Ink Well

Should prisons have government-sanctioned tattoo shops?

By Jessica Wapner

A tattooed Filipino inmate

Nothing says "I've been in prison" like an armful of tattoos. Worldwide, studies report that up to half of prisoners get tattoos while doing time. Because prison tattooing is illegal, inmates create their inking equipment with whatever they can scrounge: ink made from burned Styrofoam cups, shampoo, or anything else that can be turned into a dark liquid is injected through makeshift tattoo guns using parts from radios, PlayStations, or anything else with a rudimentary motor. And a needle can be crafted from just about anything sharp—even a staple.

Now, a newly published review of more than 100 studies has confirmed the connection between tattoos and hepatitis C virus. Nowhere is that relationship more apparent than within prison walls. Rates of HCV are 10 to 20 times higher in prisons, compared with the population at large; as many as one-third of the more than 2 million inmates in the United States are infected. As a blood-borne disease, HCV is easily transmitted through dirty tattoo needles and can survive for some time in ink. Considering the high prevalence of HCV, the popularity of illegal tattooing, and the commonness of sharing used ink needles, the disease is probably being spread through this route. Studies have found higher HCV rates among tatted-up prisoners than in their ink-free inmates.

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