If you've ever watched Orange is the New Black, Shawshank Redemption, or any of the ubiquitous Law
and Order series, you probably have a few ideas about what prison is like—including the fashion.
As far back as the 1820s, the standard prison uniform was a black and white
striped jumpsuit. There are a few explanations floating around to explain that high-contrast
look. Many sources say it was meant to symbolize the bars of a jail cell,
others that it was easily distinguishable from non-prison garb. It may have been
meant to humiliate the wearer or just been cheap to produce.
Whatever the reason or reasons for its one-time popularity, the scheme started
to fall out of favor in the early 20th century. It eventually gave way to solid-color jumpsuits
that were intended to make prisoners highly noticeable in case of escape. Orange was
popular for its visibility, but in recent years, the bright color seems to be headed
back out of fashion. Many prisons are bringing the stripes back for a more “punitive” look,
even stating that the public prefers the pattern. Prison jumpsuits actually come in
pretty much every shade these days, including hot pink—which some jailers use as punishment. There
is so much wrong with that fact that I don’t know where to start, so let’s just move on.
Hi, I’m Justin Dodd, and orange being the new black is just one of the misconceptions
about prison that I’m going to discuss today, from phone calls to food. Let’s get started!
You only have one phone call. It’s in every cop drama you’ve ever watched:
When someone is arrested, they have the right to make a single phone call. Sometimes there’s
an agonizing choice: Do you use your one phone call to relay some critical piece of
information in a coded message to your significant other? Or, as common sense would dictate,
do you call your lawyer? Who, if this is a real drama, is ALSO your significant other.
Well, it seems that—for people in the United States—the right to a call varies depending
on where you’re arrested. The Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts went through and examined
the relevant laws state-by-state. They found that while most states do allow some form of
phone call, others don’t. California law, for example, allows three phone calls immediately
upon booking unless it’s physically impossible, and authorities have up to three hours to get
the arrestee somewhere to use the phone. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, many sources
say there’s no immediate phone call right upon arrest. One Pennsylvania law firm explains that
after arraignment you can secure counsel, but before then it’s often more complicated. You
still have your Miranda Rights, no matter what state you’re in, but whether that
comes with a call is less certain. Pumping iron is a common activity.
Prison movies often show people who are incarcerated biding their time by lifting
heavy weights in the prison yard. While that may have been true in the ‘80s, it’s not true
for many federal prisons these days. In 1996, an amendment to the appropriations bill prevented the
Federal Bureau of Prisons from buying “training equipment for boxing, wrestling, judo, karate,
or other martial art, or any bodybuilding or weightlifting equipment of any sort.”
One assumption undergirding this change appears to be the idea that bulking up makes the incarcerated
more dangerous, both in and outside of prison. When California was told to release 30,000
incarcerated people in 2011 due to overcrowding, late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
commented that they “will undoubtedly be fine physical specimens who have developed intimidating
muscles pumping iron in the prison gym.” The financial savings associated with the new mandate
were no-doubt appealing to lawmakers, as well. The Department of Justice, on the other hand,
has long espoused the benefits of exercising in prison, stating that both residents and
staff alike find weightlifting to be a positive thing. Physical activity,
they say, improves the incarcerated person’s self-esteem, gives them a sense of control,
and even helps them sleep better. Decades-old equipment purchased prior to the
Appropriations bill amendment is still available at some prisons, and other exercise equipment
is often offered—things like pull-up bars, stationary bikes, yoga videos, and treadmills.
Riots happen a lot. TV makes it seem like
prison riots are a “when,” not an “if” at U.S. prisons. But according to The Atlantic,
riots are actually on the decline - in 1973, there were 93 riots for every 1 million incarcerated. In
2003, there were fewer than three. That’s quite a decrease over 30 years. Aside from violent riots
making for spectacular movies and TV, the reason they might seem more common than they actually
are is because they’re highly publicized on the rare occasions that they do happen.
The largest and most famous prison riot took place at Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New
York, in 1971: 1281 incarcerated people held 39 prison guards and employees hostage for four days;
in the end, 43 people were killed, the majority by indiscriminate police gunfire. The reason for
the riot? Inhumane conditions at the prison. “Demands” included the right to shower daily,
the provision of basic hygiene items like toothbrushes, and better medical services.
The way prisons deal with those riots might not be exactly what you expect, either.
Rather than the bumbling, sometimes even lovable guards sometimes depicted on TV (looking at you,
Orange is the New Black), prisons often employ Correctional Emergency Response Teams, or CERT,
to handle issues big and small. Many CERT members participate in intense training at an event called
the Mock Prison Riot, held at the decommissioned West Virginia State Penitentiary. Attendees to the
Mock Prison Riot experience scenarios that could erupt in real life, then learn how to prevent and
react to them. There’s also a skills competition that includes events like hostage rescues,
physical competitions and marksmanship. Prisons are full of murderers.
Based on depictions of prisons in pop culture, many people assume prisons are
teeming with extremely violent offenders, like murderers. But according to the federal Bureau
of Prisons, almost half—45 percent—of people in federal prisons are doing time for drug offenses.
The next largest segment belongs to those in prison for weapons, explosives, or arson charges,
at 21 percent. Homicide, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnappings account for just 3.2 percent
of the incarcerated population. Prisons are full of people
convicted for marijuana possession. In 2021, more than 31 percent of federal
crimes were drug-related, according to the United States Sentencing Commission. But
less than 2 percent of that number—309 people—were for drug possession, and even fewer for marijuana
possession specifically. That means President Biden’s pardon announcement for those with
federal cannabis possession charges will do more to clear previous records than anything else. No
one will actually be released from prison as a result of the pardon. That leaves 30,000
in state prisons for marijuana charges—not just possession, but higher-level charges as well.
U.S. prisons jail people at about the same rate as other countries
Although the U.S. makes up just 4 percent of the world’s population,
it accounts for 19 percent of the world’s prison population, which tells you just how
much higher American incarceration rates are. Why is the United States’ rate so high? There
are a number of contributing factors at work here, including the longer-than-average prison
sentences the U.S. justice system tends to dole out. U.S. courts impose longer prison sentences
than many other countries, on average, to people convicted of robbery, assault, drug offenses,
and fraud. These long sentences, for what it’s worth, have not prevented people incarcerated
in the U.S. from having high rates of recidivism. Another factor is that the U.S. has a relatively
high homicide rate, especially for a prosperous country. Even if you decry the large number of
people in federal prison for drug offenses, you have to contend with the fact that a large number
of people in the United States—especially in state prisons and local jails—are there for crimes that
have been categorized as violent offenses. But not all of them have been convicted.
Most people in jail have been found guilty of crimes.
People who have been found guilty (they may not necessarily be guilty—but that’s another story)
are more likely to be found in federal prison. But at a local jail, more than 80 percent of
people are still considered innocent. They haven’t been convicted of anything and are simply awaiting
trial. Many simply can’t afford to pay bail money to get out ahead of their day in court.
Prison and jail are the same thing. People often use the terms interchangeably,
but prison and jail are not exactly equal. The main difference is length of stay. Prisons are
designed for long-term sentences, while jails are typically used for those awaiting trial
and sometimes for people with shorter sentences. Jails are usually at a local level, while prisons
belong to a state or federal jurisdiction. If a crime has been committed at the state level,
that person will usually go to a state prison. Similarly, a federal crime typically
means a federal prison. There are also some state prisons that are operated privately,
not through state or federal government. Prison Is the Same Around the World
The number of prisoners isn’t the only thing that varies from country to country. The demographics
of incarcerated people and the conditions inside can also differ greatly. In Germany,
for example, “juvenile justice” can extend to age 21, while in the U.S., 18-year-olds (and
sometimes even younger people) can be housed in the same institution as older adults.
Norway’s Halden prison has been called the “most humane prison in the world,” full of green spaces,
private sleeping quarters, and abundant vocational and educational opportunities.
In Singapore, in contrast, prisoners can actually be caned as a form of corporal punishment.
Prisons have decent libraries. Fans of Shawshank Redemption
might reasonably believe that prisons have pretty good libraries—after all,
studies have shown that being able to access the resources available in prison libraries is
helpful for effective criminal rehabilitation, so why wouldn’t libraries provide inmates with
something productive and constructive? Unfortunately, not every prison library
has an Andy DuFresne to line up donations, and most prisons have little to no funding
for their libraries. In one particularly sad example, the state of Illinois spent just
$276 on non-legal books in one year—and that was across 28 facilities. When donations do roll in,
they can be denied at any whim for being too “incendiary.” In one case,
an Arizona prison denied access to Gray’s Anatomy because reading it might result in more requests
for health care—and the illustrations were deemed “sexually explicit.” And no,
this wasn’t a risqué novelization of the hit TV show—it was the anatomical reference book.
Incarcerated people earn good money working prison jobs.
From cutting hair to groundskeeping, people in prison do work skilled jobs and make money
doing so. But they don’t make much—literally pennies an hour. The range for “in-house” pay
in U.S. prisons is anywhere from literally nothing to a couple of dollars an hour,
and that’s before wages are garnished for things like room and board. And to add salt to the wound,
many of the skills incarcerated people develop in prison can’t be used once they’re released,
because people who have committed felonies are banned from a huge number of jobs.
“Don’t drop the soap” is a concern. It’s understandably a little challenging
to get real numbers or statistics on this one, but when formerly incarcerated folks are asked
how fearful they are of dropping the soap, most of them report that the whole thing is just a trope.
It does occasionally happen, of course—soap is slippery, after all. But when it does,
others who happen to be in the shower at the same time tend to laugh; they know the trope too.
So how did it come into being? Pop culture, of course. The phrase has been referenced in 2 Fast,
2 Furious, Empire Records, Barbershop, The Office and Rick and Morty, among many others.
To be clear, it’s the soap concern, specifically, that’s a myth. Sexual assault and rape are very
real problems. Tens of thousands of people in prison and jail are victims of sexual assault
every year—both men and women, at the hands of other incarcerated people, and by guards.
Prisons have to provide nutritionally complete meals.
There are some laws and guidelines about what prisons can feed people, but it’s shockingly
loose, and three meals a day aren’t always a requirement. Most prison food is straight-up
bad. One man described his meal at a county jail as “Ground-up gym mat with a little bit of
seasoning.” Many meals consist of soy “filler” and foods high in sugar, sodium, and carbohydrates—and
not much by way of real nutrients. Veggies and fruits might very well not appear at all. And
some official investigations discovered that it’s not uncommon for prisons to serve smaller portions
than recommended or water down food in order to stretch the supplies and cut the budget.
One prison is trying to buck the trend, though. At Maine’s Mountain View Correctional Center,
inmates help grow their own food at the facility’s 5-acre garden. In its first year, the program
produced 100,000 pounds of produce that was used directly for meals at the facility, offsetting
costs and providing better nutrition and a sense of purpose for prisoners. Hopefully the trend
catches on, but until then unbalanced meals and inadequate portions will remain the norm.
Thanks for watching Misconceptions. Let’s all keep trying to dispel misleading, cliched,
and most importantly harmful stereotypes about the strange world we live in. We have
an upcoming episode dispelling myths about the 1990s. If you have any misconceptions you want
to see debunked about that nostalgic decade, leave a comment below. I’ll see ya next time.