Eye Tattoos Become Newest Trend In Prisons (VIDEO)

Although we don't know much about style-behind-bars, we were aware of the body piercing and the tattooing that goes on in the cells...but two prisoners have opened our eyes to the newest self-mutilating trend: eye tattoos that change the sclera to be blue or even red.

When asked why he would do this to himself, David Boltjes (whose eyes are red) poetically remarked, "You can't ask why...the real question is why not," and his fellow inmate, blue-eyed Paul Inman explained that now, no one in the world would have the same color peepers as he has. Neither man would say how they managed to color their eyeballs, but both concurred it was extremely painful.

WATCH (not safe for the easily nauseated):

Comments

[Monica Vale]

05:19 PM on 01/19/2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corneal_tattooing

[Monica Vale]

05:18 PM on 01/19/2010

I know that they have internet in jail. They should have done some research about this. They are not the first people to do this. Been around for 2000 years.
http://www.oddee.com/item_96617.aspx

[Vajara]

09:13 AM on 01/13/2010

I enjoy these articles on tattoos as I maintain a webpage of soldier tattoos to support them. Seems this body art is part of culture of prisons and of the army. I believe in self-determination so don't have a problem with what people do with their bodies. http://jerryvest.pages.qpg.com

[DoIReallyNeedAScreenName]

09:04 AM on 01/13/2010

hmmm,...two thugs in prison constitute a trend?

[pissdoffinohio]

06:32 AM on 01/13/2010

hay line em up, let them all into that new craze. imajin this dude in a line up in any othr crime he evr commits! absolutly Yes offiser, that is the man!

[8journey8]

09:13 PM on 01/12/2010

Self mutilation. Normal people cringe to look at them. They have no concern about what future medical problems they may have caused with their reckless actions....what if blindness is in their future? But I cannot feel sorry for people that are so completely starved for attention and so lacking in common sense that they would go forward with this....ugh. Any consequences they suffer for this have been earned, and they deserve whatever they have brought upon themselves.

[midwesternsaneperson]

03:24 PM on 01/13/2010

8journey8- DITTO on that! It's like: "Hey, let's all imitate prisoners, with half a brain and no life! Yeah, that's really cool." Do you notice all the trends among youth are imitations of prison garb, such as the baggy pants, chains hanging out everywhere. They are a joke. I am entertained every time I go to the mall. It's like a zoo.

[Monica Vale]

10:08 PM on 01/19/2010

Driving down the road today there was a kid that had his pants about 5 inches above his knees. How do they walk??? Unfortunately this is not a trend. Trends come and go. They have been doing this since last century. We're talking in the 90's they were doing this. Maybe even in the late 80's. I just don't get it. But I guess we all have to have a dream and have our idles. It's sad that there idles are prisoners. I think that if more of them got tickets for indecent exposure it would go away. I mean really? Do I really want to look at someones underwear.

[muscleboundH]

08:35 PM on 01/12/2010

the next "alternative" craze is a rusted harpoon through your frontal lobe. It's SOOOOo edgy!

The interesting thing is that people who are tattoo'd and dye'd and imprinted are slaves to a moment in fashion...and they will never be able to look in the mirror and see themselves completely naked, natural and untouched by mindless consumerism again.

and oh yes...lets face it, IT IS consumerism. When you have tattoo parlors next to Claire's Boutique and Lane Bryant in malls and strip malls... it's blind consumerism.

Next time you see someone with a tattoo and they tell you it's "tribal"...ask them which mall-tribe?

[David Hek]

11:40 AM on 01/13/2010

Sorry but you are wrong. First, this is not a "tattoo" technically. This technique is years old, and was shown on TLC's "Ancient Ink" program like 2 years ago. It was done at a tattoo shop, but NOT with a tattoo machine, but with a simple injection of ink with a syringe/needle. So let's not compare apples and oranges. But you reveal your ignorance by calling tattooing a "craze" or a "trend". My man, this "fad" has been proven to be over 5,700 years old! This artform has been around way longer than ANY religion, nation or culture has! A "rusted harpoon through the frontal lobe" is not tattooing either, so why do you lump all body modifications in the same group? You should try reading up about the many worldwide societies where tattoo art has been a major part of their culture and even religion, it has nothing to do with American-style "consumerism" or capitalism. Most tattoo artists are against the mall shops anyway, we all rag on them, and I don't like it when people use the art just for shock value either. But you know what, I make $150 an hour doing tattoos, and people of ALL walks of life come to me for artwork. And the top artists in the field demand $500 an hour and up, with waiting lists of over A YEAR. These decisions are well-thought-out in advance, with an increasingly demanding clientele.

[midwesternsaneperson]

03:27 PM on 01/13/2010

Which only shows the world is going ever so rapidly down the toilet.

[midwesternsaneperson]

03:25 PM on 01/13/2010

YOU are so right!!! I'll remember that one! thanx.

[j.gold]

07:28 PM on 01/12/2010

I think it looks cool, especially the blue ones.

[muscleboundH]

11:09 PM on 01/12/2010

It's cool until it's not. Just like any fashion or fad/trend. Best to keep your options open. But then again go ahead and get it done...there are plenty of fast food jobs open.

[Techboy308]

11:26 AM on 01/13/2010

Like you could get one with a scary tatoo like this...

[David Hek]

11:43 AM on 01/13/2010

I tattooed a backpiece on a Doctor, at $100 an hour a couple years ago, total time 25 hours, total cost of over $2500. He makes over $100,000 a year, and it's not fast food. How could PERMANENT ink be a trend? This artform is over 5,700 years old, so get educated and stop hating, just b/c you're scared

[Bowen Man]

05:26 PM on 01/12/2010

This is more evidence that criminals are mentally ill.

[timewaster2dcore]

02:05 PM on 01/12/2010

These guys are creatively stupid. They aren't gonna see the effects now, but I can bet them that VERY soon, both of them would eventually go blind. That's just the fact. The dynamics of the eyes are more complicated than that of the skin.

But anyway, both of them are spending the rest of their lives in confinement, so why not act as crazy as a fox?

[gra8whit]

11:23 AM on 01/12/2010

I think they're better off spending their time making license plates.

[TigersEye]

06:36 PM on 01/12/2010

I have to agree.

[lotusgirl]

10:28 AM on 01/12/2010

This is absolutely the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Who was the first person to think of/try this? We need to put these people to work or something. This is a case of way too much idol time!

[sixletters]

11:44 AM on 01/12/2010

There's a website of the dumbest tattoos in the world. On the website there was a guy, maybe 21-22 years old with STUPID tattooed on his forehead in large very clear letters. I can't remember the web address, but some of the stuff on that site was insane.

[lotusgirl]

12:05 PM on 01/12/2010

At least he give everyone a clear warning before speaking :-)

[Mazzlefizz]

10:17 AM on 01/12/2010

I'm going to have to disagree with most posters here, because I think those eyes look incredibly cool. Socially, you'll freak a lot of mainstream people out, but they are far more interesting than nearly every piercing and most tattoos out there. Silver or neon colored eyes would be really interesting to see; almost like comic book character eyes. Or what if they could actually do patterns?

If they can find a way to safely do this without insane pain, I think this practice will soon become HUGE. It will be to our generation what piercings were to the previous generation. "Gad nabbed kids and their stained eye balls, why won't they stay off my yard.? *grumble*"

[quel sauvage]

04:06 PM on 01/12/2010

I have to agree with you, Mazzlefizz. I thought the dark blue looked just amazingly cool. The red was off-putting for me; too much like his eyes were bleeding.
I'm not running out to find someone to jab needles into my eyes in an attempt to duplicate their success, but I guess I would be the odd employer that wouldn't stress out about colored eyeballs in an interview.

[horsey]

10:15 AM on 01/12/2010

prisons are nothing but gang warehouses where the gangsters refine their scams while waiting to get out.

should really just evaporate the hard core guys and save some lives and money. they are worthless to society.

[peacechants]

10:59 AM on 01/12/2010

It is difficult to imagine a more depraved and misanthropic comment.

[spiderbucket]

10:03 AM on 01/12/2010

That should make their assimilation back into society go well. Not.