# When/why stripes for prisoners, and when/why did they stop
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-stripes-for-prisoners-and-when-why-did-they-stop/546191
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 10, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-stripes-for-prisoners-and-when-why-did-they-stop/546191 "2010-07-10T04:48:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-stripes-for-prisoners-and-when-why-did-they-stop/546191/1 "2010-07-10T04:48:17Z")
I’m aware of chain gangs to concentration camps. I wonder what the real beginning and end and rationale were.
Leo
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-stripes-for-prisoners-and-when-why-did-they-stop/546191/2 "2010-07-10T04:55:12Z")
The end hasn’t happened yet, at least for some prisoners in my state. I think the idea is to make their clothing visually distinctive, to discourage escape attempts or other mischief. There are quite a few prisoners on some sort of trustee status…they mow the grass around the Courthouse, pick up trash, clean public buildings, etc. The prisoner uniform makes it clear what their status is, and they’ll get reported if they do things they aren’t allowed to do…
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-stripes-for-prisoners-and-when-why-did-they-stop/546191/3 "2010-07-10T05:10:02Z")
The horizontal stripes make the prisoners look fat, so they don’t get all cocky and think they’re too good for prison.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-why-stripes-for-prisoners-and-when-why-did-they-stop/546191/4 "2010-07-10T05:25:51Z")
Wikipedia to the rescue!
> [@](#):
>
> Prison uniforms in the United States often consist of a distinctive orange or yellow jumpsuit or two piece surgical scrub set to make escape more difficult, as it is difficult for an escaped inmate to avoid recognition and recapture in such a distinctive attire. Originally a horizontal white and black bee-striped uniform were used. And although the old style is no longer in use, striped scrubs and jumpsuits are making a come back all over the US.
>
> Striped prison uniforms commonly used in the 19th century were abolished in the United States early in the 20th century because their continued use as a badge of shame was considered undesirable.[6] Through most of the twentieth century attitudes were different towards philosophies of rehabilitation. Fair treatment of prisoners and a growing number of non-violent, working class offenders prompted such a change in attitudes, and clothing and conditions changed to serve the concept of rehabilitation rather than punishment. As a result, work clothes were introduced, perhaps because of the concept of honest labor helping to turn an inmate into an honest citizen. Blue jeans and light blue denim or chambray work shirts became the norm, a tradition still followed in some state prison systems today. In federal prisons, this concept was introduced in the form of khaki pants and shirts, still in use.
>
> Only within the last twenty years have jumpsuits and scrubs become popular, and mostly out of economic issues. In many cases, prison uniforms usually consist of clothing better suited to the comfort and durability required for long term inmates, and these new uniforms are thus used mostly in local jails for short term inmates and offenders awaiting trial or transportation to a more permanent facility.
>
> A recent trend to use uniforms as a measure of punishment has become increasingly popular, Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona resorts to stripes and harsh conditions for his inmates, including pink underpants for his male charges.[7] Striped uniforms in general have made a huge comeback into the jail and prison system, for a variety of reasons, such as mistaking jumpsuit-clad workers or scrub-clad nurses/doctors as inmates. False reporting of people in similar clothing has become a problem in some counties, and so many have switched back to using striped uniforms due to the unambiguous nature of these garments being associated with inmates.
>
> 6 Pratt, John Clark (2002). Punishment and civilization: penal tolerance and intolerance in modern society. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage. p. 76. ISBN 0-7619-4753-1. “The distinctive prison stripes were abolished in 1904. …stripes had come to be looked upon as a badge of shame and were a constant humiliation and irritant to many prisoners’ (Report of the New York (State) Prison Department, 1904: 22)”
> 7 “The sheriff who issues pink underwear”, People’s Weekly World, 12 February 2004