# What is this strange garment (in booking photo)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 26, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362 "2014-02-26T23:21:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/21 "2014-02-27T19:00:14Z")
> [@Foggy](#):
>
> I don’t think this is entirely fair. Playing the Devils Advocate for a moment here.
>
> The story doesn’t give much details but it did mention that Luecke (the substitute) had no prior criminal convictions. **Maybe this is a mental heath or medication issue** , and not a case of _“someone like this made it through the screening”_.
At his age, there’s always the possibility of a stroke.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/22 "2014-02-27T19:20:41Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> At his age, there’s always the possibility of a stroke.
😛
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/23 "2014-02-27T21:48:19Z")
So they have him on a suicide watch and dressed up in a suicide vest? Cause he got caught jerking off?
> [@Arlo Guthrie](#):
>
> Obie said he was going to put
> Us in the cell. Said, “Kid, I’m going to put you in the cell, I want your
> Wallet and your belt.” And I said, “Obie, I can understand you wanting my
> Wallet so I don’t have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you
> Want my belt for?” And he said, “Kid, we don’t want any hangings.” I
> Said, “Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?”
> Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the
> Toilet seat so I couldn’t hit myself over the head and drown, . . .
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/24 "2014-02-28T20:03:07Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Never heard of those garments. Looks like something an alien race on _Star Trek_ would wear.
They’re very very simplex. Just a one piece vest shape that closes in the back with Velcro. There is no place to hide anything and there really isn’t any way an inmate can use it to harm himself.
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> So they have him on a suicide watch and dressed up in a suicide vest? Cause he got caught jerking off?
Remember, when someone is in custody the liability for their safety is heavy upon the agency holding them. No chances are taken. Even an inkling of something can land an inmate on suicide watch or in special needs (2 separate places withing a correctional facility, but gowns are worn in both). No special hearing is needed to transfer an inmate to either, it is at the sole discretion of the facility (the inmate is already in custody, after all) and the inmate has limited recourse to get himself out of those locations and back into general population.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/25 "2014-02-28T22:01:44Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> High school kids go down to some still-tender ages, and this is not an inner-city school…
Um…what? (The last bit.)
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/26 "2014-02-28T23:40:20Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> So they have him on a suicide watch and dressed up in a suicide vest? Cause he got caught jerking off?
If you work in a school and get caught committing a sex crime then you are in big trouble and your chances of working again are pretty slim. I can see why he might be considered a suicide risk.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/27 "2014-03-01T00:00:52Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> Um…what? (The last bit.)
This is a city where you can raise kids without them being exposed to every shit facet of weirdness by the time they start high school.
So there is some chance of a non terminally jaded kid passing Mr Jerky.
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/28 "2014-03-01T00:03:12Z")
> [@Colophon](#):
>
> If you work in a school and get caught committing a sex crime then you are in big trouble and your chances of working again are pretty slim. I can see why he might be considered a suicide risk.
He’s 72. I’d doubt never being able to work again is a big problem. Never being allowed within 100 feet of kids, that’s a problem. (For him, not the rest of us.)
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/29 "2014-03-01T00:06:37Z")
I want one of those. They look toasty and comfy, and I’d be the envy of my neighborhood. It would also keep the bears away.
What bears? See, it works!
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/30 "2014-03-01T01:01:52Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> I want one of those. They look toasty and comfy
They’re awful. A thick twill material that’s as comfy as a burlap bag. It’s rather scratchy and stiff as hell.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/31 "2014-03-01T01:21:15Z")
> [@pkbites](#):
>
> They’re awful. A thick twill material that’s as comfy as a burlap bag. It’s rather scratchy and stiff as hell.
That sounds like the voice of experience. Worse than wool?
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/32 "2014-03-01T01:38:03Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> That sounds like the voice of experience.
I got pulled off the road once and reassigned to jail duty for 18 months. (be careful of who you support in an election :rolleyes: ). About 10% of inmates end up in a location where the suicide gowns are required they wear. So I handled those many times. Not a comfortable fabric.
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### Author:  [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-strange-garment-in-booking-photo/682362/33 "2014-03-01T01:42:39Z")
The Yahoo headline said that he was _furiously_ masturbating. I guess that vest is for _everyone’s_ protection.
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