More than a third of Quebec adults are now tattooed. This series examines certain current characteristics of the massification of this distinction by markings. Today: made in prison or emblems of criminal gangs, some tattoos cause a high social cost and send a strong signal.
A simple letter on the hand, a figure in the neck, a tear tattooed at the corner of the eye … These marks, often discreet, are enough to close doors: use, housing. Or trigger customs control.
“The need to remove them has nothing to do with aesthetics, it’s functional,” says Kristina Dupont, medico-esthetician. In 15 years, its clinic on rue Saint-Denis in Montreal has seen hundreds of people trying to get rid of tattoos linked to a criminal past or belonging to a gang.
They are from all horizons: former prisoners, men who want to join the army or find a job, there have been those recently become grandfathers and who want to show the example, immigrants in search of a new start. All want to erase tattoos associated with a criminal past. “I have lots of customers who want to have tattoos withdrawn from their past, who want to change their lives,” she explains in a posed tone. “There are people who come out of prison, but also people dressed in full, who seem to earn a good living. They unbutton their shirt with gold cuff buttons … and wear gang tattoos. She also remembers certain customers who, for months, worked with gloves to hide their tattoos, until exhaustion.
Kristina saw few women sit in her consultation chair to remove gang tattoos. They are more often the victims – marked with black iron, almost always, named after their pimp: in thick letters on the neck, breast or buttock. For them, medico-esthetician has in the past offered its sessions at a reduced price. “It’s not much, but they have nothing. They leave the street, from consumption … they just want to disappear a little. »»
The symbolism of tattoos affiliated with gangs resurfaces in the news. In the United States, 238 Venezuelans were sent back to their country of origin in mid-March, suspected of belonging to gangs due to certain tattoos. In a press release, immigrant Defenders Law Center denounced serious damage to fundamental rights. “The idea that the government can make someone disappear because of their tattoos, without even giving them the court one day, should freeze our blood. »»
This stigma based on the interpretation of bodily signs is not limited to the United States: elsewhere, also, tattoos associated with gangs fuel judgments and distrust.
Tattoos behind bars
In Quebec, the phenomenon is neither new nor anecdotal. According to Kristina Dupont, his clinic saw at least 800 people passing tattoos related to criminal groups. “I remove about one per week,” she sums up.
And this figure does not even take into account those who present themselves after having a symbol linked to gangs tattooed without grasping their scope – young people influenced by television series, generally, which are tattooed a sign without knowing its real meaning, then regret it. “Many people have been tattooed with signs of bikers after the series Sons of Anarchy… People who made mistakes quickly realized it, ”says Kristina.
There are people who go out of prison, but also people dressed in full, who seem to earn a good living. They unbutton their shirt with gold cuff buttons … and wear gang tattoos.
Dumb witnesses from a criminal past, some tattoos are not mistaken. Medico-esthetician immediately recognizes them. Poorly made, artisanal, often monochrome, rudimentary, they betray a manufacturing in prison or outside professional circuits.
Indeed, if the practice is prohibited behind bars, it persists. In the absence of adequate equipment, detainees tinker: sewing needles soaked in ink, trombones or hangers transformed pieces, guitar strings as a style. “Once the skin is open, you can insert anything,” said the medico-esthetician. “There is always a way to“ mean ”. The ink is made from soot mixed with shampoo, or extracted from stolen pens in the workshops. A method that includes high risks, practiced in precarious health conditions.
A tattoo as a signal
In a prison environment, tattooing becomes a real coded language. According to Valentin Pereda, deputy professor in criminology at the University of Montreal, these bodily brands act as signals. “In environments where speech is risky, tattooing becomes a silent, but visible signal, of loyalty, experience or dangerousness,” he explains.
In Russia, for example, the Soviet prison environment has long codified a real visual grammar, where each tattoo – star, cross, eye, animal – refers to a rank, a crime or a hierarchical position.
In his memory entitled The practice of tattoos in prisonfiled in 2024 in the Criminology Department of the University of Montreal, Elsa Geffroy looked at the meaning of the tattoos carried out in detention from interviews with people who were dealing with justice. Frédéric, a former detainee interviewed as part of this research, stresses that the quantity of tattoos counts as much as their symbolism. Repeat the same motif would reinforce its meaning; Accumulating several signs of violence would indicate a high level of dangerousness. “It shows that you are not afraid, that you are ready to fight,” he explains.
Specific patterns, often discreet but immediately recognizable in initiated eyes, are used to assert that the individual is not isolated, but well integrated into a larger network. It is still necessary, however, that the reasons respect the implicit codes of the prison environment. A misinterpreted or usurped drawing can expose his wearer to reprisals.
“If you wear a tattoo associated with a gang, when you’re not part of it, it’s very risky,” says Frédéric. He quotes the example of the Hells Angels: “Just a small boastful who gets their symbol tattooed, they will kill him. You don’t have the right. It doesn’t belong to you. »»
Certain markings, notably those registered on the face, constitute even more radical signals. Tattooing a gang symbol in such a visible way amounts to burning the bridges: it is exposing themselves to social stigma, becoming identifiable in the eyes of the police and vulnerable to the attacks of rival groups. This gesture, difficult to counterfeit, also serves as supreme evidence of loyalty to the organization.
Thus, in prison, tattooing – except when it is a purely personal choice – often acts as a marker of strength and experience. It becomes, in a way, the silent portfolio of a criminal journey.
