MERCED -- When legendary R&B singer Sam Cooke released his song "Chain Gang" in 1960, the sight of inmates wearing black-and-white striped uniforms, swinging scythes and pick-axes in the blazing Southern sun, was as familiar as Burma Shave signs along American highways.
Today, however, a visit to the laundry room of the Merced County Jail reveals a different mix of colors.
Blue, grey, dark green and Dayglo green are the new black; yellow and red, the new white.
The Merced County Sheriff's Department is among several law enforcement agencies that have adopted an intricate, color-coded system of clothing to classify inmates, based on gang membership, offenses committed, gender and jail job.
It's a system law enforcement officials say allows correctional officers to quickly identify problem inmates and keep them housed in areas where they pose less risk to the larger jailhouse population.
To critics, however, the system amounts to an institutionalized form of segregation that only legitimizes the old group-think mentality that allows gangs to thrive.
Sheriff's officials acknowledge that rising numbers of two rival street gangs, the Norteños and the Sureños, have prompted the department to assign specific uniform colors to members of those gangs. For example, at the county's main jail, Norteño gang members wear green-and-white striped jumpsuits. Sureños are generally assigned orange and white stripes.
Men at the main jail who decide to drop their gang membership are assigned color-coded clothing, too -- orange jumpsuits with the large letters "VP." They stand for "victim potential," a grim shorthand reminder that those who drop out of gangs probably will be targeted by active gang members.
In Merced County, correctional officers house members of the rival gangs in separate areas.
"You can't mix them. They don't like each other," said Cmdr. Joe Scott, who oversees the John Latorraca Correctional Facility, which houses 571 inmates. The main jail houses about 190 inmates.
Keeping the lid on
In the volatile world of jailhouse politics, where violent conflicts among inmates can erupt at any moment, with or without provocation, Dwain Middleton, the county's lead classification officer, says the system of classifying and isolating inmates is one way of keeping the lid on.
It also makes a safer working environment for correctional officers given the unenviable job of keeping the warring gangs apart.
The color-coding system is particularly helpful for officers when large numbers of inmates are being transported to and from the courthouse.
"You may have 60, 70 or 80 (inmates) in the holding cells getting ready to go to court. And you can't mix them. And we use the color scheme to keep certain people separate. Because they will attack each other," Scott said.
Middleton said the color of the jumpsuit worn by the inmates and where they will be housed inside the jail depend on the offense committed.
In addition, they are assigned cells depending on how they answer a series of questions: Each inmate is asked if he can live in the general population, if he is a member of a gang and if he has any enemies.
Classification officers also must consider the sophistication level of the inmate's crime and his record of behavior while in custody and at other prisons before deciding where he will be housed.
The department began designating different colored outfits to separate rival gang members in about 2003.
"Before, when all (inmates) wore orange, you couldn't ident- ify a guy based on his clothing," Middleton said. "Now, as soon as you see the different jail attire, you'll know who has to be kept apart."
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