The idea that prison attire has a practical purpose has been around for centuries. It derives from the theory that prisoners don’t get to choose what they wear, so they end up looking like wretches, and no one wants to be on the bad side of a wretch. The theory, however, is not widely accepted.
People in prison do get to choose what they wear—they just have to buy it themselves. And people generally don’t take kindly to being dressed by their captors in something they can’t afford or don’t want. So it’s almost certain that most prisoners wear whatever they came in with. In fact, many prisoner costumes are meant to look more expensive than they are.
Prisoner costumes are popular in comedy and horror movies for the same reason that some men dress up as women: because it’s funny or scary to see someone make themselves look ridiculous. In real life, of course, no one wants to be considered ridiculous; real men should be ashamed of themselves for dressing up like this.
Prisoner costumes are not new, of course. They were popular for centuries in the form of the mask and cape worn by highway robbers, clowns, and circus performers. But now the prisoner costume has become a minor genre in its own right. Prisoner costumes have also been used in war movies, science fiction, and comedy.
The prisoner costume is funny because it is not just a disguise that fools people into thinking you are someone else; it also fools people into thinking you are an idiot. The idea is to look ridiculous while still looking foolish. The implication is that anyone who takes you seriously would be an idiot; it costs them nothing to believe you’re stupid because they know you’re not. So the costumes play off our instinctive sense that we can’t trust those who dress like clowns or wear masks at night.
This kind of thing invites speculation about the intentions behind it. Is it a sign of stupidity or a sign of self-confidence? It’s hard to tell from our perspective today, but there was a time when it was common for criminals to be peasant heroes wearing authentic peasant outfits like peasants themselves wore: simple garments made from coarse cloth and dyed with natural dyes such as indigo.
Comedies and horror movies have a long tradition of dressing prisoners as clowns. The prisoner’s costume is a classic way for the audience to laugh at him, but it can be read as a serious commentary on how society treats its people. If we see prisoners in clown costumes, we can see what they are really like: people who have been reduced to their lowest, most ridiculous selves.
The traditional prisoner’s costume is an ordinary suit. It might have buttons down the front or a tie. But it’s not very obvious that it’s intended to be funny. The first reason the prisoner’s costume isn’t obvious is that the suit has been chosen so that one shoulder is higher than the other, so that if you wear it, your arm always looks up at you—which takes all the fun out of being a clown, because you can’t hide behind anything.
Prisoner costumes today take a lot of liberties with the actual history. The classic wearer of these costumes is Hannibal Lecter, in the movie Silence of the Lambs. I have a friend who has just received a degree in costume design, and he was outraged when I told him that somebody else had made all his prisoner costumes for him. “That’s not what they’re supposed to look like!” he protested.
Maybe it’s just that we don’t think of prisoner costumes as having a long tradition. But “prisoner” is a modern term, and one that originally referred to someone who was accused but who didn’t have to be found guilty in order to be imprisoned. The first time prison was used in English it was for the people who were being held before the court, but there were no bars or guards, so that description is not quite accurate either.
To be honest, I’m not sure why we say “prisoner” rather than “detainee.” Prisoners are not alone among political prisoners: there are also hostages and prisoners of war. But some other countries use “detainee” instead of “prisoner.”
In our culture, we expect people to make mistakes. So you need a costume that doesn’t look too smart. You need to look like a prisoner, but not too much like a prisoner. You can make it look like you are making an effort not to disturb people by looking very suspicious.
But once you’ve got the costume right, you still have to get the makeup right, because if you don’t, people will notice. If they think you are just another crazy person, they don’t worry about it much: it’s just one of those things. But if they see that you’re trying too hard to look crazy or dangerous, then they start to be worried about it. They think you must be up to something dangerous and maybe even crazy.
This is why prison guard uniforms are so straight-jacketed: they want to make sure that no part of the costume seems like a disguise.
Jack Nicholson is wearing the same one in the movie The Departed