If you never thought that the Lorton Correctional Complex’s closure could touch your own life, think again. “They do make license plates in prisons,” observes Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson Regina Williams. Lorton’s closure forced the city to find a new place to manufacture plates (the federal prison in Cumberland, Md.) and resulted in a change in the look of the tags as well. The new plates are a two-dimensional model fashioned from vinyl available only to the government and are without the raised letters to which District drivers have become accustomed. “A lot of the new license plates in all jurisdictions are moving to this model,” says Williams, who adds that the new plates have dedicated bar codes, nonfade print, and “laser-embedded holograms.” —Richard Byrne