Is there some safety/security reason for this, or does it just make the laundry easier?
No belts would be my guess.
Making the laundry easier seems enough of a good reason to me, actually. Every two garments you can make into one cuts the amount of sorting you have to do to redistribute those garments back out after they’ve been laundered.
They don’t always. In county jails, often they have two-piece, scrublike outfits like these. Some places still use stripes (this is more common in Texas and other southern states, I think) and sometimes they are color coded based on what security level you are on. In state prisons, it also varies quite a bit- inmates in Angola in Louisiana mostly wear blue pants, white tshirts and denim work shirts, as you can see in this article.
I visited the exhibit on the imprisonment of the suffragettes at the old prison in Lorton, VA (which apparently isn’t the actual facility they were at but was close). They had a mock-up and I asked whether or not the prisoners actually wore dresses like in the scene as wouldn’t it be easy to hide something under your skirt. They said it was authentic.
When did women’s prisons & jails make the switch from dresses to pants? Or are there still facilities that require female inmates to wear dresses?
You also want a garment that’s easy to standardize and mass-produce in one-size-fits-none, as well as something that’s distinctive and unlike what anyone wears on the outside to make it easier to recapture an escapee.
[Paul Lynde]
Because chiffon wrinkles so easily.
[/Paul Lynde]
I can hear him saying this!
My first thought was what Chronos said, something that immediately announces the wearer as wearing prison clothes.
Back around 1990 state prisoners in Minnesota were allowed to wear street clothes. I understand this was a legacy from the soft on crime era and is no longer the case.
In my prison they wear shirts and pants regardless of custody level. The colors of the uniform are different based on custody level, but the uniform is the same. A patch is put on each inmate’s uniform so it is known who it belongs to and when laundry arrives, inmates sort it out and put the tops with the pants for the inmates to pick up.
SFC Schwartz
In NY prisons they wear green pants and shirts. The pants have an elastic waistband because belts are prohibited. Prisoners are allowed to wear personal clothing in many areas but only certain colors are allowed. Prisoners on the job, on a visit, or on a trip are only allowed to wear their prison uniform.
It’s optional. There is a uniform skirt for female prisoners but virtually none of them choose to wear it.
It’s a good question. This might be an interesting area of research. Two things come to mind. First of all, women wearing trousers in public didn’t become generally accepted in the West (it was common elsewhere in the world) until at least the middle of the 20th century, so if women were being issued pants in prisons in 1890 that might be notable as a departure from generally acceptable social practice, possibly to the extent that it would have been considered crossdressing. Second of all, I wonder how many women inmates there really were back then and how dangerous they would have been considered. Were the conditions of imprisonment different (e.g. different physical facilities or different living conditions in the same facility) or were they commonly fast-tracked for parole?
Why not? Are there cultural pressures against it? Is it extremly unflattering (though, one could say that about most prison uniforms)?
Here’s a link to information about the exhibit: http://workhousemuseums.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=8
The exhibit is at what used to be the Lorton Prison. The Occoquan Workhouse, where the suffragettes were held, was nearby.
You’re asking for an explanation of women’s fashion?
At Milwaukee County Jail (Wisconsin) general population male jail inmates wear 2 piece bright orange shirt/pants with stretch waist band, no belts. Women wear the same in blue. The exception to this are those in discipline who wear the same in bright red.
Inmates who are known fighters, even if in GP and not discipline, wear a one piece pink jumpsuit. They are the only ones who get a jumpsuit.
All inmates get green socks, green underwear, and flip flops for shoes.