Real Macho Inmates: Are They Pretty In Pink?

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who prides himself on his tough, no-frills jails, has ordered inmates to wear pink underwear.

“The taxpayers have been taking it in the shorts,” said Arpaio, claiming that inmates smuggle about $40,000 worth of underwear a year out of jail. “Those guys were stealing government underwear. Sometimes four, maybe five at a time.”

The thefts were mostly committed by work-release inmates, who leave the jails for their regular jobs each day and return each evening. They would put several pairs of the government-issue boxers over their personal underwear before leaving for the day, according to information given to sheriff’s intelligence officers.

The white boxers, which cost the Sheriff’s Office $200 to $300 for a gross of 144, would be sold by inmates for $2 or $3 each, Deputy Chief Larry Wendt said Monday.

Why would anyone want to buy - not to mention wear - an inmate’s skivvies?

Apparently the shorts, stamped across the seat with the bold letters “MCSO,” for Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, have become quite a novelty item on the outside.

As jail-issue undies may not be worn outside the prison, inmates must wear their own shorts while on work release. Arpaio said the jailers did not have the time or staff to check the rear of every inmate’s undergarments each morning.

Now with the new color scheme, all jailers will have to do is have each inmate pull out his waistband enough to show its color. If they’re pink, they’ll know they’ve got a smuggler.

The first 1,000 pairs of underpants were dyed Monday in the prison laundry.

And “they’re going on the inmates tomorrow,” the sheriff said.

In addition, new prison-issue underwear will no longer carry the MCSO label.

There probably is a market for men’s pink undies, Arpaio concedes, but he figures the forces of fashion do the job.

“These macho men may not like pink, but that’s their problem,” said Arpaio, who in the past has rid his jails of “Playboy” magazine, coffee and cigarettes.