Looks like Arpaio's Pink is catching on.

Sheriff fights crime with a splash of pink

09:24 PM CST on Tuesday, January 8, 2008

By BRAD HAWKINS / WFAA-TV

WFAA-TV
Sheriff Pat Burnett has had the walls of the Van Zandt County Jail painted pink.
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Brad Hawkins reports
CANTON - Van Zandt's sheriff has turned to the color pink to fight the county's crime and save money.

Sheriff Pat Burnett has made pink the official color while redecorating the Van Zandt County Jail and its inmates.

"We've got to do something besides just building new jails, and that's why we started doing this," he said.

The walls of the jail have been painted pink and inmates now don pink clothes.

"The next thing we want to do is pink sheets, pink towels," Burnett said.

So, why the Pepto-colored paint wash?

"What I want to do is make them think about coming to jail," Burnett said.

The bright color certainly made it easy to spot new inmates as they headed to court appearances Monday in Canton's town square.

James Hutcherson, who watched from the sidelines, admitted he has been in their shackled-shoes, but said the new uniforms ensure he would not be making a return.

"They look kind of cute," he said. "What else can you say?"

Clinical psychology professor Brenda Wall said the color pink has a definite meaning in the prison culture. It is thought of as emasculating and controlling.

"In a way, it's showing a level of disrespect, of disregard [and] contempt, and that is something that will create at least a mild reaction, and maybe a stronger reaction," she said.

Since pink became the new color, Van Zandt's average daily population of county inmates has dropped from 175 to 125; and at a cost of $23 a day per inmate, that has also cut down on costs.

"That's a lot of tax dollars," Burnett said. "That's also 50 people who are not out there committing crime."

Inmate Chris Farrar said he is already working on not making a return.

"It's certainly going to keep me from coming back," he said.


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