Item 2019.15 - HM Prison Inmate Jeans

Invisible Men exhibition label:

DENIM PRISON UNIFORM
Maker unknown
1971-2013

The minimalist style of this denim jacket with its front diagonal seam incorporating a welt pocket could have been designed by Helmut Lang; however, it is part of the uniform given to British prisoners. On entering prison new inmates are on put on the Entry level of the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) system. As such they cannot usually wear their own clothing and must wear prison jeans, a blue and white striped shirt and a grey sweatshirt.

Polyester, cotton
Archive no. 2019.14 and 2019.15 and 2019.13

From Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive:

PRISON INMATE JEANS
HM PRISON
1980s
While women were allowed to wear their own clothes in British prisons, beginning in 1971, men did not receive this privilege until 1991. When newly admitted inmates enter prison in the UK, they are assigned to the entry level of the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) system. In most cases before 1991, this meant men were not permitted to wear their own clothing; instead they were required to wear prison jeans, a blue-and-white striped shirt and a grey sweatshirt. These jeans imitate the details of a pair of commercially produced denims, including an orange ‘HM Prison’ tab sewn into the outer edge of the right-hand back pocket – a distinctive tab device closely identified with the version Levi Strauss & Co. has registered as a trademark.
Cotton
Archive no. 2019.15