Jewelry is an expression of personal style, and certain pieces have sentimental worth that cannot be assessed, even if they aren’t pricey.
Jewelry is a crucial item while dressing up, and you wear it for a reason, from necklaces to ankle bracelets. With this thought in mind, a question that people often ask is can you wear jewelry in prison?
Is It Permissible To Wear Jewelry When Incarcerated?
When you’re in prison, things alter. Inmates who display personal flair are frowned upon by the Department of Corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Everything the inmates wear is either provided by the jailor purchased at the commissary, resulting in uniformity.
What Kind Of Jewelry Is Permitted In Prison?
Only two forms of jewelry are permitted in prison: a basic wedding band and a religious necklace. The purpose of this guideline is for the sake of safety.
Necklaces can be used to strangle someone, and rings with any form of jewels or engravings can be used as brass knuckles in a fight.
Although this sounds dreadful, these fears are justified. Robert Gleason, an inmate at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia, strangled another inmate to death with a religious necklace in 2010.
The necklace must be non-metallic, cost less than $100, and have smooth edges to be allowed in most prisons.
The price of a wedding band is usually capped at $100 at most venues. Because expensive jewelry might be used as currency inside a prison, they keep the price low. If you wear expensive jewelry, you risk having it stolen.
When inmates enter jail, they are allowed to bring certain products with them or order them from a licensed seller.
Some institutions even have a commissary where they sell holy jewelry. These products cannot be mailed to the inmate by friends or family members.
Curtis Rowland, a Nebraska Department of Corrections inmate, sued prison officials in 2012 for infringing on his civil rights by refusing to let him wear a Martin Luther King Jr. medallion.
Rowland’s appeal made it to the Federal Court of Appeals, which determined that the institution was not infringing on his first amendment rights.
They concluded it didn’t matter who was on the necklace, and they made it obvious that the choice was based solely on safety.
“We reject the conditional awarding of some medals and not others on a prisoner’s achieving an established criterion of religious orthodoxy as an infringement on his or her First Amendment rights.”
Is It Permissible To Wear Jewelry To A Visit/Meeting?
Only a wedding set (wedding band and engagement ring) and religious jewelry are permitted in most locations.
The rules vary in every facility, although they are typically quite rigorous. When visiting a prison inmate, it’s important to keep things simple.
Most institutions will have a metal detector, which will be triggered by jewelry. Before your visit, they may require you to return the things to your vehicle or place them in a locker.
It’s all about safety when it comes to jewelry in prison. In jail, anything and everything is considered a potential weapon, thus inmates are encouraged to limit their jewelry to a minimum to keep them safe.
Is It Necessary For You To Remove Your Piercings While You’re Incarcerated?
You will be strip-searched upon entering prison, and the intake officer will note every tattoo and piercing you have. Except for micro dermal implants, all piercings must be removed.
In Prison, Are Body Piercings Possible?
In prison, getting a tattoo is fairly frequent, particularly among male inmates. Prison piercings, believe it or not, do exist.
Inmates must be resourceful to accomplish this. To get the task done, kids typically use a shoestring and a sharpened plastic spoon or toothbrush.
If you’re caught with a jail piercing, you’ll be prosecuted since it’s considered “self-mutilation,” which is illegal. This isn’t merely a case of bad behavior.
You could end yourself spending weeks, if not months, in the hole.
When You Go To Prison, Do You Have To Remove The Jewelry Out Of Your Piercings?
When you initially arrive in prison, you must complete an intake process at reception and the diagnostic center.
During this time, an officer will strip you down, search you, and examine all of your tattoos and piercings.
They’ll make a note of every piercing and tattoo you have, as well as the location, and place it in your inmate file.
If you have piercings, they will make you remove all of your jewelry and store it alongside your personal belongings.
Some Cases of inmates have been reported where the guards threatened to remove their piercings with pliers or rip the piercing out of their skin if they told them they couldn’t remove the jewelry without medical help.
If you have transdermal or sub-dermal piercings, removing the jewelry would require an officer to practically take it out of your flesh, which would be a violation of your 8th and 14th constitutional rights to medical care if the procedure wasn’t conducted by a doctor, most jails and prisons will let you keep it.
All of your jewelry is returned to you once you are released from prison