Tattoos for Tobacco: Selected symbolic and partial meanings of prison tattoos in the environment of Czech male prisons
Abstract
Prison tattoos are an integral part of the so-called second life of sentenced persons. Specific prison tattoo is a way of non-verbal communication where convicts communicate more or less meaningful information through their body in connection with their criminal career, shared philosophy or ideology, values, desires, or others.
Considering the fact that tattoos are forbidden in prison, prison tattoo is primarily anti-authoritarian modification. At the same time, however, it is a modification closely related to the identity of the convicts, which in the prison environment is transformed over time, and the ego of the convicted person passes through a self-defeating process.
In 2015, the first study focused on prison tattoos was published in The Journal of Culture. This follow-up study aims to complement the range of basic categories of prison tattoo besides the presentation of the partial functions of prison tattooing.
The presented data are based on ethnographic research carried out in 2013-2017 in five Czech male prisons.