HAND-POKE PRISON TATTOO TOOL

Private collection
HAND-POKE PRISON TATTOO TOOL
Private collection

Collection

  • American Prison System

Origin

Weade Correctional Facility
Alden, New York, USA

Medium

Plastic and steel

Association

Modified writing pen repurposed into an improvised hand-poked tattoo tool manufactured by an incarcerated individual for tattooing within a correctional facility.

Description

Red plastic Paper Mate® pen body modified to house a fine steel needle protruding through the writing tip. The ink cartridge has been removed or altered to accommodate the needle, creating a manually operated tattoo instrument suitable for hand-poked tattooing. Surface wear and minor damage are present, consistent with repeated modification and use.

HAND-POKE PRISON TATTOO TOOL

1/2

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550BC is an independent publishing house based in Amsterdam, founded in 2018. Specializing in the complex realities of organized crime and conflict, we explore these subjects through the lens of visual anthropology. Our photo books provide rare, first-person perspectives from within otherwise inaccessible worlds, often created in direct collaboration with those involved. 550BC is also home to a private collection of over 2,000 unique physical items, preserved artifacts from the worlds we document. A selection is presented in our online archive.

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