Monday, June 26, 2006

Skin Deep

Tattoos are a common way for prison gang members to identify friend and foe at a glance, to start a fight or break one up, to show off, to intimidate even.

So naturally, our corrections authorities decided that their greater concern for prisoners' health was not a shiv in the back but an infection from a dirty needle.

But that soon will change:

The Conservative government is considering cancelling the controversial prison tattoo-parlour program, Sun Media has learned.

In one of his first acts after being sworn into cabinet, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day instructed brass at the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) to examine "options" for the inmate-run pilot project.

....

The briefing notes stress that the program's objective is to reduce HIV/AIDS and other health risks associated with underground tattooing and said CSC concluded it "can not be eliminated or significantly controlled" because nearly half the prison population engages in body art.


But the documents acknowledge the program wasn't an easy sell to the public.

"While the public safety objective can be very logically explained, we have had to work hard to position this initiative as a public safety one and counter the image that CSC is too accommodating to inmates," the document reads.


Hell, why not supply proper brew kits so they don't end up blinding themselves brewing methanol instead of ethanol instead?

Whose rights and freedom of expression is improperly curtailed by not being allowed to ink up one's skin behind bars?

And considering how having too many prominent tattoos practically screams "ex-con" or "nut job," why would the corrections system favour this?

Source: Ottawa Sun

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to imagine all those childhood visits to my grandmothers Senior's home way back in the mid 60's , and when I transfer the tattoo body art onto all those old people I think it's not only ugly but a pathetic cry for attention.
These aren't the lick-em decals from packs of gum , these are shin cuts to the sub-dermis to imbed the ink pigments trapped under the healed surface of new replacement dermis.
I researched what's envolved to remove one in case it just a phase I was going through,the pain wasn't worth it, and even the new Laser surface burning leaves the area the appearence of a fire related burn and doesn't tan like the surrounding tissue.
We already have a couple trying to create a deaf baby to protect their concept of the Deaf-Culture , there is also a group protesting those implants that send
sound impulses to the noise section of the brain .
There are also operations where short children have their legs broken and braces hold them in place to let bone fill in the gap as it heals, this goes on for as much as 2 inches and I was almost sick watching the show about it and seeing the girl being robbed of a childhood where she should be playing with others.
Small people can get specialty jobs that large people can't do, and the air-force finally figured out what I knew 15 years ago at a Air show , the G-force may be universal based on weight but I argued with a Pilot that small bodies have the heart closer to the brain and less blood in the arteries to be affected by G-forces and ergo less chance of Black-out or stress on the heart to pump blood further in a larger artery.
Today they now admit the female pilots handle G's better because the heart is closer to the brain that needs oxygen and fresh blood with glucose to power the synapses.

Anonymous said...

Frankly, we should be encouraging prison tattoos. Ask any police officer or crown prosecutor -- unique tattoos make suspects easier to identify!