So I was watching a documentary about the Aryan Brotherhood, which is a notorious prison gang*. In the documentary they kept showing the mugshots of two of the founders Tyler Bingham and Barry Mills.
They kept showing these two pictures during the documentary whenever these men were mentioned. Considering that they are both in prison, the pictures looked to me like mugshots.
But wait, they let you wear sunglasses during mugshots? Considering that it is the only picture of the man that the media seems to have, I would think it is the official mugshot.
- You never know when you are going to get sent to max security prison for running over a heffalump or something. You need to know your alliances and groups.
A mugshot would have a placard in the photo and the prisoner wouldn’t be wearing a prison uniform yet.
Not entirely correct. Many jails take photos of subjects without the familiar placard. Sometimes the placard is added digitally, sometimes it isn’t. In some places the placard is still used, and in some places a chalkboard or dry erase board is used in it’s stead. In any case, it is completely plausible that an arrested subjects photo would not have the familiar date and booking number on it.
Also, many people are arrested while wearing clothes that are not acceptable to wear in jail or even in the booking room. This can be as minor as a sleeveless shirt. These subjects are “changed over” immediately into inmate clothing, even before they are photographed or fingerprinted.
When people are arrested with eyeglasses and sunglasses on their person, they are also photographed wearing those glasses. This is in case they committed other crimes while wearing those items. The photos are available to other law enforcement agencies who may be investigating other crimes committed by the subject. Taking a suspects photo while wearing sunglasses is common. But another photo without the glasses is also taken. This is also true in the case of false mustaches/beards and wigs.
Hey, they didn’t even make the Joker take off his makeup!
Could also be prescription eyeglasses with a tint. A guy I grew up with wore glasses that looked dark enough to be sunglasses.
Are we sure it comes off? I mean, isn’t that his own skin now?
Trinopus (“id eez nod a bask, bamzelle, id eez by fathe!”)
Really, I think the first guy’s creepy facial hair should come off before the second guy’s sunglasses.
I have heard of this sort of thing.
It all depends on the police department or the jail the suspect is brought to. Today, it costs nothing to snap 30 pictures of the suspect, where-as not terribly long ago it cost something in man power and equipment to snap a single picture.
So today, police departments have more reason to take pictures of the suspect with sunglasses on and then with sunglasses off, hats on, hats off, jackets on, jackets off, etc.
Police departments across the country will vary of course. And, I would like to see the prisons take even more information from the convicts, like a voice clip, and keep more and better DNA on file.
Except we were doing that back in '82 when I started, sans digital cameras. Shots with/without glasses, wigs, even false teeth. It was common to take anywhere from 2-20 pics of a subject with** no thought of the expense.**
Your tax dollars at work.
Those don’t look like mughsots. They look like pictures from their prison ID cards (both appear to be wearing prison uniforms). When you’re taking a picture for an ID card, you want the picture to look like the person as much as possible. So if they normally wear glasses, you have them wear glasses for the picture. (I’m assuming Mills’ dark glasses are prescription.)
