Will A Pink Prison Promote Puking?

Well, I don’t actually know if it’ll cause prisoners to puke, but it definitely stirred some questionable activity within my midsection.

According to a news report I watched yesterday, the Van Zandt County Criminal Justice Center in Tyler, Texas has decided to paint the prison cell walls a “soft, salmon pink” and the hallways and offices a “neutral beige.”

That’s right – pink. Not just pink, but “salmon pink.”

Yuck. Don’t get me wrong; pink is my favorite color. Yet, if I were surrounded by it all day, everyday, and by such a huge canvas as prison cell walls – well, YUCK.

Upon researching the pink explosion, I found a pretty thorough article in an online newspaper from Tyler, Texas: County Jail Thinking Pink.

In a nutshell, the prison has decided to follow what is apparently becoming a prison trend (see Missouri and Iowa). The Van Zandt County Criminal Justice Center is also adopting pink jump suits, although well-behaved inmates will continue to wear black-and-white stripes.

The effect, Sheriff Pat Burnett hopes, will be a brighter, soothing, more cheerful place for prisoners to reflect on their crimes. Burnett said painting the cells pink has psychological benefits. He cited statistics from the Mason County Jail, where Sheriff Clint Low turned the walls pink and has made inmates wear pink jumpsuits since 2005. Low reported the county’s re-offense rate is down by 70 percent since he implemented the changes.

Even though it’s a stretch for me, I can understand the intended psychological benefits – only because I’m aware of the mental effects colors are reported to have on our minds. (Pink is, in fact, supposed to have a calming effect.) However, I’m not the only skeptic: Some mental health professionals are wary of color psychology and even believe the “benefits” have been exaggerated.

Now, let’s take a look at these possibly contradicting claims. Sheriff Pat Burnett claims he wants to use the pink for a soothing effect; however, at the same time Sheriff Clint Low says the pink prison helped lower re-offense by 70%.

Was the re-offense rate lowered because the pink gave the inmates a “more cheerful place for prisoners to reflect on their crimes,” thus making them realize they shouldn’t have committed their crimes as Sheriff Pat Burnett hopes, or was the 70% drop due to prisoners deciding robbing a bank wasn’t worth staring at salmon pink for multiple years?

The latter, according to current Van Zandt County Criminal Justice Center inmate Scott Dabbs. “He said the “not-very-masculine” color is enough to keep him from coming back to the jail.”

I wonder if the next time a potential re-offender considers selling drugs, he’ll stop and think about the pink consequences. Seriously. I’m not being sarcastic. I’m genuinely interested.

Here’s my opinion. The walls in the secretary’s office at my junior high school were painted this same salmon pink. It was horribly offense to my eyes. If I were an inmate surrounded by this salmon pink, I would be disgusted. It would not soothe me, and after release I would definitely look back on the experience with an extra shiver.

What are your thoughts?