This is William West and William West, Doppelgängers Who Were Part of the Inspiration of Fingerprint Identification

They looked identical and even shared the same name, but the two prisoners pictured were actually different people and their remarkable case helped bring in the era of fingerprint identification.

In 1903, a remarkable case at Leavenworth Prison in Kansas exposed a major flaw in early criminal identification methods. Two inmates—both named William West—were found to have nearly identical facial features and almost indistinguishable body measurements, according to the Bertillon system, which was then the standard for identifying prisoners through physical characteristics.

Despite the uncanny similarities, these men were completely unrelated, and the confusion could not be resolved through Bertillon measurements alone. It was this case that underscored the limitations of anthropometry and accelerated the shift toward fingerprint identification, which provided a unique and reliable way to distinguish individuals.

This incident became a turning point in forensic science, leading to the widespread adoption of fingerprinting as a primary method for criminal identification—a standard that remains in place to this day across law enforcement and security systems worldwide.