City paints over its experiment with pink cells

The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The experiment to see if the color pink calms jail inmates has been declared a failure in Kansas City.

Scientific research has suggested that the pink jails make inmates less aggressive, and jails across the country have experimented with the idea. Just last week, the Dallas County Detention Center in Buffalo went pink.

But the Kansas City Police Department says it didn't work for them, and inmates will now reside in cells painted in back-to-the-basics institutional gray.

Kansas City tried the pink experiment when the research first came out in the early 1990s.

The police department covered the ceiling and door and part of the wall in the isolation room with a Pepto-Bismol shade of pink. Another cell was made bright pink. Door trims and moldings all around the jail were painted pink, accented with turquoise.

When Capt. Eric Winebrenner took over the Kansas City unit more than a year ago, he asked his 42 employees to recommend changes. They strongly suggested that he get rid of the pink, which had faded and peeled over the years.

The pink didn't have any discernible effect on the prisoners, who rarely spent more than 24 hours in the detention cell. But it really annoyed the employees.

So, last week, painters covered nearly all the pink.

Winebrenner decided to use paint already in police custody -- harbor gray for the floors, walls and bars, and dark royal blue on door trims and bunks.

Last week, Dallas County Sheriff Mike Rackley said he decided to use pink at his jail after inmates set fire to his jail in an escape attempt.

"Basically, if they are going to act like children and commit a childish act, then we'll make a childish atmosphere," he said.