Prison tattoos?

Question

I am helping my son on a sociology paper for a summer class. I need to know something about prison tattoos and their meanings. One in particular. An ink dot on the right ear lobe. I cannot find this anywhere yet I know it exists. Thanks in advance

Answer 1

That's one I'm not familiar with (I'm a retired police officer and gang unit specialist.) Some tattoos are regional rather than national so they may not appear in a national data base. I checked with a few friends still actively employed as peace officers and we are stumped. Here's a couple of resources that might be able to help:

http://www.adl.org/hate_symbols/prison_tattoos.asp

http://www.phaseloop.com/foreignprisoners/exp-russian_tats.html

http://www.rankmytattoos.com/tattoos/cultural-tattoos/prison-tattoos/

http://www.tattoojohnny.com/gang-tattoo-designs.asp

Answer 2

The meaning of the tats vary regionally... a tattoo might not carry exactly the same meaning in Florida as in California, and the "dictionary" of meanings evolves over time... a particular tattoo may mean something different today than it meant a decade ago,so it is difficult to give a concrete answer.
There is a book that might help, "Prison Tattoos" available through most bookstores and this entry from Wikipedia may shed some light http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_tattoo
Check out the links at the bottom of the entry.

Answer 3

I would suggest calling a tattoo shop and ask them. They would know more so than I would and I worked in prisons for years. But its been awhile since I worked in one. But the tattoo artist should be able to tell you. Have fun. I can tell you how they make the tattoo guns in prison if you'd like me to tell you.

Answer 4

Talk with the Public Info person/s at your department of corrections. They can give him/you some good info. Be sure to ask specifically about the 'gang' tats. (They call them STG's.)...Security Threat Groups. Also, if your state has a significant Latino population, get the lowdown on the tats of the Nortenos and Sorenos.