Inmates at Singapore prisons will have their tattoos removed if they pledge to leave the gangsters. This move gives more people confidence when they are released.
Sophian (37 years old), a 7-year-old prisoner here, said he was looking forward to restarting his normal life and getting rid of the previous gangster organizations.
“I used to be psychologically affected by rebellion and more importantly now I want to make amends for my 11-year-old daughter,” he told CNA.
But what made him unable to forget was the tattoo of the symbol of the gang he joined. It’s a black greek alphabet on the left wrist.
He wants to get rid of his tattoos so he doesn’t want people to look at him and think he’s a jerk.
Reportedly, the Singapore Prison (SPS) will offer free tattoo removal services to inmates who have undergone a gang abandonment program but must instead publicly leave the institution in a ceremony.
At this “new chapter” ceremony will be attended by family members, prison guards, prison officials, volunteers and other prisoners.
According to SPS, this campaign has been running since 2019, this will help them change their identity and promote their hope of reintegration into society. In addition, removing tattoos also helps them avoid getting involved with gangs during detention and after being released.
The service has been around for 3 years and has received around 600 participants, along with 10 volunteer doctors who take turns coming to the prison clinic every week to perform tattoo removal.
Tattooing is easy, but removing tattoos is much more difficult, even they have to endure pain that is not easy. Most inmates undergo several treatments depending on the size and type of their tattoo.
Dr. Elias Tam, a esthetician who has volunteered at the prison for the past 10 years, says tattoos are removed by shining a laser at the skin. The energy from this ray breaks the pigment in the tattoo into small pieces. It is eventually absorbed into the red blood cells and safely removed from the body.
The process of removing a tattoo will be carried out according to the process and the number of times is not fixed until the tattoo is completely gone.
The doctor said that factors such as skin color, tattoo ink type, and depth of engraving will also affect the progress of tattoo removal. Patients usually have to wait 6-8 weeks between treatments for the body to remove the pigment on the top layer of skin before the laser penetrates deeper, and the number of treatments can be up to dozens of sessions.
The cost of removing a picture for the prisoners here is completely free, if outside it can cost from 50-100 USD for 1 thumbnail. With large, complex, colorful images, the cost can be as high as $1,000 with more than 30 treatments.
In addition to the cost and time required, this is also considered to be of greater significance for prisoners who remove their tattoos because it is a “milestone” for them to start over.
While I’m very happy to have the tattoo removed, it will be free, but remembering each tattoo removal is a terrible memory because of the pain during the treatment sessions.
An inmate who previously had his tattoo removed at SPS is now a volunteer at an orphanage, teaching kids computer programming skills.
“Removing the tattoos of gangsters on their bodies allows them to confidently return to life and integrate into life. This shows that our efforts are completely worth it ,” the doctor added.
