prison tattoo
Jailhouse body art
A prison tattoo is a tattoo acquired while incarcerated, typically applied with improvised equipment—guitar strings, pen ink, melted plastic.
The crude technique often produces distinctive rough, faded results.
Prison tattoos may carry coded meanings: gang affiliations, crimes committed, time served.
Outside prison, the term describes any tattoo with that characteristic rough aesthetic, whether genuinely acquired inside or deliberately imitated.
- inkWriting fluid
- jailhouseFacility for holding prisoners
- barbed wireSpiked metal fence material
- teardropSingle unit of crying
- tear dropSingle unit of crying
spider web · gang · gang signs · homemade · needle · convict · shank · yard · cell block · cellblock · solitary confinement · hard time · brotherhood · knuckles · skulls · chains · clock · stars
- prisoncell block, inmate, jail, warden, cellmate
- body artsleeve, flash art, cover up, back piece, portrait
prison, prisons, prisoner, prisoners, imprisoned, imprisoning, imprisonment, tattoo, tattoos