Replacing Prison Uniforms With Custom Suits

Prison limits self-expression. Inmates are usually forced to identify as a number and, for the most part, can only wear a standard-issue uniform.

After living that way for decades, how do you rekindle a sense of personal style?

Six exonerees involved with the Innocence Project, which works to overturn wrongful convictions using scientific methods like DNA, recently tried to answer that question with help from employees at Bindle & Keep, a suit maker in Brooklyn.

On a windy day in mid-May, four men and two women whose convictions were overturned in the last year made their way to Bindle & Keep’s studio near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where they tried on sample garments, selected fabrics and were meticulously measured for custom suits.

“I’m going to be cleaner than the board of health,” Renay Lynch, 68, said after seeing her reflection in a navy velvet tuxedo jacket that she had tried on. Ms. Lynch, who was convicted of the murder and the robbery of her landlord, was exonerated in January after serving 26 years in prison in Buffalo.

She hopes to write a book about her life and thought that a suit would be a perfect outfit for promotional events. “This makes a statement, and I don’t even have to say anything,” Ms. Lynch said of the jacket she was trying on, which had silk lapels.

Perry Lott, right, considered various fabrics for his custom suit.Credit…Isabelle Zhao for The New York Times