The “Rock Islanders” prison band of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, 1940s

As full of joy and merriment as the holidays can be, unless you are completely out of touch with reality, Christmas isn’t always a happy time of year for a lot of folks. I mean, all you have to do is look around you to figure that one out. Of course, it probably doesn’t get much worse than spending the holidays in the clink.
 

Christmas morning in the “drunk tank” in Downtown Los Angeles, 1952
 
Some of the images that follow date all the way back to the early 1900s and while a few of them are rather grim, there are many that actually show inmates in a seemingly jovial mood despite their jail-bound circumstances. Such as the one of an inmate at the Orange County Jail playing Santa with a mop on his head and a newspaper hat. Count your blessings, Dangerous Minds readers: It could always be worse.
 

Prisoners at the District Jail in Washington, D.C., 1909
 

Inmates celebrating Christmas at the Raymond Street Jail, Brooklyn New York, 1932
 

Jailhouse decorated with Santa and his sleigh headed out toward the courthouse, 1950
 

Correctional officers at the old District Jail in Washington, D.C., eary 1920s
 

The old District Jail in Washington, D.C. decorated for Christmas, early 1920s
 

Christmas in the Orange County Jail, 1940s
 

An inmate at the Orange County Jail playing Santa with a mop and paper hat, 1940s
 

Inmates at the Denver County Jail performing on Christmas Eve, 1911
 

Leroy Carr, “Christmas in Jail (Ain’t that a Pain)”, 1929