Colorful clothing to brighten life at State Prison

A novel wardrobe is being planned for Hawaii State Prison inmates, giving them free choice of colors for their clothing.

Ray Belnap, State corrections administrator, said the standard blue denim material — used in institutions across the country — will be eliminated.

Instead, lighter, less expensive material will be selected for the inmates’ trousers. And they will be able to choose from four colors: palmetto, charcoal, olive and ivy.

“The freedom of choice is extremely important,” Belnap said. “It’s an innovation … But I do not appreciate the fact that the men are in stereotyped work-worn blue denim material. They should have a choice instead of wearing drab blue in drab surroundings.”

He said the new clothing is in keeping with the color plan for the prison. The depressing grays and beiges on the walls will be converted to soothing pastels as the prison goes into a maintenance paint and fix-up program.

The clothing transition will take about six months, Belnap said. …

All clothing for the inmates and guard forces is made in the prison’s tailor shop … Belnap said the new clothes will be manufactured in a variety of sizes and colors. When they are ready and the new laundry is operating, the blue denim garments will be collected. Then the men will be issued new items according to size and color choice.

The present method of identifying the clothing with marks or names will be abolished.

“This will do away with special privileges,” Belnap said.

He said a basic complaint during the inmates mass sit-down strike last October was favoritism in the laundry.

The inmates also will have new shirts. They now receive three white T-shirts, two blue work shirts and two white dress shirts.

Belnap said the blue shirts will be replace with white T-shirts. And the dress shirts will be modified to an Aloha shirt cut.

The change-over in clothing will not cost any more, Belnap said.

“We are coming to the point where we have to buy material,” he explained.

And  the new light-weight material will cost less than the heavy blue denim, he said. The denim clothing that is still usable will be sent to the honor camps where tougher material is needed for outdoor work, he said.