Inside Tattooing

Amazing what some of the fullas did with a single needle on those, detail to the max...

– Professional tattooist Paratene Johnson on some of the amazing 'old school' prison tattoo designs

I'm 47 years old. I can't get a job. No one hires people with tattoos, you don't get a job when you've got a record like mine.

– Rob Marriner reflects on what 'society' sees when they look at him

Once you put Mongrel Mob or Black Power on your face then even when you pull out of the gang when you're 50 years old, it's still there.

– Former inmate Shane White on the life cycle of a facial tattoo

Twenty years ago there was one or two places around the country doing tā moko, doing Māori tā moko ... now there would be one hundred.

– Shane White on the renaissance of traditional Maori tattooing

The reaction I got was...just freakiness. They just left me alone, they thought I was getting too far out there...but it has helped me.

– Heavily tattoed Stan Costar on the reaction within his own gang to his face and head tattoos

It is like having little bits of hot fat splashed into your face...it's more annoying now. The first time was sore but since then it is just an annoying feeling and you just want it to hurry up and finish, but it's all for a good cause.

– A former gang member on having his facial tattoo lasered off, The Sunday Star-Times, 8 March 2020

They're using plastic cutlery, jandal rubber, plastic phone cards, printer cartridge, boot polish, pen ink — anything they can make soot out of they'll use.

– Tattoo removalist Brendan Price on the ingenuity of inmate tattoo 'artists', The Sunday Star-Times, 8 March 2020

The expression of art was to rebel, so anything that looked horrible looked good to us.

– Former inmate and gang member Rob Marriner on why his generation chose confronting tattoos

In the early days the equipment they were using must have been quite painful because I know myself when I was in the navy that the tattoo that I was getting then, they were done with proper machines and it just felt like running a hot needle over your arm, nothing to it. But these guys, the equipment they were using like attaching a needle to a piece of wood sort of style and hammering away...it must have been quite painful.

– Former prison and navy officer Jerry on the crude tattooing tools used in the 1950s and 60s in Kiwi jails

The difference between old school and new school ... the upcoming generation today is we have our patches on our skins, not on our back.

– Issac from the Killa Beez gang explains the significance of tattoos for a new generation of gang members

It really really does impact on career prospects, it impacts on fronting up to apply for a loan. As much as people don't want, I'm sure, to exercise any prejudice when they see that, human nature is such that the bank manager would be thinking twice before giving it to him.

– Assistant Regional Manager for Corrections Gavin Dalziel on former inmates being judged for their prominent tattoos on the 'outside'

To not have tattoos in jail is abnormal. If you want to fit in...then otherwise you're a cleanskin and the only people who are cleanskins in jails are child molesterers...so in a way that's almost your badge, that's your membership. It's about showing total commitment.

– Shane White on the culture of tattooing in Kiwi jails

I still want one more tattoo done on my body, one more ... I want to be proud as a Māori so I want a tā moko on my face.

– Former inmate Rob Marriner on marking a change in his life