suicide smock
n.— «Police have invented a “suicide smock” to stop prisoners from killing themselves in Queensland’s overcrowded watchhouses. A smock was used last Thursday night at Beenleigh watchhouse after police rescued a 30-year-old prisoner who tried to hang himself with strips from a torn-up pillow-slip. They are like a dressing gown made of heavy unrippable material and prisoners can wear them when other clothing that can be used in a suicide attempt is taken away.» —“‘Suicide’ smock” Sunday Mail (Queensland, Australia) June 18, 1995. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Martha recently found a 1938 letter that her grandfather sent to the local police chief in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It concerns a suspected thief who her grandfather thought might be persuaded to confess because, he wrote,, the young man surely...
A firefighter named Steve in Newport News, Virginia, wonders why in his line of work, and for some police, certain additional kinds of days off after long unbroken shifts are called Kelly days, Kelly shifts, or Kelly time. The term most likely comes...