Prison Babes

Scott Hardie | November 9, 2002
This is mean-spirited and in poor taste, but I've got to post it anyway. I came across a pair of web sites today that produce interesting contrasts when the same person is looked up in both:

Jailbabes.com, a personal-ads service for women behind bars. Some of the women in these photos are attractive. (I linked straight to the Florida search results.)

Florida DOC Inmate Search, where you can look up the mug shot of any convict in the state. They don't quite look the same here, do they? Check out "Kirsten" and "Darbie" for two good examples.

It's a similar sensation to seeing the pictures in The Smoking Gun's mug shots archive, except there the humor is in seeing the rich and famous looking as ugly as the rest of us, while the humor in the above links is in seeing the attractive women in personal ads looking as ugly as the rest of us.

And interestingly, some of the women look better in their mug shots. Consider "Sarah" (born 11/7/78) and "Bethina" for instance.

In case you're wondering whether I surf convicts' personal ads in my spare time, I actually found mention of those two sites in a discussion of "Bringing Down the House," an upcoming film in which a normal guy (Steve Martin) is fooled into falling in love online with a convict (Queen Latifah) by her fake photo. (Watch the trailer. It's yet another "magical black man" movie, but I still think it looks funny.)

Scott Hardie | November 9, 2002
Well, maybe not magical black man (or woman), but similar.

Matthew Preston | November 10, 2002
hmmmm.... I wonder if this says anything about personal ads being full of BS? But then again, most people only have one or two photos of themselves in a computer format that they are willing to use. =hint hint=

Anna Gregoline | November 14, 2002
"This is mean-spirited and in poor taste, but I've got to post it anyway." The true motto of the Internet.

Denise Sawicki | November 14, 2002
Actually I think "Tomika" is a really good example of one whose mugshot looks better.

Scott Hardie | November 15, 2002
Check out Melanie (born 2/7/68) as an example of one who looks just a little better in her profile.

Actually, I went to the inmate-search site today because I'm working with a con on a work-release program. She's really nice, though; reminds me of a friend who I like very much.