Saturday, June 12, 2010

Prisoners, Chain Gangs and Hollywood



Striped shirts (and pants) of a completely different order: American prison uniforms.
These suits were standard issue for US prisoners and chain gangs in the first half of the last century and made immortal by Hollywood. Pictured here is Charlie Chaplin, but also Laurel and Hardy were wholesale users of this stripey combination. Below a picture of a North Carolina chain gang (not by Hollywood).
One could easily think these humiliating outfits are a thing of the past, but not in Arizona's Maricopa County, where a mad elected(!) sheriff reinstated the stripes ánd chain gangs.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio is proud of his work and the controversy he causes. The fact that there are people like Joe Arpaio doesn't surprise me; that there are thousands of people who choose someone like him to be there law-enforcer does.
 Women in Sheriff Joe Arpaio`s jail are forced to work like the men.





2 comments:

  1. And what's wrong with wearing pink underwear and eatiing bologna?

    I think Sheriff Arpaio has everything RIGHT!

    Just tell me what you think is wrong with him?

    eh?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Asking that question says a lot about your perception on how to treat people on the wrong. You don't really believe that intense humiliation will turn "bad people" into "good people", do you?

    ReplyDelete