#prison uniform

[inmate62763]

[inmate8213]

A heavy-handed headshave on the floor of a prison cell, handcuffed and kneeling over a filthy toilet. Not exactly the most glamorous haircut I've ever received 😈

[docflrn]

[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.

[inmate52246]

I committed a crime. There's no denying that.

I'm going to prison. There's no denying that either.

The only question left: how long?

The plea deal I accept clarified I could be sentenced "up to 30 years". That's pretty vague. Maybe it will be 5 years? 10 years? God forbid, all 30??

It's wild to think that my fate is in the hands of a judge that barely knows me. I am powerless to them. They alone will determine how long I'll be in my uniform and shackles. And they don't know me, apart from my case.

[prisoner9494]

perp walked at Franklin County Jail

[serve-303]

me at the police station been put in a prisoner suit for ever....

[inmate27509]

[inmate62763]

Chain him up.

[gsforce44]

Red jumpsuits are brighter pt.1

I would not have said that orange is the new black. Red shines in jail.

[kaylanwayne]

Christmas and New Year in prison

Christmas and New Year's in prison is a little different, since there are no decorations, no unusual meals or gifts (except for those improvised gifts that the officers might consider contraband), and we don't even have the right to visitors on those days; for 5 or 6 days, half of the prison staff are on holiday and spend Christmas and New Year's Eve with their families, while we spend almost the whole day staring at the dull gray walls of our cells, as the prison is located practically in the middle of nowhere, far from any town, we can't see the fireworks, and even if there were fireworks here, we wouldn't be able to see them as our cells have no windows, so we have to be content with watching the officers happily hugging each other through our bars. At least me and inmate 2398 are lucky enough to have become cellmates over the last few months, having each other to talk to has made everything more bearable and we feel less alone, we try to find some comfort even locked in our cells, of course it's still embarrassing to have to use the toilet in front of her and sometimes we fight over silly things, but it's something common between cellmates, overall it's been amazing living with her and I'll love sharing this cell with her next year and for the rest of my life

[docflrn]

[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...

[inmate52246]

Facing the consequences of my actions. Ready to hear how many years I'll be wearing this jumpsuit.

[tightsweatyclothes]

Inside the cage it is featureless, blank, and outside the cage it is featureless, blank. Her world now consists of the steel bars, the steel floor, the dim light with no source. She sits, and the floor pokes at her ankles, her legs. She stands, and after some time her legs get tired. She lies down, and her shoulders and back cry out in discomfort. She leans against the bars, and the thin and protruding bars dig into her back. The temperature and humidity are kept unbearably high, and underneath the thick impermeable layer it is torture. The mask barely lets her breathe, the gag barely lets her utter a sound. Aside from her footsteps, her breathing, her gagged cries of frustration reduced to soft growls, there is silence, not a breath of wind to break the humid muggy stillness.

Nobody comes to check on her, nobody comes to visit. She is constantly hungry, constantly thirsty, her bladder constantly full. Itching all over from the sweat, she pries at the hood, at the gag, at the belt, but her hands are reduced to fingerless paws, useless. Another attempt to get the suit off, another growl of frustration.