Abstract:
Tattooing, as self-modification, is common among prisoners within the Aotearoa/New Zealand prison system. The custodial managers prohibit the practice and the ingenious methods used but it remains a constant of prison experience. Referencing Michel Foucault's concept of disciplinary power, this article will attempt to cast a light on lived experiences of prison life, wherein the private self exists in tension with the public self, as a setting for this practice. Aotearoa/New Zealand's prisons are loci for the production of knowledge including the 'disciplines' that define the techniques of punishment and the technology of power imposed on prisoners. These concepts are reflected, in this article, in the explicit and forthright insider narrative of a former gang member, who has spent more than 25 years in the country's prisons and who will guide this inquiry.
