Pay a visit to some Kansas jails and you might get the idea you’ve stepped through a time warp and entered the early 1900s.

Or that you’ve wandered onto a movie set for a sequel to “O Brother, Where Art Thou.”

In at least five Kansas counties, prison uniforms have gone retro, regaining their iconic stripes. Last winter, Johnson County was the latest to switch from the modern-standard orange jail uniforms, adopting instead the uniform of yesteryear, with 4-inch alternating stripes of white and blue.

The uniform change became necessary because of the growing popularity — primarily among teens — of orange shirts reminiscent of jail uniforms that can be purchased in some stores, said Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Livengood, detention center operations commander.

“The public’s embrace of those orange shirts — some of which have ‘county jail’ on the backs — just kind or eroded our confidence in our ability to quickly identify an escaped inmate,” Livengood said.

Other sheriff’s officials in Ness, Republic and Thomas counties agreed.

“It’s easier for people to find and wear orange now,” Thomas County Undersheriff Mike Baughn said. “People wear orange jail suits for Halloween.”

‘More appropriate’

Tradition was one of the main reasons jail uniforms were changed in Linn County, Sheriff Marvin Stites said.

Johnson County Sheriff's Office Deputy Jim Harris displays the latest of inmate fashions. The county is one that has returned to the striped clothing required of inmates.

“Striped uniforms have been the jail uniform for centuries,” Stites said. “I just thought it was more appropriate.”

Stites also said the striped uniforms would make an escapee more visible in public.

“We haven’t had to test that, but I would imagine someone running down the street in a striped uniform would attract attention,” he said.

Sheriff’s officials were unsure which stores were selling the knock-off jail shirts. Checks of a few stores in Lawrence didn’t turn up any.

None of the counties that went to the old-fashioned togs had experienced recent jail breaks, although a prisoner did escape in 1997 in Republic County, Sheriff Ron Blad said. The man was recaptured in Grand Island, Neb.

“He still had his orange uniform,” Blad said.

Because of budget constraints, Republic County is only buying striped uniforms as the orange ones wear out, Blad said.

Prisoners have mixed attitudes about the stripes, sheriff’s officials said.

“Most of them don’t like them,” Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said. “But it doesn’t matter. They still have to wear them.”

Disappearing hats

When introduced in the late 1990s in Thomas County, the prisoners liked them, including the pillbox hats that came with them, Baughn said.

“They thought they were pretty cool,” Baughn said. “They wanted their pictures taken in them. Some of them wanted to buy their uniforms and take them with them.”

The hats were so popular they all somehow disappeared, Baughn said. The hats weren’t replaced.

The cost of striped uniforms is usually a little more than $30, which is comparable to the orange uniforms. Two of the primary jail uniform makers are Robinson Textiles, in Gardena, Calif., and Bob Barker Inc., in Fuquay-Varina, N.C.

Interest in striped uniforms began about 10 years ago when some Florida counties ordered green-and-white striped uniforms for prisoners put to work along highways, according to Sheila Hughes, sales representative at Robinson Textiles. Interest has continued to grow nationwide, she said.

“We used to just make them for special orders,” Hughes said. “But as orders increased, we realized we’d better get on the bandwagon and start stocking them.”

Robinson does get requests from individuals for jail uniforms, but the firm only sells to law enforcement agencies because of security concerns.

There are no plans to switch to striped uniforms at the Douglas County Jail, Sheriff Rick Trapp said. Prisoners wear uniforms in one of five colors — red, orange, green, white or yellow.

“They are color-coded,” Trapp said. “Each color has some significance as to the prisoner’s record and background.”