Needled News: Marisa DiMattia's Tattoo Revue

Sweet revenge topped the headlines in this week's tattoo news.

An inmate, sentenced to life for molesting and killing a 10-year-old girl named Katie, was forcibly tattooed in prison with the words "Katie's Revenge" scrawled across his forehead. Anthony Ray Stockelman drowned Katlyn "Katie" Collman in a creek 15 miles from her home in Crothersville, Indiana. Evidently, inmates don't take too kindly to that brand of criminal. He's now been placed in protective custody away from the rest of the prison population.

The Associated Press wrote about jailhouse justice:

Child molesters rank near the bottom of the prison hierarchy and are often brutalized by other inmates. Tattoos are against prison regulations, but inmates often fashion crude tattoo instruments with plastic utensils and needles.

Stockelman's tattoo covers nearly his entire forehead.

"If I had to guess I'd say it's a statement from the inmates," said Collman's father, John Neace..

The first image of the tattoo appeared on the blog, Lost in Lima Ohio, which focuses on news reports about crimes against children and women. The blog entry on the tattoo has caused some controversy itself as the author, Lilo, denounced the attack. She received the photo from two prison guards, who consequently were fired for "making unauthorized copies of an evidence photo."

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While I understand the author's desire to keep Katie's memory positive, in this case, I find it difficult opposing vigilante tattooing.

However, my default form of justice is through the courts: taking the money of someone who has wronged you can hurt them more than just an ass kicking. John Huntington was feeling the same way when he filed suit against his former partner Cary Hart, owner of Hart & Huntington tattoo studio at the Palms Hotel and the local of the cringe-worthy Inked. According to Eye on Vegas, Huntington claims that he only received one payment from Hart since he sold 48% of his ownership in the studio in January 2005. The lawyers for Huntington claim that he could be owed over a half million dollars. I guess that's the price of losing one's self-respect to reality TV.

With tattooists flashing their cash in the media, politicians have wised up to how lucrative the business can be and have been looking to artists to supplement the tax coffers from which they can embezzle even more money. This Sunday in New Jersey, a breeding ground for government corruption, a new seven percent tax was imposed on "luxury services," which include tattoos. Anyone who has sat for a significant time under the needle would not deem it luxurious, but New Jersey legislators who are generally not tattoo savvy lumped the art form in with country clubs, limos and gyms.

Naturally, tattoo studios aren't happy about laws that could negatively affect their business. But with retribution on my mind, I figure there is an upside to the tax. Tattooists, particularly working together, could have more political power themselves by showing that they generate a great deal of tax revenue for the state. This power could be used to combat overly restrictive zoning and safety regulations, and for many artists facing idiot community boards, this kind of juice could very well be a luxury.

Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.

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