During that weekend-long Jail marathon on Spike TV, you may have noticed something out of place with the interior design of this nation’s correctional facilities. Are those pink walls? Now, why would the homes of some of America’s most hardened residents contained walls painted bubblegum pink, also known as Baker Miller Pink. Like me, you may be surprised to learn that the pink walls found in some prisons and drunk tanks are actually tools that facilitate mind control… sort of.

Ever hear that bulls charge the matador’s cape, the muleta, because it’s the color red? Well, that’s not exactly true. Bulls and other types of cattle are color-blind to red, so it’s actually the cape’s whipping movement that enrages them. Humans, on the other hand, are tricked by colors every day. The psychology of colors is an interesting field of study showing how certain colors can be used to trigger our emotions. Colors can even decide which selfies we Like.

So why do prisons and drunk tanks paint their walls pink? To keep prisoners docile and obedient. Research has even shown that people are weaker while looking at a pink hue. Following the perceivable success of U.S. prisons using pink rooms to calm inmates, other institutions have shopped around the idea of using pink walls in office break rooms, inside of ambulances, panic rooms, airport security, mental health facilities, and natural disaster relief posts.