No, these gloves are not for fashion; rather, they are to stop prisoners from, um, "abusing" themselves. Or perhaps "amusing" themselves, depending on how you look at it. Yup, it's far better to let that tension build up in an incarcerated population. I suppose that a cold shower would help. Oh, wait... they only got to bathe once per week. Hmm, oh well, the gloves it is, then.

These were made some time between 1870 and 1880.