# Does wearing a prison uniform on the street get you into trouble? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2012, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189 "2012-10-09T08:17:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/1 "2012-10-09T08:17:55Z")
Prisoners often wear [orange prison uniforms](http://www.onsale-usa.com/Wholesale-Discount-USA/usa-on-sale-172387-prison-uniform-accept-order-designed-as-your-request-.jpg). These archetypical uniforms are sold freely to the general public over the internet. As far as I know, you aren’t breaking any law if you’re wearing one of these and are not actually a prisoner. So what would happen if you wear a orange prison uniform in town? Would you be stopped by a cop on every street corner? Would concerned citizens call 911 to report an escaped prisoner? Would you be denied service at Starbucks, McDonalds or at the post office? Could you be sitting leisurely on a bench in the park adjacent to the court house, reading a newspaper? After all, a prison uniform is not by any means indecent. Let’s assume this is not during Halloween or in connection to some kind of political protest. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/2 "2012-10-09T08:25:39Z")
I would suspect you’d attract attention from passing police officers, at least, and it’s possible (especially if you’re in a city/town near a prison) that citizens would be alarmed enough to be calling you in. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/3 "2012-10-09T08:28:48Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > … Would concerned citizens call 911 to report an escaped prisoner? … Definitely. And there would be an obligation to dispatch a police officer to check it out. Hopefully an officer would discuss the clothing choice with the person and advise them of the fine line between freedom of expression and disorderly conduct. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/4 "2012-10-09T08:33:07Z")
You might hit it big with a police brutality lawsuit or unlawful arrest lawsuit though! Or you could just face a lot of pointless harassment from ultimately well meaning citizens and cops. Other ideas for testing boundaries are going through customs with condoms full of flour(this one already paid off for one woman!) or perhaps IVing sterile saline on a park bench and then feigning stupor. Walking around handcuffed while exercising free speech to ask for a bolt cutter is another. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/5 "2012-10-09T08:39:41Z")
The guys from \*Jackass \*did it once, but they did _just a little_ more than just dress in a prison uniform. > [@](#): > > **How much trouble did you get into with the LAPD when you were pretending to be an escaped convict for the Jackass pilot?** > > Wow. I think I’ve had guns drawn on me by cops three different times, but that was the first time. I dressed up in an L.A. County prison orange jumpsuit and I was handcuffed, and we went to a hardware store and asked the guys at the counter to help me saw them off. The owner freaked out and kicked everyone out of the store, including my [hidden] cameraman. So I was in there sawing off the cuffs for no one, and when I went outside the cops were coming. Four carloads of cops had their guns on me. The first cop on the scene didn’t even put her car in park. She gets out and puts her gun on me, but her patrol car keeps going and hits a light pole, and I was like, “Oh man, we’re in trouble now!” They thought I really was a convict, but we talked them down. Still, they wrote one of the girls working on the show a ticket and the owner of the store sued us for loss of business. We tried to use the footage in the movie, but the city of West Hollywood said that if we showed that footage anywhere they would prosecute the girl that got the ticket. I wish they’d written me the ticket-I would gladly take the hit for the footage. So that bit’s just shown to friends now. > **[INDOSPORT99: Link Platform Resmi Slot Gacor Hari Ini Online Terpercaya](https://www.chrisnieratko.com)** > > INDOSPORT99 adalah platform resmi link slot gacor hari ini dengan fitur terbaru slot online gampang menang maxwin sebagai situsdaftar situs slot. ---
**Author:** ![benbo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@benbo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benbo1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/6 "2012-10-09T09:12:19Z")
I routinely do it on Halloween. I always put on a fake nametag of a celebrity (OJ, Bernie Madoff) so it’s obvious to any cop what’s up. never had any problem. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/7 "2012-10-09T09:25:03Z")
> [@benbo1](#): > > I routinely do it on Halloween. I always put on a fake nametag of a celebrity (OJ, Bernie Madoff) so it’s obvious to any cop what’s up. never had any problem. That would be valuable advice for somebody who actually **is** a prisoner who has just escaped and who is still wearing his orange jump suit: Put a Bernie Madoff or an O J Simpson name tag on. This would keep a cop guessing: “Is this a funny guy or is this the prisoner who escaped from the court house ten minutes ago?” ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/8 "2012-10-09T10:36:19Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Would concerned citizens call 911 to report an escaped prisoner? Yes. Happens from time to time here. 99% of the time it’s someone that got released from the county jail and got their orange out with their other property. Or, they didn’t have a shirt, pants, or both when booked and the CO’s working in the jail release office let them out with orange rather than being naked. The Sheriff has boxes of donated clothes, but if they’re out or none fit sometimes orange it is. I can tell you the CO’s get bitched at and written up when they do it, but it still happens. Then our dispatchers get calls about an escaped inmate. It never is. The first thing an escaped inmate would do is ditch that orange. I know because every former inmate I’ve F.I.'d after a call tells me that. The 1% of the time it’s not a former inmate it’s some guy who got himself orange inmate clothes just to be a dink. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/9 "2012-10-09T16:55:52Z")
One small Wisconsin town has 3 different state prisons in it. A large chunk of the townfolk work in one or other of the prisons. Even on halloween, it wouldn’t be a good idea to dress up like an inmate in this town. Do it any other day, and it could result in serious bodily harm. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/10 "2012-10-09T19:59:42Z")
Surely someone must offer such outfits for the groomsmen in a novelty wedding. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/11 "2012-10-09T20:14:14Z")
How about ski masks? Frigid February day and you wear your ski mask into the bank. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/12 "2012-10-09T23:32:06Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > How about ski masks? Frigid February day and you wear your ski mask into the bank. I’ve been a convenience store clerk. That is CRUEL. One of my regular customers actually did that to me once. Cold morning, he was headed out for a day of hunting, simply hadn’t dawned on him how I was going to react. As soon as he noticed, off came the mask and out poured apologies. I was willing to let it go once my pulse came back down, since this was a very nice guy and it had basically been an accidental scare. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/13 "2012-10-10T07:19:15Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Surely someone must offer such outfits for the groomsmen in a novelty wedding. For the groom getting a wife sentence, lol. Declan ---
**Author:** ![benbo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@benbo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benbo1)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/14 "2012-10-10T07:25:20Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Surely someone must offer such outfits for the groomsmen in a novelty wedding. > [@Declan](#): > > For the groom getting a wife sentence, lol. > > Declan OK, SDMB needs a FB-type ‘like’ app. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/15 "2012-10-10T15:29:19Z")
I once lived near Phoenix and Scottsdale tourist junk marketing. I’ve always wondered why these places do not sell pink under pants for men stamped Sheriffs Dept. or some such. Perhaps they do and it don’t make the news. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/16 "2012-10-10T15:52:52Z")
> [@grude](#): > > You might hit it big with a police brutality lawsuit or unlawful arrest lawsuit though! > > Or you could just face a lot of pointless harassment from ultimately well meaning citizens and cops. I’m not sure it would be _pointless_ harassment. Or even harassment. You’d be purposefully inviting the negative attention. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/17 "2012-10-10T16:59:38Z")
I’d probably file that under “legal, but a huge hassle for no really good reason.” Though I can see a statute prohibiting the wearing of prison uniforms by people not required to wear them standing up in court (possibly). A couple of weeks ago I did in fact see someone promoting a book wearing a\* prison uniform in the park in front of the courthouse. \*clearly fake ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/18 "2012-10-10T17:40:46Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > I once lived near Phoenix and Scottsdale tourist junk marketing. I’ve always wondered why these places do not sell pink under pants for men stamped Sheriffs Dept. or some such. Perhaps they do and it don’t make the news. I hate Sheriff Joe, but I thought I’d post the link anyway:[http://www.pinkunderwear.com](http://www.pinkunderwear.com) ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-wearing-a-prison-uniform-on-the-street-get-you-into-trouble/637189/19 "2012-10-10T19:51:55Z")
Some time after High School a group of guys who went to the tech school, where they had to wear blue coveralls, decided to put prison markings on on them. First they were thrown out of a restaurant, and the restaurant also called the police on them. They were late getting back to their classes only to find they owed the school $55.00 per coveralls. They had used permanent markers. The police made it abundantly clear they would not wear them out in public ever, unless they wanted orange ones for real.