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| Prison Provides Low-Cost Tattoos |
| By CBC News |
| Published: 11/14/2005 |
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Canadian inmates are lining up for a pilot project that provides low-cost tattoos at the Rockwood Institution, north of Winnipeg. The project aims to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases, such as hepatitis or HIV, when inmates give each other tattoos using such items as paper clips and pens. Rockwood is one of six correctional facilities across the country taking part in the $700,000 program. Connie Johannson, assistant warden at the minimum-security prison, says 21 inmates have paid the $5 to get a tattoo in the program since September. While Johannson says the fee may sound cheap, it's worth it when weighed against the enormous cost to society posed by infectious diseases. "We consider these harm-reduction approaches to reduce the cost that eventually comes to you in the community, because the majority of our offenders are eventually released to your community and mine, and those costs transferred over to us." Three inmates have been trained to give the tattoos; they are paid $6.90 per day for their work. Shawn Sorensen, one of the tattoo artists, says tattooing is a tradition in the prison system, and removing the risk of infection may actually encourage more inmates to come forward to get one. "I think it's probably one of the best things they could actually do," said Shawn Sorensen, one of the tattoo artists. "I've seen a lot of people do tattoos in jail, and I've seen a lot of stuff done where how they're doing the tattoos is totally unsafe. So if they're going to spend the money and use taxpayers' money for this kind of project, you're probably saving a lot more money from people getting diseases." Johannson says there are limits on what kinds of tattoos are allowed. There can be no names, no gang insignia, and nothing deemed "offensive to the public." The project will be evaluated when it ends in March 2006. |
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