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Because this uniform appeared at the same time as the modern penitentiary system was created, in the United States, at the end of the 18th century. Despite not being required by law, it was soon adopted as a universal way of identifying prisoners. It was believed that, because it was an unusual garment, the stripes would hinder escapes, making it difficult for the prisoner to blend in with other people and leaving him visible in both light and dark landscapes. The horizontal format in at least one of the pieces was chosen to prevent the prisoner from camouflaging himself between the prison bars. But there is also a historical background to the choice of this clothing model. “Stripes have traditionally been used to identify marginalized classes. In the Middle Ages, they were a kind of symbol of prostitutes.
Afterwards, they were used by sailors, who had a reputation as libertines”, says stylist João Braga, professor of History of Clothing at the National Commercial Learning Service (Senac), in São Paulo. At the end of the 19th century, with movements for the humanization of prisons, the uniform was abandoned, but the symbolism of striped clothing remained in the popular imagination. In the last ten years, however, some prisons have taken this type of costume out of the closet.