Why do American prisoners wear orange jumpsuits?

A specific scene in many American prisons, well-known thanks to films from across the Atlantic. The inmates are often dressed in a bright orange uniform.

But why this specific orange color? I’ll explain.

First, in any prison in any country in the world, every effort is made to ensure that prisoners wear identical clothing. This is one of the characteristics of the system: it is essential to prevent any individual from standing out from the crowd. The punishment is then felt even more intensely.

Prison clothing must also be visible. That is, it must be easy to spot an inmate in case of an escape. For example, prisoners were often dressed in striped clothing, which is still used today, for instance, for those sentenced to life imprisonment in the Russian colonies.

In the United States, inmates are now dressed in bright colors – so that security can see them from a distance, especially from above. The color orange is very rare in large quantities in nature. Therefore, if an inmate decides to escape, they will be easily spotted against the landscape, for example, against a green forest or white snow.