Even if children are told they are the spitting image of the parent who went to jail or prison, this doesn t mean the child will travel down the same path. Children need to understand that each person is responsible for his or her own choices in life. The popular cartoon image of inmates in striped suits with leg irons on a desert island is not much like real jail or prison life. Sometimes, people live in dorms, but most people share a room, called a cell, which has two bunks, a sink and a toilet. The cells are usually very small and look alike.
Different institutions have different dress codes.
In Oregon, prison inmates wear jeans and a denim shirt or a navy T-shirt. In other places, they may wear clothes that look like a doctor s scrub suit. When they go out to appointments, they may have to wear bright colored jumpsuits and chains around their wrists and ankles. In some places, they wear their own clothes. Most people eat in a dining room that looks like a cafeteria, and may serve food similar to that of a school cafeteria.