When you think about it, thieves and tattoos are easily combined, and as a matter of fact, they have been for centuries. Thieves in prison for a variety of crimes have traditionally used tattoos to show their criminal history, conviction rates, place in criminal hierarchy (which was quite rigid in the olden days), character, nationality, religion, sexual orientation and even erudition. Criminal courts even had a term for it- Criminal undershirt- and in fact, they used this it to determine what sentence to pass. Of course, criminal tattooing is no longer existent in exactly the same way it was in the past, but the pictures below show an interesting collection.It is important to remember that most of these tattoos were created in the jail itself with very crude instrument and using handy materials. Surely they would have caused excruciating pain, but worse was the fact the criminal could be punished with beatings, and even death, if his prison tattoos were discovered by authorities.
Via (Vasi)
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
