Longtime practice traces back to defense attorneys' complaints

07:20 AM CST on Monday, March 27, 2006

By JENNIFER EMILY / The Dallas Morning News

McKINNEY – Shelby Harrison posed for her Collin County Jail mug shot wearing a green T-shirt, baby-blue pajama pants and fuzzy royal-blue slippers.

JUAN GARCIA/DMN

Collin County Detention Officer Russ Gardner prepares to take a mug shot of Robert Taylor, who is draped with a gray towel.

No one looking at her mug shot will ever see that colorful eveningwear. A gray towel – draped over the shoulders and chest of suspects before a mug shot – will make sure everyone looks the same whether the attire is pajamas, suits or nothing at all.

That's exactly what the jail staff wants.

The towel's origins trace back about eight years. Collin County defense attorneys were complaining that witnesses picked their clients out of a photo lineup because of their clothing, not their facial features. They argued that this could lead to wrongful identifications.

Lt. Larry Smart and several others at the jail came up with an idea to homogenize mug shots with the gray towel.

"We decided to make everyone the same," Lt. Smart said.

Deputies considered other options. They thought about dressing suspects in jail jumpsuits. But many people who land in jail don't stay after the book-in process. They remain in street clothes and leave after the photo session.

Jailers wash the 100 percent cotton towels each day. One sits on the counter waiting for the next in line. Two others lie folded neatly in a cabinet. They look like and feel like common bathroom towels – soft with a thread or two dangling from the edge.

An average of 46 people a day will wear one of the towels for a mug shot. Some days it's as many as 80 or as low as 25.

Women are more finicky than men about wearing the towel, Lt. Amy Linear said. They want to know where it came from and whether it's clean.

Ms. Harrison, 32, was in jail on a criminal mischief charge and for unpaid traffic tickets. She made a face when Detention Officer Russ Gardner draped the towel on her.

"It's fine," Ms. Harrison said.

One guy, reporting for probation because of a DWI, bent down as Officer Gardner tried to place the towel over his chest. When she explained it was supposed to cover the front, the man smiled and said, "Oh, like a barbershop."

Collin County's towel-as-camouflage is an oddity for local jails. The Dallas, Denton and Tarrant county jails all take mug shots of people in street clothes. It's never been an issue.

At first, some officers in other counties laugh at the idea of blanketing inmates in a towel but, on reflection, say the idea has merit.

"It makes sense," said Dallas County Sgt. Don Peritz. "I can see why they do it."

Collin County Chief Deputy Randy Clark wonders why no one else is covering up inmates.

"I'm surprised more people haven't picked up on it," he said

E-mail jemily@dallasnews.com