by Daniel Cowart — a white supremacist convicted in Federal court for planning the assassination of Barack Obama — now seems to want his swastika and iron cross tattoos “surgically altered” before entering the prison system.
The reason for Cowart’s request for the tattoo alteration was not clear, as his motion is still under seal. However, an unsealed response from U.S. Atty. Lawrence Laurenzi said that allowing Cowart to have the surgery would create a difficult precedent for the U.S. Marshals Service.
…The response from the government said any surgery poses some risk of infection or other adverse outcomes and the Marshals Service doesn’t want to be liable.
Prosecutors also opposed the motion on the basis he would have to be moved from the Obion County Jail to the Madison County Jail for the surgery. “The Marshals Service is wary of setting a precedent whereby they are obligated to devote substantial resources to transporting and escorting inmates between facilities for the purposes of voluntary cosmetic surgery,” Laurenzi said.
Does Cowart want his tats altered so he won’t appear to be a white supremacist in prison?
Prison life is divided into racial gangs. If he “renounces his Whiteness” before he steps foot in a cell — what gang will have his back?
Is it possible to live a non-gang affiliated life behind bars? Perhaps, but likely only if you’re in solitary confinement or protected custody.
If tats are dangerous in prison — what about body modification implants?
Here’s Jesse Thornhill. Would the authorities let him do hard time with horn implants, or would they have to be removed before any long term incarceration?
I know you can’t wear a wig or a hairpiece in jail.
Michael Milkin proved that to us in public after his release:
We find affiliations via ink, and body structure and hair style — when prison strips away those totems of identity — does that make an inmate safer, or more at risk where violence and rejection of established authority are the new cultural memes of the day?
I imagine perhaps the swastika person wants to avoid being seen as a nazi — maybe they are going somewhere where that is not appreciated? Not too much Nazi love in the world these days — ask Jesse James. Yet if he was really concerned about it, he shouldn’t have gotten branded like that in the first place.
Good points, Gordon, but the White gang in prison — and if you’re white that’s your only choice for protection — is a Supremacist gang. They tat themselves with iron crosses and swastikas. It’s a ritual of belonging. Why remove that identify before you get there?
Now, maybe this guy wants to disassociate himself from the hardcore White Supremacists in prison — and is renouncing his bigotry before he gets there — and then he’ll be put in some sort of protective custody or something.