South Carolina Prison Director Defends Pink Jumpsuit Plan
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COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s prisons director yesterday defended a policy of punishing inmates who perform sex acts by dressing them in pink, despite a lawsuit claiming the rule subjects prisoners to ridicule.
State Corrections Department John Ozmint said the two-year-old punishment deters inmates and protects female officers. His agency has asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
“We don’t believe the United States Constitution protects an inmate’s right to publicly gratify himself,” Mr. Ozmint said. “We’re hopeful federal courts won’t look into our Constitution and create such a right.”
Inmate Sherone Nealous, 31, filed the lawsuit in June 2006, claiming the Corrections Department “is placing inmates’ lives and physical well-being in danger.”
“The color ‘pink’ in an all-male environment no doubt causes derision and verbal and physical attacks on a person’s manhood. This policy also gives correctional officers an easy avenue to label an inmate,” Nealous, who is serving a 10-year sentence for assault and battery with intent to kill, wrote in his lawsuit.
Nealous has never actually donned the pink jumpsuit, according to agency spokesman Josh Gelinas. Nealous is currently separated from the general population, Mr. Gelinas said.
