White inmates who are outnumbered and less gang-organised in the prison population find it more important to assert a racial solidarity to declare a “home turf”. Often they have tattoos of swastikas or crosses signalling membership to one of a dozen or so white supremacist groups.
Almost all prison tattoos are made by artist convicts using homemade tattoo "guns”. The work is done quickly and secretly. To be caught in a cell shakedown with either a tattoo gun or the fresh ink of a new tattoo results in a "major case". If, after a disciplinary hearing, the prisoner is convicted he may lose privileges, be moved to a more restrictive wing or even be denied parole. In the regulated world of the maximum security penitentiary the handiwork of the tattoo artist is the most respected skill amongst inmates.
Like gang culture, the culture of prison tattoos is circular. Convicts bring with them the fashions of the ghetto and barrio. The motifs of rural Mexican Catholicism have similarly influenced some beautiful prison tattoos. At the same time marks obtained in prison have significance on the streets. It is almost impossible to go into a tattoo parlour without finding designs that emerged from the long, continuously evoling history of the Texas lock-up. Some convicts change their life dramatically while incarcerated and are forced to serve out sentences at odds with their body art. There are no tattoo removal services in prison. Rasheed, a Muslim serving 20 years in Huntsville’s Wyn unit, was a 15-year-old Houston Crip gang member when he killed two people in a drug deal gone bad. Now 21, he reads The Koran, prays facing Mecca and fasts during the month of Ramadan. But still displayed prominently on his chest is the barrel of a gun and the word “kill” tattooed directly above it.
Convicts of all races frequently have teardrops tattooed directly below their eyes, giving them the appearance of permanently crying. These tattoos take on different meanings depending on the place and time they were acquired. Originally each tear drop represented a murder committed. More recently they have begun to represent each of the family or gang members who have died while a prisoner is locked up. Because of the location of the tear on the face, these tattoos are commitment, an unabashed declaration of the inmate experience. Prison has literally scarred the convict, a sad fact fittingly expressed with a teardrop.
In a world where not caring about consequences is respected, tattoos declare themselves fearless. For that reason inside the confines of the prison most hardened gang members, rather than hide their markings, display them fearlessly.
In many countries around the world, tattoos developed as a way to identify prisoners and ostracize them from law-abiding society. Tattoos were imprinted on inmates to not only identify them as felons, but also to identify the crimes they committed. Prisoners capitalized on the fear and stigma associated with body art and used that as a source of pride.
Tattoos came to symbolize both the gory and the glory associated with gang life. Today it is not uncommon for gang members to tattoo their hands and arms, necks and even faces, as a demonstrated refusal to acclimate to social norms. Tattoos in gang culture represent a commitment that stays with the body even after life. Gang members are committed to the gang for life and shared tattoos are a way of unifying members of a gang.
From tear drops to religious and cultural images, check out these incredible gang tattoos.
Mexican Gang tattoos
Although the original Mexican mafia prison gang banned the practice of religion as a precondition to membership, the fact that Mexico in general is a country deeply rooted in the catholic tradition has made it impossible to discount the influence of religion completely, even amongst violent criminal gang member. This is why many mesican gang members, regardless of their particular affiliation will often be found with tattoos depicting a pair of hands clasped together in prayer. This powerful image is supposed to represent a plea for forgiveness from God for the wrong the gang members have done.
Many Mexican gang tattoos often have significant phrases personal to that particular gang member. These include phrases like Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life” and Perdoname Mi Madre (Forgive Me, Mother) which show how they are aware of their gangster life and how it is unacceptable to their family members and loved ones. There words or phrases are usually tattooed in Old English style letters.
Some Mexican gangsters also tattoo the web of the hands with drawings symbolic of their special role within the gang. Sometimes these symbols are even burned into the hand.
Most Mexican gangs prefer the colours of the Mexican flag as their gang’s colours. The colours of the Mexican flag are green, white and red. That is the reason why these colours predominate in the tattoos of Mexican gang members.
http://www.tattoo.tv/thebuzz/designs-a-styles/233-russian-mafia-a-prison-tattoos.html
I have researched into body art in gang cultures to understand what relevance this form of body art has to people in gangs. Also to look at if perceptions change when people find out what certain tattoos represent to certain people. This research includes Mexican gangs, White supremisits and Russian Mafia gangs.
http://mag.rankmytattoos.com/incredible-gang-tattoos-and-their-meanings.html
While serving to unify members within a gang, tattoos are used as a means of self-imposed segregation: segregation from other gangs and segregation from mass society. They are meant to instigate fear and serve as a “body of truth” documenting gang life. This entails everything from tallying crimes committed to memorializing the loss of a loved one, to representing a hood, to serving as the hallmark of a life-sentence in prison.
While certain designs and symbols are universally recognized as gang tattoos, most tattoos vary drastically from gang to gang. Tattoos amongst members of the same gang will often differ significantly, carrying familiar elements but in a personalized way, thus highlighting both a group mentality and an individual identity. Images of cultural pride and religious devotion appear in striking contrast with the blood, guns, and daggers which are often coupled on the same body canvas.
Gang tattoos are a study in contradictions; they reflect a culture where life is fleeting but tattoos make the record of life, and often life-record, immortal.
http://gangsorus.com/gang_tattoos.html
The dots are usually in groups of three or five small dot tattoos. The most common locations are the web of the hands, the wrist and elbows. For many,three dots in a triangular shape represent the only three places gang members go to - the hospital, prison or grave.
Members affiliated with the Sureños, or Sur 13, have been known to place three dots on one wrist and a single dot on the other to indicate the number ¨13¨.
A tattoo of three dots in a triangle, usually found between the thumb and forefinger, has several meanings. For many, three dots in a triangular shape represent the only three places gang members go to -the hospital, prison or the grave. I sometimes refer to the three dots as the 3 I´s of the gang culture: Injury, Incarceration and Interment. The dots may also stand for "mi vida loca" ("my crazy life"). They may also be referred to as "party dots." And finally, they may represent a gang known as Los Vatos Locos (The Crazy Dudes or Guys) gang. Only the person wearing the dots knows what they mean to him or her.
Along with the pachuco cross, the number 187, and the slang tattoo "Thug Life", the "three dots", referred to as "tres puntos" in Spanish, is a popular "generic" tattoo, particularly among Latino teenagers, and has no positive, direct connection to gang affiliation.
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