Inmates at the SD State Penitentiary ordinarily wear khaki colored V-neck tops and pants with elastic waists and no zipper. Often they wear a white T-shirt under their top.  They also wear inexpensive prison provided tennis shoes.

When I first started volunteering twenty years ago, the men wore white T-shirts and blue jeans.  Someone apparently decided it would cost less to make the clothes in one of the prison shops so the blue jeans were retired.

We have some inmates we call Red Shirts.  That means the man works in the unit where he lives doing things like cleaning and he cannot go wandering off all over the prison.  If an officer spots a Red Shirt off his unit, he is in trouble.

We have some inmates called Green Shirts.  That indicated the man is a worker too, but he is allowed to go to various sections of the prison in connection with his job.  For example, the orderlies who work in the chapel have green shirts and can go to the pods to deliver passes for chapel activities or to hang up notices about upcoming chapel events.   The men who are fire keepers also wear green shirts.  Their job is to build the fires for the inipi (sweatlodge) ceremonies and to keep that section of the yard mowed or shoveled depending on the season.

We have some inmates wearing Maroon Shirts.  They are limited to the Women’s Prison.  Maroon signifies they are pregnant.

Men who work in places like the Metalcraft shop wear blue jeans and safety boots while at work.

Kitchen workers wear white tops and pants

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Maximum-security inmates housed at the Hill (a medium security unit) due to separation orders with another maximum-security inmate, have MAXIMUM SECURITY painted in large letters on their pants.

All shirts are required to be tucked in at all times.  This is to prevent the elastic waist from being used to hide contraband.

You can tell an inmate’s status quickly by seeing what he is wearing.  They are only allowed to wear the colored shirts while they are working.

If an inmate wants to have sweat pants, a sweatshirt, or better shoes, he must purchase them through commissary.

Each inmate has a mesh bag with his identification on it to send to laundry when his clothes are dirty. 
As you might guess, clothes come back rather wrinkled.  If a man is expecting a visit from his girlfriend, he might put his clothes under the mattress on his cot overnight to lessen the number of wrinkles by using his body weight to press his clothes.

When an inmate is released, he is given a white T-shirt to wear and a pair of navy blue cotton pants with an elastic waist and no pocket.  If he cashes his gate money check, he will need to put the cash in his socks.  Sometimes the person who comes to pick him up will bring a change of clothes, which he can put on in the bathroom off the lobby.  The Society of St. Vincent de Paul also provides vouchers so a released inmate can go to the Thrift Store to pick out some clothes to wear.  The store is about a mile from the prison.

Sometimes I give a man being released a ride to the bus depot or to a homeless shelter.  I will never forget one rather large man who was released.  They didn’t have any navy blue cotton pants that would fit him so they found an old pair of jeans for him to wear.  He was stuffed into them like a sausage.  Knowing that he was going to get on a bus for Rapid City, I took him to the SVdP Thrift Store so he could get some clothes that would actually fit him for the ride across the State.

Things are just the opposite at the County Jail.  When someone gets out, they are given back the clothes they were wearing when they came in.  This causes a problem if someone is arrested in July wearing shorts and flip-flops and is released in January.  Again, St. Vincent de Paul assists with clothing in cases like this.  

I have also given a ride in February to a man being released on crutches so he could get to a homeless shelter.  There was no way he could have walked the two or three miles on crutches in the snow.  He also failed to ask in advance for a ride from someone from the DOC.

When men get out, they are supposed to have a parole plan.  If they have served their full sentence, they don’t have one.  If they don’t have any relatives or friends on the outside to help, things are tough.  If their victim was one of their family members, their family may cut off all contact with them.

The last bit of color-coding that takes place is on an inmates ID card.  If he is under 21, there is a red line around him.  That entitles him to larger servings at meals.

Mary Montoya