brass monkey
hard-boiled slang for a burden or handicap, akin to an albatross around one's neck or a mark of shame
"A prison record is a handicap, a brass monkey perched from the back of every man we choose. If the man starts giving us trouble, we simply turn that brass monkey against him. If a man turns from us, we add a full-scale smear campaign to the handicap of his prison record, and the man is ruined for life. Society will accept a man with one brass monkey, like a prison record, but two? Never." "The Brass Monkey," I was a Communist for the FBI, air date 4-9-53
By Crassius