Teardrop tattoo

Last updated

Footballer Ricardo Quaresma with teardrop tattoos below his right eye New Zealand-Portugal (37) (cropped).jpg
Footballer Ricardo Quaresma with teardrop tattoos below his right eye

The teardrop tattoo or tear tattoo is a symbolic tattoo of a tear that is placed underneath the eye. The teardrop is one of the most widely recognised prison tattoos [1] and has various meanings.

It can signify that the wearer has spent time in prison, [2] [3] or more specifically that the wearer was raped while incarcerated and tattooed by the rapist as a "property" mark and for humiliation, since facial tattoos cannot be concealed. [4] [5] [6] [7]

The tattoo is sometimes worn by the female companions of prisoners in solidarity with their loved ones. [8] Amy Winehouse had a teardrop drawn on her face in eyeliner after her husband Blake entered the Pentonville prison hospital following a suspected drug overdose. [9]

It can acknowledge the loss of a friend or family member: Basketball player Amar'e Stoudemire has had a teardrop tattoo since 2012 honouring his older brother Hazell Jr., who died in a car accident. [10]

In West Coast gang culture (USA), the tattoo may signify that the wearer has killed someone [11] [12] and in some of those circles, the tattoo's meaning can change: an empty outline meaning the wearer attempted murder.

Sometimes the exact meaning of the tattoo is known only by the wearer: [12] [13] Portuguese footballer Ricardo Quaresma has never explained his teardrop tattoos. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amar'e Stoudemire</span> American-Israeli basketball player and coach

Amar'e Carsares Jehoshaphat Stoudemire is an American-Israeli professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as a player development assistant for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2003 with the Phoenix Suns, who selected him with the ninth overall pick of the 2002 NBA draft. He made six appearances in the NBA All-Star Game and was named to the All-NBA Team five times, including one first-team selection in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloods</span> Street gang founded in Los Angeles, California, US

The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminal tattoo</span> Tattoos associated with criminal activity and gang membership

Criminal tattoos are a type of tattoos associated with criminals to show gang membership and record the wearer's personal history—such as their skills, specialties, accomplishments, incarceration, world view and/or means of personal expression. Tattoos have been empirically associated with deviance, personality disorders, and criminality.

A prison gang is an inmate organization that operates within a prison system. It has a corporate entity and exists into perpetuity. Its membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment. Prison officials and others in law enforcement use the euphemism "security threat group". The purpose of this name is to remove any recognition or publicity that the term "gang" would connote when referring to people who have an interest in undermining the system.

A "thief in law" in the Soviet Union, the post-Soviet states, and their respective diasporas is a formal and special status of "criminal authority", a professional criminal who follows certain criminal traditions and enjoys an elite position among other members within organized crime and correctional facility environments and who has informal authority over lower-status members.

<i>Dirty White Boys</i> Novel by Stephen Hunter

Dirty White Boys is a 1994 crime thriller novel by American author Stephen Hunter. It covers the escape of convict Lamar Pye and two accomplices from a penitentiary in Oklahoma, and highway patrol officer Bud Pewtie's attempts to track them down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gang sign</span> Various verbal/visual gestures used to reveal ones affiliation with a particular gang

A gang sign, also known as a gang signal, is a verbal or visual way gang members identify their affiliation. This can take many forms including slogans, hand signs, colored clothing and graffiti. The wearer usually favors, or is in, that particular gang. Many of these, especially slogans and hand signs, have become part of popular culture, especially in African American hip hop culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vernon Schillinger</span> Fictional character

Vernon Schillinger is a fictional character played by American actor J. K. Simmons on the HBO series Oz as a major antagonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prison uniform</span> Outfit worn by incarcerated people

A prison uniform is a set of standardized clothing worn by prisoners. It usually includes visually distinct clothes worn to indicate the wearer is a prisoner, in clear distinction from civil clothing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazi Lowriders</span> White supremacist gang

The Nazi Lowriders, also known as NLR or the Ride, are a neo-Nazi, white supremacist organized crime syndicate, and prison and street gang in the United States. Primarily based in Southern California, the gang is allied with the larger Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia gangs, and fellow peckerwood gang Public Enemy No. 1. The Nazi Lowriders operate both in and outside of prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badge of shame</span> Type of symbol worn for public humiliation, ostracism or persecution

A badge of shame, also a symbol of shame, a mark of shame or a stigma, is typically a distinctive symbol required to be worn by a specific group or an individual for the purpose of public humiliation, ostracism or persecution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prison rape</span> Forced sexual intercourse in prison

Prison rape or jail rape is sexual assault of people while they are incarcerated. The phrase is commonly used to describe rape of inmates by other inmates, or to describe rape of inmates by staff. It is a significant if controversial part of what is studied under the wider concept of prison sexuality.

Kumi African Nation Organization, generally referred to as 415 or Kumi 415 is a predominantly African-American prison gang that was originally formed in Folsom State Prison in the mid-1980s, and the founding members were mainly from the San Francisco Bay Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prison tattooing</span> Creation and display of tattoos in prison

Prison tattooing is the practice of creating and displaying tattoos in a prison environment. Present-day American and Russian prisoners may convey gang membership, code, or hidden meanings for origin or criminal deeds. Lack of proper equipment and sterile environments lead to health risks such as infection or disease from contaminated needles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prison violence</span> Violence inflicted onto either another inmate, a prison guard, or self-inflicted

Prison violence is a daily occurrence due to the diversity of inmates with varied criminal backgrounds in penitentiaries. The three different types of attacks are inmate on inmate, inmate on guard, and self-inflicted. These attacks can either be impulsive and spontaneous or well-planned out and premeditated. Factors such as gang rivalries, overcrowding, minor disputes, and prison design contribute to violent attacks. Prisons are trying to avoid, or at least better deal with these situations by being proactive. They are taking steps like placing violent convicts and gang leaders into solitary confinement, balancing the cells by critically examining each inmate to see where they are likely to reside peacefully, reducing blind spots, and training as well as educating the officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian criminal tattoos</span> Tattoo culture

During the 20th century in the Soviet Union, Russian criminal and prison communities maintained a culture of using tattoos to indicate members' criminal career and ranking. Specifically among those imprisoned under the Gulag system of the Soviet era, the tattoos served to differentiate a criminal leader or thief in law from a political prisoner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face tattoo</span> Tattoo located on the bearers face or head

A face tattoo or facial tattoo is a tattoo located on the bearer's face or head. It is part of the traditional tattoos of many ethnic groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soldiers of Aryan Culture</span> White supremacist prison gang in the United States

The Soldiers of Aryan Culture (SAC), sometimes referred to as Soldiers of the Aryan Culture and Soldiers of an Aryan Culture, is a large American white supremacist prison gang.

The Universal Aryan Brotherhood (UAB), also known as the Universal Family, are an active neo-Nazi white supremacist prison gang in the United States. Primarily based out of Oklahoma, the gang also has members in federal custody, as well as in several states across the country.

References

  1. "15 prison tattoos and their meanings: Corrections One".
  2. Macdonald, John Marshall (1987). The confession: interrogation and criminal profiles for police officers. Apache Press. p. 83. ISBN   978-0-9618230-0-9. A teardrop tattoo below the corner of the eye represents five years in prison
  3. "Prison Tattoos Tell a Story | Prison Legal News".
  4. "Why getting a tattoo in prison is a really bad idea | Metro News". 6 May 2017.
  5. "Four Days in the Oaxaca State Prison: Mexico Living". mexconnect.com. Retrieved 3 November 2016. the victim of rape is tattooed with a tear drop below the eye by the offending party and his accomplices
  6. "What does teardrop tattoo mean?". dictionary.com. a dominant inmate forces the tattoo on a submissive one after being extorted, abused or raped — a form of public humiliation
  7. "Teardrop Tattoo Meaning: Tattoos With Meaning". tattooswithmeaning.com. this was a way of "marking" an inmate as the property of another person or humiliating the inmate while in jail, as a tattoo on the face cannot be covered up or hidden
  8. Santos, Xuan (Fall 2009). "The Chicana Canvas: Doing Class, Gender, Race, and Sexuality through Tattooing in East Los Angeles". Feminist Formations. 21 (3): 91–120.
  9. Lee, Chris (13 July 2017). "Amy Winehouse's Marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil: Dark Love Affair". The Daily Beast. Winehouse appeared in public with a tiny teardrop drawn in eyeliner beneath her left eye.
  10. Lorenzo, Tom (14 February 2012). "Amar'e Stoudemire Honors His Late Brother By Getting A "Teardrop" Tattoo". Sports Grid. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  11. Smith, Brendan (25 April 2008). "Tattoo Regret". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 20 September 2010. the tattoo's 'West Coast' meaning
  12. 1 2 Poljac, Bakir; Burke, Tod (August 2008). "Erasing the Past: Tattoo-Removal Programs for Former Gang Members". FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Vol. 77, no. 8. pp. 13–18.
  13. WOLF, SONJA; Logan, Samuel (August 2010). "This is for the Mara Salvatrucha: Inside the MS-13, America's Most Violent Gang". Journal of Latin American Studies. 42 (3): 627–629. doi:10.1017/s0022216x10000994. S2CID   145081109.
  14. Gidden, Alex (28 November 2016). "Besiktas Star Ricardo Quaresma Refutes Rumours About His Teardrop Tattoos".