If you often watch American TV shows, you will see that prisoners often wear orange jumpsuits, while in Vietnam and some other countries, they wear striped clothing. Have you ever wondered why that is? Or do the authorities want to liken prisoners to oranges in a cage or poor zebras? All will be revealed right now.
First, why do prisoners need uniforms?
To understand why black and white or orange uniforms have become popular worldwide, we need to understand the purpose of this type of clothing. Regardless of the era, the requirement for the clothing of criminals is to help easily distinguish this group from ordinary people. This distinction helps in managing and detecting prisoners more easily.
In a prison, there are guards, prisoners, and people doing other jobs, so it is necessary to distinguish prisoners from these groups, and the best way is for each person in each department to wear a different outfit. Moreover, if prisoners escape, the special clothing will also reveal them when they mingle with people outside, at least until they change into other clothes, and thus the idea of uniforms for prisoners was born. Of course, prisoners are not very interested in this.
In the East, during the feudal period, prisoners' clothing was usually white, and more specifically, it was sometimes gray. Generally, in terms of color, there is nothing special; there would be a Chinese character on the chest that reads "prisoner." This character is quite easy to recognize for those who often watch historical films, as it is framed and indicates a person who is imprisoned. Sometimes there are even more gruesome ways to distinguish prisoners, such as cutting off ears, noses, or marking certain characters on their faces. In this case, it mainly appears in wars with the implication of humiliating the opponent rather than distinguishing prisoners from ordinary people.
In the West, going back in time from the 17th to the 19th century, many European countries forced prisoners to go barefoot throughout their imprisonment. Therefore, shoes were the basic clothing of the people at that time, while prisoners went barefoot. Special clothing for prisoners only officially appeared during the reign of Queen Victoria of England around the 19th century. This outfit included a white jacket, white pants, and a hat, all stamped with an arrow indicating royal property. It sounds relatively complete, but winter in Europe is very cold, and such clothing does not help at all.
Before the U.S. and some other countries used orange clothing for prisoners, they also used what is similar to what we have in Vietnam now, which means black and white stripes. At that time, an ordinary person would choose clothing that was either white, black, or colorful; very few would wear striped clothes like that. The classic black and white striped design is believed to have first appeared at New Gate prison in New York, USA, in 1815, as the production cost was low, and the black and white striped prison uniform also had a psychological effect on prisoners. It depicted the image of prison bars, so the wearer would feel imprisoned not only in their own prison but also trapped in their own body. This is considered a form of psychological punishment, serving as a constant reminder of the shameful behaviors of the prisoners in the past. The Daiton brothers in the famous animated film Lucky Luke, who are prisoners that many people grew up with, also wear a striped outfit, but it is yellow and black, not black and white. Perhaps because in animated films, yellow stands out and is more interesting than black and white, or that is how history is.
If anyone understands this reason thoroughly, please leave your comments below. Speaking of the black and white stripes, in Vietnam, prisoners also wear this outfit, and it can be said that its recognizability is extremely high. That’s why many fashion brands have been unable to sell any black and white striped shirts because simply, you have to want to go to prison to wear such clothes.
What about the color orange?
The truth is that orange is a color with extremely high recognizability; it stands out a lot, and it is not coincidental that safety equipment such as life jackets and flotation devices are all orange. Workers in sensitive areas that need to be closely monitored also wear orange, signaling incidents or accidents in orange, and the black box on airplanes, although called a black box, is also orange to make the search process easier. In the early 20th century in the U.S., prisoners switched from black and white stripes to orange. They believed that the form of mental torture with black and white stripes, symbolizing prison bars, was more than enough.
The black and white striped shirt inadvertently became a symbol of evil, negativity, and stigma. It made many people feel resentful and hate everything around them rather than focus on positive things. Instead, it is enough to easily identify prisoners, and from there, orange has been used more. Many prisons are moving towards a humane rehabilitation approach for prisoners to increase the rate of reintegration and enhance education rather than simply punishing as before. Prisoner clothing has also been changed to khaki jumpsuits in colors like red and orange, easily distinguishable from the crowd. However, not every country chooses orange as prisoner clothing because it can easily be confused with the uniforms of some road workers or electricians.
Many countries around the world have creatively remixed the black and white stripes with some colors like red-orange to help prison managers identify them more easily. Countries with more positive thinking use muted colors like gray and green to express neutrality. They hope that prisoners do not feel ashamed and can quickly reintegrate into normal life after being released. That’s why some situations arise, such as the story of the happiest prison in the world.
For example, a prison named Haiden in Norway allows prisoners to wear their own clothes and freely move around the prison grounds, meaning they can become fashion designers if they want. They also easily enjoy the flow of natural light and air in this prison. Norway has a comprehensive social safety net, including retirement benefits and educational assistance for prisoners after their release. Norwegian prisoners receive about $7.6 a day, which they can save or spend in the shops within the prison.
Also in Norway, there is Bastoy prison where prisoners are allowed to dress comfortably around the prison, with no barbed wire or electric fences, no armed guards, and no fierce dogs waiting to attack. Prisoners live in small, brightly painted wooden houses with full amenities. Six prisoners live together in such a house. Here, they do not have to wear prison uniforms, have private rooms, and cook for themselves like normal people. Every day they farm, grow crops, and chop wood without a morning alarm; they usually teach themselves to wake up on time and learn to be responsible for their work. They work from about 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM, and during meals, they enjoy many delicious dishes like fish balls, shrimp, and chicken. After that, they can freely do what they like for entertainment, sunbathe on the vast beaches, ride horses, and in winter, they can enjoy the sauna, and there is even a tennis court for relaxation.
Not only that, but prisoners at Bastoy are allowed to contact their families and friends using public phones on the island. Each person can meet a maximum of three relatives or friends a week, and notably, there is a private room arranged to help them fulfill their emotional needs with their spouses. Also in Norway, when the PS3 gaming console was newly released, a prisoner named Anders Breivik at a prison in Norway made demands and threatened to go on a hunger strike if the prison did not upgrade the gaming machines from PS2 to PS3. He also requested a more modern computer setup to type comfortably. This prisoner claimed he was living in hell and threatened to go on a hunger strike if his demands were not met as he wished. Thank you for following this story. I hope you understand why prisoners wear such uniquely designed outfits.