Prison tattooing and backyard ink: How to navigate these age-old traditions
Wednesday, 2 October, 2024.
Photo courtesy: Unsplash.
Unsterile tattoo and piercing equipment can spread blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS, just as re-used injecting equipment can.
You are at even higher risk of getting hep C or HIV if you get a jail tattoo because inmates have to illegally source, or create, needles and tattoo guns in secrecy. Infection rates for hep C are far higher in the Australian jail population than in communities on the outside.
Estimates suggest as many as 40% of inmates in Australia may get tattoos while locked up but this doesn’t mean it’s a safe practice.
Backyard tattooists and jail tattooists should avoid reusing needles and the same batch of ink on more than one person.
If you’re tattooing yourself or another inmate in jail, it’s vital you clean and disinfect all tattoo equipment with Fincol.
Hep C testing is easy and free. NUAA’s needle and syringe program in Surry Hills (345 Crown Street) offers free hep C testing. You can order a home dried blood spot hep C testing kit online. Call PeerLine on 1800 644 413 for more info.
Harm reduction messaging for bloodborne viruses like hep C and HIV tends to focus on drugs and sex but there’s another activity, largely understudied and occurring in the shadows, which can also spread these viruses: DIY tattooing. As tattoos becomes more and more socially acceptable, this trend is showing no signs of disappearing, and no amount of prohibition or preaching will change this. So, if you can’t resist the temptation of a prison tattoo or some backyard ink, we’re here to give you advice on the health risks.
The lowdown on backyard tattooing
During the boredom of a COVID lockdown, José bought a tattoo kit online. He’d always been a keen drawer and painter and he wanted to try a new medium for expressing himself. Soon, he began tattooing people without licensing in his own home.
He says that minimising the health risks of tattooing is “common sense for the most part”.
“Don’t reuse needles. Make sure you disinfect all areas – the skin, the surfaces you’re working on. Wipe down your equipment before and after.”
While a tattoo heals, you should regularly apply an antiseptic cream like Bepanthen.
Needles are a key way that blood-borne viruses spread as these viruses are passed on through blood-to-blood contact. They’re often associated with injecting drug use. However, tattooing also involves needles piercing skin. So unclean tattoo equipment and reused needles carry the same risks as fits used for injecting drugs.
There’s still debate about whether hepatitis C can be transferred via tattoo ink. Some researchers believe the ink partially neutralises the virus. Regardless, the main virus threat is the needle. But it’s always best practice for tattoo artists to separate ink into small containers for each new person they tattoo, rather than continually dipping into one larger container. Where tattoo ink is harder to source (in jail, for example) this may become more of a problem.
Other health risks include skin inflammation and keloids, which are raised scars where the body has struggled to heal properly. You may also get skin infections if a tattooer uses poor quality ink. Home tattooists usually choose to do tattoos under the radar because it’s a lot cheaper than getting a license. Although backyard tattooists are certainly not trying to make you sick, some may use budget inks and equipment or take shortcuts when it comes to cleanliness. If you really do want a backyard tattoo, it’s best to go to someone you trust or someone a friend has recommended.
There are certainly plenty of talented tattoo artists out there who choose to work illegally, either because the financial cost of paying for a license and doing months of unpaid work as an apprentice is not feasible or because they have criminal links. As a result of NSW’s anti-bikie laws and hardline stance on criminal association, the background checks for tattoo licenses are very thorough, and prohibitive for some. It even involves giving fingerprints at a cop shop!
What’s more: backyard tattoos are cheap, sometimes even free. So we know they’re appealing. Just make sure you’ve done your homework first and you’re aware of the health risks.
And one last thing. If you’ve ever stepped inside a tattoo parlour, you’ll notice one thing immediately: they’re really well lit. Lighting is an important part of the craft. That artist straining their eyes at the underground rave probably is struggling to make out what they’re doing. Strobes, lasers and neon lights aren’t exactly ideal for this kind of work, and a headtorch can only do so much.
How about jail tattoos?
Prison tattooing is an age-old tradition. Some consider a jail tatt a right of passage. Some get one to prove their gang affiliation. For others it can be an act of rebellion within a system that seeks to obliterate individuality. It’s certainly one way to give a middle finger salute to the screws. Others yet probably just want to fit in with their tribe. Of course, it’s worth remembering that it could become a decision you regret later in life, particularly if the tattoo is in a super visible place (for example, a face tattoo).
According to a 2022 report, roughly 1 in 14 people get a tattoo or body piercing during a stint in an Australian jail. For people aged between 18 and 24, this percentage rises to just over 1 in 5 (22%). That said, it’s hard to find accurate data and it’s very possible the number is even higher. Other studies suggest the proportion of Australian inmates getting tattooed inside (not piercings) sits around 40%.
One of Jayden’s jail tattoos. He’s had full sleeve tattoos done on his arms and legs on the inside, as well as tatts on his back.
Photo courtesy: anonymous.
Jayden, who has spent roughly 17 years inside, tells Users News that getting tattooed in jail is even more common today than when he first entered the prison pipeline.
All the health advice that relates to backyard tattooing also applies to tattooing in jail. But prison tattooing is more complicated and sketchier.
As tattooing other inmates is not legal, it’s done in secrecy. It means prison tattooing carries the same health risks as injecting drugs inside. You’re more likely to encounter unsanitary equipment and reused needles in a jail cell than in a licensed tattoo parlour. The exchange and reuse of handmade injecting and tattoo equipment is rife in prisons. Media reports from the US indicate that incarcerated people across the pond are stealing used and discarded syringes from biohazard bins or buying them cheaply from medical orderlies. Australia studies suggest that similar practices occur here – one notable difference being the high price of illegal fits on the inside for those who don’t make, steal or smuggle their own needles.
High prices are a sign of lots of demand and not enough supply. So it’s possible that someone giving a jail tattoo will do it with a well-used needle. This is a problem because the percentage of people in Australian prisons with hep C is far higher than infection rates in the general population. Moreover, data suggests that those who inject drugs are more likely to get a prison tattoo than others and both activities involve needles, which, if shared, can spread hep C. So, yes, there are recent documented cases of hep C coming from tattoos in Australian jails.
Think carefully before you commit to inking your body in this environment. This isn’t a decision you should make on a whim.
Raf, who did time in the late 90s and early 00s, says he’s not a huge fan of tattoo culture, even though he has jail tattoos. Locked up at the age of 18 in an adult prison, Raf used tattooing to avoid bullying. He wanted to fit in with the boys. These days, he has mixed feelings towards that decision.
Raf believes he got hepatitis C while locked up from a jail tattoo he did on himself. He used his own clean needle and he firmly believes he got the virus from specks of blood on the barrel of the DIY tattoo gun (the casing of a pen) which he borrowed from the man who taught him how to build the contraption. That teacher was a well-known jail tattooist. It’s a useful reminder that you can never be too cautious in this environment.
A jail tattoo on Raf’s arm. Sections of the tattoo have not been filled in with ink because the tattooist, at the time, ran out of ink.
Photo courtesy: anonymous.
If you’re tattooing another inmate, it’s vital you clean and disinfect all tattoo equipment with the cleaning liquid Fincol. It’s not a fool-proof method for avoiding blood-borne viruses but it’s better than not doing anything at all. Additionally, throw away used needles. If you got your tattoo needle from a wire brush, pluck a fresh one next time you tattoo.
Sourcing or creating ink in prison also doesn’t make for pleasant reading. On a rare occasion, an inmate and visitor will smuggle ink and motors for DIY tattoo guns, and Jayden says corrupt correctional officers sometimes bring them into jails too. While Corrective Services NSW may not want to admit it, no amount of invasive strip -searching and surveillance has ever halted the flow of illegal items in jails.
That said, tattoo supplies are usually not at the top of the list of priorities for smuggling and the methods for making ink aren’t exactly sanitary. Inmates sometimes use pen ink but it’s more common for them to create soot by burning down aluminium dinner trays, match sticks or tobacco, essentially whatever they can find and burn down into ashes. We’ve also heard stories of people burning down the rubber souls of shoes and sandals and mixing the remnants with water. Here’s Jayden describing the process:
“Sometimes we’d make a flame from a wick. We’d get a string and try and dry it out and soak it in olive oil. We’d light it on fire and put a tin on top of it so it catches the black smoke from the flame, so it’s soot ... You scrape the black smoke off the bottom of the tin and you mix it with toothpaste.”
Inmates are always a resourceful bunch! All the former inmates Users News consulted for this article said that using DIY tattoo guns is far more common than the more primitive stick-and-poke style of tattooing.
Experienced tattoo artists in jail are scarce but there are some who take a lot of pride in their work. Jayden, for example, has a real passion for DIY tattoo cultures that comes from his background as a graffiti artist. He says it’s normal for people to mistakenly believe his tattoos were done on the outside.
A jail tattoo on Jayden’s forearm.
Photo courtesy: anonymous.
Jayden suggests that education and awareness around blood-borne viruses has led to inmates tattooing in a safer way. “We’d use new ink every time, new needles every time,” he states. “We don’t use second-hand stuff anymore.”
Not everyone is guaranteed to be so careful though. If you’re getting a jail tatt, try and make sure the person tattooing is using a fresh needle. Alternatively, you can offer up a clean needle that you’ve found or made yourself.
I’ve gotten hep C from a bodgy tattoo: What do I do now?
Without medical treatment, hepatitis C can cause liver diseases and chronic bad health. The good news is that hep C is easily curable. Treatment involves taking a tablet daily for 8 to 12 weeks. Yes, that’s all.
Some people are still wary of getting treatment for hep C due to the intense side effects of interferon, a previous hep C treatment, but the new treatment, known as Direct Acting Antivirals or DAAs, has minimal if any side effects and it’s also more effective. An estimated 95 to 98 percent of people who take DAA medications recover. Plus, the tablets are relatively cheap.
If you’re worried the person tattooing you was a bit lax with sanitising their equipment, go get tested for hep C. NUAA’s Surry Hills NSP (345 Crown Street) offers free hep C testing between midday and 3pm, Tuesdays to Fridays. The service is provided by staff whose lived and living experience of injecting drugs makes them non-judgemental and understanding. In NSW, you can even go online and get a home testing kit sent to you. To get more information (confidentially) about hep C testing and treatment, call NUAA’s PeerLine on 1800 644 413.
A jail tattoo on Jayden’s leg.
Photo courtesy: anonymous.