a drug addict, like an insect trapped in a spider's web, he is trapped in some narcotic web, or that it signifies a time in prison as each ring of the spider web represents one year in prison. Teardrop tattoo: A teardrop underneath an eye: the wearer was raped in prison and tattooed with a teardrop under the eye by the offending party, this was a way of "marking" an inmate as property or to publicly humiliate the inmate as face tattoos cannot be hidden. In West Coast gang culture, the tattoo may signify that the wearer has killed someone. Tombstones represent the loss of time. You may see the number of years that are served (i.e., five tombstones reading 2001–2005 means the prisoner has done five years). SS: two sig runes were the symbol of the Schutzstaffel, Nazi insignia, and used by the racist white power movement. Stars: Worn on the knees: signifies that an owner 'will kneel before no man'. Stars: Worn on the shoulders: Signifies that the owner is a man of discipline, status, and tradition. Men will also receive stars when promoted to "Captain" in the Vory V Zakone. Swastika: This is seen on Neo-Nazis as it is the symbol of the Nazi party. Single dot: 'I escaped'. SLON: an acronym that spells the Russian word for elephant but which stands for, 'From my early years nothing but misery'. United States Common tattoos are names of relatives or gang members, symbols of aggression, tattoos advertising a particular skill, or religious imagery. One of the most well-known criminal tattoos is the teardrop tattoo. A common tattoo in American prisons for Hispanic inmates, is four dots or three dots. The dots represent that you have earned your keep in your gang. The three dots would represent the 13 of the southern gangs and the same for the northern gangs with four dots :: for 14. Markers of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white Neo-Nazi prison gang include but are not limited to: the letters AB, Celtic imagery, and the number 666. Prisoner tattoos Since tattooing in prison is illegal in many jurisdictions, the inmates do not have the proper equipment necessary for the practice. This forces inmates to find ways to create their own tattooing devices out of their belongings. Improvised tattooing equipment has been assembled from materials such as mechanical pencils, magnets, radio transistors, staples, paper clips, or