By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise

 

REDLANDS - The roomful of felons, tattooed on their necks and faces, could have been a tough audience.

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William Vasta / The Press-Enterprise

Alan Ho, of Humble Enhancements, in partnership with the Redlands' Police and Corrections Team, will remove tattoos for parolees at 50-75 percent the rate he charges other customers. Gang and prison tattoos often stigmatize parolees looking for jobs and trying to leave their former lives behind.

For Alan Ho, it was the perfect one.

Bursting to the front of a recent parolee check-in, the fast-talking laser technician let everyone know of his burgeoning partnership with the Redlands Police and Corrections Team, or PACT.

Gang or prison tattoos making it tough for you to get a job? Ho would be happy to remove them.

"If you have just a little teardrop here," Ho said, pointing under his eye, "$35."

Never mind that in many gangs, a teardrop tattoo means you have killed a person.

The purpose of Ho connecting his Humble Enhancements tattoo-removal service with police isn't to judge those who want his service. Any parolee willing to improve his life by getting a tattoo removed is welcome, police said.

In the six months Ho has been coming to Redlands parolee meetings and taking referrals, six ex-gang members have gone through with the procedure.

They have been referred through Redlands' PACT, which coordinates regular parole status checks through the state Department of Corrections. Parolees living in Redlands come to regular meetings at police headquarters to speak with their parole officer instead of traveling to the corrections office in San Bernardino.

The ones who have hooked up with Ho pay about 50 percent to 75 percent less than he would normally charge for tattoo removal. Ho said the discount is given with the knowledge that a business normally associated with the beauty/plastic surgery field is doing good.

"This is not stuff that works well at a job interview," Ho said of some of the tattoos he's removed, including gang symbols on necks and devil's horns on someone's forehead. "It symbolizes they don't fit in."

After giving his pitch, Ho returned to a table that he had set up at the back of the parolee check-in.

When Nikki Palmer had gotten his drug test and met with a parole officer, he stopped by to say hello. The 45-year-old Redlands resident had met Ho in 2004 after serving 18 years on a voluntary-manslaughter conviction.

Finally, he said, he was ready to erase the tattoos he got behind bars. Palmer, who had to get back to his job at a local distribution company, said that the "STAR" tattoo on each of his forearms was not something he proudly shows people.

"That's why, in the course of business," Palmer said, yanking down on the black sleeves that had been rolled up during his check-in, "I do this."

The tattoos, which he said illustrated his original goals of becoming a movie star after he left Texas, were now concealed. Getting them permanently removed is just one of the things Redlands police said they can offer their parolees to make sure they don't slip back into old habits.

"Tattoos that are visible to potential employers frequently stand as obstacles to their gainful employment," said Redlands Police Chief James Bueermann. "And if they don't become gainfully employed, they will find other ways to gain the things they want."

Officer Stephen Starr, who runs Redlands' PACT, said most of the parolees he deals with are forced to work in jobs such as construction and ditch digging.

But if they show a desire to do things such as remove their tattoos, they stand a better chance of finding something more secure, he added.

"That's an active step they can take to show they're serious about wanting to change," Starr said.

"And we're just giving them the option."

Reach Paul LaRocco at 909-806-3064 or plarocco@PE.com

A CAMPAIGN has been launched to warn teenagers about the dangers of having illegal tattoos.

 

Posters will be displayed in schools across Tameside featuring a model with the names of diseases tattooed on her back such as hepatitis, septicaemia and HIV.

The hard-hitting message aims to remind youngsters they are at risk if they use an illegal tattooist.

The campaign was sparked after an unregistered tattooist was caught working from a block of flats in Dukinfield last November, offering children as young as 12 tattoos for as little as £5. Following an appeal in the Advertiser, almost 250 teenagers contacted a helpline.

The tattooist is currently under investigation by Tameside Council and could face prosecution.

Councillor Catherine Piddington, cabinet member for environmental services, said: "I am not sure people are even aware it’s illegal for an under-18 to have a tattoo, let alone the obvious dangers to your health if you have one done by an unregistered tattooist. Unless the tattooist is registered with the council, you have absolutely no guarantee the equipment they’re using has been cleaned since the last person.

"Thinking about that makes me shudder and certainly leaves me wondering what’s going through their heads while they’re having it done, normally in unclean conditions and using dirty equipment."

Stacey Starowojtow, 16, from Dukinfield, visited him twice for a Tinkerbell design on her back. She faced an anxious wait for blood tests before learning she was safe.

"I found out about him when my mum got the letter. I was scared and shocked," she said.

By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, March 21, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — Marines who are thinking about getting ink done should check out the Corps’ revised tattoo policy.

In a Marine Administrative Message released Tuesday, the Corps announced that tattoos visible when Marines wear their PT uniforms are now prohibited. The ban applies to “sleeve” tattoos, which cover large parts of Marines’ arms and legs.

Under previous regulations, Marines needed only to make sure tattoos on their arms and legs were not visible while wearing the service “C” uniform.

Full-sleeve tattoos, which cover all of Marines arms and legs, are now prohibited. Half- and quarter-sleeve tattoos visible while wearing the PT shirt or shorts are also banned.

Marines who already have sleeve tattoos will be allowed to keep their existing designs, but they must have all of their tattoos photographed and recorded, the policy states.

As was the case under the old tattoo policy, Marines still are not allowed to have tattoos on their necks and heads. Also not allowed are tattoos that are “prejudicial to good order, discipline and morale, or are of a nature to bring discredit upon the Marine Corps,” according to the policy.

Such tattoos include, but are not limited to, any that are “sexist, racist, vulgar, anti-American, anti-social, gang related, or extremist group or organization related,” policy states.

In early 2006 the Army clarified its tattoo policy last year to allow some head and neck tattoos, changing a long-time policy against clearly visible markings.

Sailors are still prohibited from having such tattoos. But last spring the Navy eliminated its “25 percent” rule, which stated only one-quarter of any portion of the body covered by sailors’ uniforms could be tattooed. The Navy’s new rule is that sailors’ tattoos, regardless of size, may not be visible through the Navy’s summer white uniform.

Meanwhile, the Air Force prohibits tattoos that cover more than 25 percent of exposed body parts and those visible above the collarbone, according to an August 2006 Air Force Instruction.

Such tattoos are considered “excessive,” and if airmen refuse to cover them, they can be kicked out of the Air Force, the service policy states.

Last May the Department of Defense changed its policy on tattoo removal, requiring all active-duty troops who wish to have the marks lasered away to pay for it themselves.

The new regulation, MARADMIN 198/07, is available at www.usmc.mil.

March 14, 2007 9:14 a.m. EST

Chicago, IL (AHN) - A Chicago area tattoo artist who was sued last month by his customer over a misspelled "CHI-TOWN" tattoo claims he has many customers flocking to him who are now asking for the misspelling deliberately.

Tattoo artist Sam Hacker garnered media attention last month when a customer named Michael Duplessis sued him after Hacker accidentally made a tattoo that read "CHI-TONW" instead of "CHI-TOWN."

Following the incident, Hacker claims about 20 people have received "CHI-TONW" tattoos and more requests are pouring in. The Chicago Sun-Times quotes Hacker as saying, "I feel really good about my friends standing up, and the family of tattoo artists."

Hacker himself has a "CHI-TONW" tattoo on his leg. Many of his friends stood up in his support by first getting them tattooed with "CHI-TONW" when the suit was filed against him.

Showing off his "CHI-TONW" tattoo, a 19-year-old student Kyle Ward of Addison said he got his on Monday, above an ankle. "Each letter is an individual piece of art.'' Hacker claims to have three more "CHI-TONWs" this week at Rising Phoenix.

PARAGOULD, Ark. A man in Greene County has been cited for operating an unlicensed tattoo parlor out of his home.

Sheriff's deputies say 30-year-old Terry J- Bass also hadn't completed a course on blood-borne pathogens.

 

Sheriff's Captain Bruce Drope says deputies were told two clients developed staph infections after getting tattoos from Bass.

 

Drope says Bass was cooperative. He told deputies he'd been in operation for about six months and gave about 15 to 20 tattoos.

 

Bass is to appear in court on April Seventh.