SALT LAKE CITY — He’s been free six months of the last 17 years.
The rest of that time he’s spent in prison.
“I didn't mind prison,” the inmate said. “So, staying here wasn't a big deal. And these tattoos kind of represent the lifestyle in here.”
“The idea is to kind of represent your gang to the fullest,” he added.
FOX 13 isn’t identifying the 36-year-old inmate because he’s a patient in a program that puts his safety at risk from other inmates — tattoo removal.
The Utah Department of Corrections has started a pilot program to help inmates remove their tattoos. The idea is to make the inmates more appealing to employers and the rest of society upon their release from prison.
“It's absolutely an integral piece to the rehabilitation of offenders,” said Lt. James Demkov, an officer with the Department of Corrections.
For inmates with gang tattoos, erasing the gang ink can help put that life behind them.
“These tattoos,” the inmate said, “are the wrong 7-Eleven, the wrong stop sign, the wrong freeway exit from being shot.”
But the rival gangs won’t erase their hard feelings just because his tattoos are gone, the inmate explained. Meanwhile, he’s making himself a target for the gang he’s trying to leave.
“You know all of the secrets,” the inmate explained. “You know all of the get down everything like that.
"To leave and walk away, they don’t want that.”
During the removal procedure, technicians use a tool that exfoliates the top layer of skin. The abrasions cause a scab to form and it pushes the ink through the top.
“We do something very similar to tattooing,” said Jazz Wilkey, a technician at Tatt2Away. “They kind of call it un-tattooing.”
Tatt2Away has the contract to for the tattoo removals, though Wilkey is training prison staff to conduct the procedure. Inmates at the Salt Lake City go into a small treatment room. The buzzing from the abrasion tool bounces off the walls.
The process restores the skin to its natural color.
Demkov says inmates are screened. They must demonstrate they have quit associating with gangs and quit fighting with and against gangs. Programming like behavioral therapy must be completed, too.
About a quarter of Utah’s 4,669 prison inmates have a gang affiliation, according to the Department of Corrections. Only five or 10 have started tattoos removal.
Demkov said the goal of the pilot program is to determine the best way to find qualified inmates and provide the procedure to them. Eventually, he said, the department would like to expand the procedure to the Gunnison prison and to halfway houses.
The inmate who spoke with FOX 13 has been convicted of violent crimes. He’s scheduled for release in 2033.
“If we look at my rap sheet,” the inmate said, “when I get out of here, it's gonna look like Mount Everest, right? But every journey of 10,000 miles begins with one step.”
“My number one goal is just to be there for my daughter,” he added.