Grandmother given dressing down for visiting prison while wearing too short shorts

A grandmother visiting an inmate at a prison in Australia's Northern Territory was “mortified” when a guard gave her a public dressing-down over the length of her shorts. Darwin Family Law office manager Alison Duke, 64, later lodged a complaint with Darwin Correctional Precinct and emailed photos of herself wearing the shorts. She received the response: “Thank you Alison. Can I just say you look great for a 64. Have a great day.”



Ms Duke said she had been wearing the same style of shorts on prison visits for 18 months. “Suddenly they’re unsuitable,” she said. “They aren’t torn or hot pants, they’re from the kids’ section of a department store.” Ms Duke said she felt uncomfortable when the officer singled her out and told her the shorts were too short when arrived for a scheduled prisoner visit at Holtze, in rural Darwin, on Sunday, April 12.

“He pointed to a poster about the dress code,” she said. “It’s not what they did, it’s the way they did it. There was little explanation and everyone was looking at me. I was mortified.” Ms Duke was allowed to remain in the prison after she was served the warning. NT Corrections spokesman David Harris said: “The visitor dress code includes prohibiting clothes that are excessively tight or revealing. Correctional officers determined that Ms Duke was wearing a pair of shorts that did not meet this standard.”



Prison Superintendent Bill Carroll wrote to Ms Duke to explain the code and “apologised for any inconvenience”. Mr Harris said the dress code would be “strictly enforced”. Ms Duke said Corrections should “reassess” how it treated visitors. “They should be encouraging visitors, not making them feel like criminals,” she said. “We are in an essential part of the inmates rehabilitation and eventual re-entry into the community.”