra chain. Out you go!

Getting prepared for transfer to the big house.

[mus1g4]

Co-defendant Inmates at Court Hearing

Black and white scrubs handcuffed in front

[male-us-prison-experience]

They just arrived at the prison and have had their socks and shoes confiscated, as well as wearing belly chains and handcuffs. They are happy, because they will have the life they always dreamed of, and soon they will have their beautiful uniforms, and they will lie in their cells for a good part of their lives.

It seems indeed so, that they are enjoying their situation. And of course it someway must be rather exciting for a boy to be captured and shackled for the first time. But will they remain so cheerful when they are taken away in a special prison van to a high-security juvenile detention center? A severe penitentiary like Pendleton Maximum Security Juvenile Prison in Indiana?

These - again: four - juvenile prisoners in this clip, still wearing their own clothes, but now with their hands locked in a stacked position into a black box, and with their feet provided with leg-irons, seem quite intimidated by their new surroundings upon arrival.

[inmate62763]

Prisoners at San Diego Central Jail.