the wordsmith
sarah james
behind bars
Since the beginning of tattooing in Western culture, tattoos have been synonymous with criminals and prison. Some say that the world’s greatest tattoo artists learned how to tattoo while serving time in prison.
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Prison tattoos can either be done stick-and-poke style or with a home-made tattoo machine.
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Tattoos done with a machine are generally done with in a single needle style, making it tricky to get a clean tattoo. In the US, tattooing in prisons is illegal, which makes getting hold of equipment difficult. Machines are made out of things such as pen barrels, guitar strings or staples (for needles) and motors from CD players. The ink is also home-made, made out of pen ink, soot or melted plastic. All prison tattoos are done in black ink, due to coloured ink being impractical to make or get hold of.
Prison tattoo machine
World renowned tattoo artist, Oliver Peck, says that single needle tattoos are incredibly complicated because if too much pressure is used, the needle will go too deep into the skin and create a scar, rather than a tattoo. If the needle doesn’t go deep enough, the tattoo will not last. This shows how prison tattoos are something of an art, especially as they don’t have the proper tools to tattoo with.
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Prison tattoos done in the US and Russia tend to represent gang membership or link to the crimes committed by the prisoner. For example, a tattoo of a spider web on the elbow means that the inmate is serving a long sentence, while a tattoo of the letter M shows that the inmate was a part of the Mexican Mafia.
Possibly one of the most well known prison tattoos is the tear drop on the face. Although this has various meanings in different countries, it often is taken to mean that the inmate has committed murder, and each drop indicates the number of people that inmate has killed.
Several South African inmates have numbers (usually 26 or 28) tattooed, meaning that they are or were part of the Numbers Gang. The Numbers Gang is one of the most infamous gangs in South African prisons – believed to operate primarily in Pollsmoor Prison in the Western Cape. It is believed that members of this gang can rise in the gang hierarchy by stabbing prison guards or other gang members. One former gang member said, “People judge you on your tattoos. They call you a skollie. But even skollies can change.”
From a photostory done by Lee-Ann Olwage in Hanover Park, Cape Town.
Due to these tattoos being performed in septic environments and due to needles being used for multiple people, the risk of contracting diseases such as hepatitis or HIV/AIDS is relatively high. The make-shift ink can also cause severe skin irritation or burns, as they can often contain harmful substances such as soap.
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Prison tattoos create a bond between inmates belonging to the same gang, but they also serve as a reminder to other inmates that they must not be crossed. It is impressive to see that despite the difficulty in accessing tattoo equipment, inmates still make do with what they do have.