Mugging for camera in Orange County: What's so funny about smiling mug shots?

For most people, it's the worst day of their lives.

They were caught driving drunk or they just beat someone up. Some are hung over, dirty and bruised.

Then they are hauled into the Orange County Jail and ordered to stand still for the camera.

Most arrestees are pretty sullen.

Then there are a handful of arrestees at jails across the country who every day flash toothy grins for their mug shots - one last hurrah before lockup.

"This is something we really frown on here," said Dan Faison, an inmate records supervisor at the Orange County Jail.

While jail officials don't find the humor in a smiling inmate's booking photo, the happy mug shots are an entertaining diversion for the public and a corrections phenomenon.

Viewing booking photos has become an increasingly popular pastime in recent years with the growth of the Internet and explosion in digital photography.

In states like Florida, where mug shots are public records, law-enforcement agencies often make the images easy to find online.

There's an appetite for the photos, especially ones of jubilant inmates.

"I love it when I see these people arrested on serious charges and smiling as if nothing has happened," said Marcos Seers, a self-described mug-shot junkie from Winter Park.

Seers enjoys spending time browsing mug-shot galleries at The Smoking Gun - a website known for embarrassing mug shots of celebrities and politicians.

"It's basically voyeurism and taking pleasure from someone else's misfortunes," Seers said.

The Cheshire Cat smile on the mug shot of former Republican House Majority leader Tom DeLay went viral after his 2005 arrest.

Some Central Florida media poked fun at state Sen. Gary Siplin's flashy grin in a booking photo after his arrest in 2006.

A grand-theft conviction stemming from that arrest was eventually overturned by an appeals court - another reason to smile.

Recently, Larry Jason Wonn, 22, of Casselberry, gave a big smile at Orange County when he was booked on charges of possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving under the influence.

So did Mariluz Rosa, 37, of Orlando, who mugged it up when she was booked on charges of aggravated assault and battery.

Both their cases are still open, according to Orange County Court records.

But why are they grinning? Attempts to reach smiling inmates were unsuccessful in recent weeks.

Stephen Holmes, associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida, thinks grinning inmates are thumbing their noses at the criminal-justice system.

"You see this with people who have been in and out of jail a lot. They think it's a joke," Holmes said. "It's an affront to the system because this is the picture that is going to follow them and they know people will see them smiling."

Faison, the Orange County Jail official, said that in his 25 years in corrections and law enforcement, alcohol and drugs are usually to blame.

"Some (arrestees) come in here intoxicated on alcohol or under the influence of drugs and don't really know what's happening," Faison said.

Corrections officials acknowledge there is little they can do about the grins. They would rather have serious poses because photos are often used during prosecution.

"We prefer (inmates) not smile because suspects are not usually smiling when they commit a crime and it makes it difficult for victims to identify them," Faison said.