The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-10-17
PRISON SUITS
ARE CHANGED
Stripes Worn Instead of Plain
Brown.
THE LAST OLD SUIT IS GONE
HOW PRISONERS cLUNG TO THE
SOLID COLOR.


Brown has gone out Of style among
the inmates of the state penitentiary
Just at d time when that color has
outside of the wall the last brown suit
worn by convict has been relegated
to the scrap pile. Instead of the brown,
loose fitting suits of alternate stripes
OF black and gray is all the vogue.
These suits are made plain. free from
all Ornamentation, and the stripes run
horizontal regardless OF whether the
wearer is fat or lean.
There IS an element of pathos in this
change of the color in the prison. After
the outbreak of desperadoes a year ago
it was decided by the state board of
corrections to put all the prisoners in
stripes. Up to that time plain suit
of brown had been worn, and there
was little in the uniform to distinguish
the prisoners from ordinary people. But
the change was ordered.
The main reason for the substitution
of the stripes for the plain brown was
of course to make it impossible for the
prisoners to escape through the coun-
try without change Of clothing. The
prison stripes would lead 10 their cap
ture wherever they were found.
There was an additional reason why
many of the prisoners were averse TO
wearing the stripes. Many of course
knew that the regulation suit was one
more chain binding them in captivity.
But many more. many who are not
hardened criminals, look upon the
striped suit as a badge of dishopor
This suit is associated with so much
that is awful in the criminal history Of
the world that it is not surprising that
sensitive natures shrink from being
thus branded criminals. That fact that
this feeling of pride exists is proof that
there is much that is good in human
nature even when seen at its worst.
Chung TO Old Suits.
This sentiment caused the prisoners
to cling to their old brown suits to the
last. When the change was ordered it
was also decided 10 permit those hav-
ing the brown suits to wear them out
before donning the stripes. There were
about a hundred prisoners in the pen
1tentiary at that time. Every man Of
them chung TO his brown suit as If it
was the last link binding him TO the
better world. Never vas better care
taken of clothing in any prison. Every
little rent was mended. Patches were
put upon patches. Everything possible
was done to extend the life of the old
brown suits. But the ravages OF time
could not be held back, One by one
those old brown suits fell by the way
side and the owner was made to appear
in the hated colors of crime.
Finally it became a. contest as to
which would be the last TO surrender
the brown and don the gray and black.
The end came yesterday almost a year
to a day from the time the change was
ordered. Most of the suits were old
when the change was ordered and the
surprising thing is that even one lasted
the year out. There were signs Of
tears in many hardened eyes when it
became settled fact that never more
would the old brown suits be seen. but
that the mon0tOnouS suits, OF black and
gray would meet the eye at every turn,
and that from them there would be no
escape except through death. pardon
or the expiration OF sentence. Now
every one of the 17S prisoners is
adorned with the stripes.