I’ve written before about prison clothing as an embodiment of punishment and a marker of criminality. I have also brought attention to the ways that prisons can use clothing to humiliate inmates.

I came across an article this week about a juvenile detention facility in Kane County, IL which was recently reprimanded for forbidding youth from wearing clothing in their cells:

The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice conducted an inspection of the Kane County Juvenile Detention Center Oct. 3. Inspectors found juvenile detainees were forced to remove all their clothes except undergarments whenever they were returned to their rooms.

Detention and Audit Services Administrator Robert C. Catchings said stripping the juveniles of their clothes “tests the boundaries of corporal punishment” in a letter accompanying the report. “The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice does not endorse this practice, and subsequently, recommend that this practice cease immediately.”

Just think of the indignity that these young people experienced in having to remove their clothing every time they entered their cells. Why did administrators institute this policy? The answer is below:

Rick Anselme, superintendent of Kane’s facility, said juveniles have been allowed to wear their full detention center uniforms while in their rooms since Nov. 7. He said having the youths wear only undergarments in their rooms was created to keep them from using their clothes to harm themselves.

At the time the policy was created, Anselme said, there had been instances of juveniles either threatening to commit suicide or actually harming themselves in their rooms.

Once again, here is an example of the prison industrial complex focusing on disappearing the problems that lead to incarceration. Instead of seeking to address the obvious mental health issues that would lead a young person to attempt suicide, the system creates a one-size fits-all policy which further punishes young people. Absolutely mindless…