Me and my group members went to talk to Dr. Dave Ores of fresh start tattoo removal. We asked him questions about his line of work and what kinds of people he sees on a daily basis. He talked about the economics of why foundations funding him should give him the half million dollar he needs a year to get the tattoos removed. He said that if he removes tattoos from 100 people, and 30 of them don’t go back to prison, the government would be making money because it costs 50000 dollars a year to keep a prisoner in prison, and if you stay for five years, the cost of 30 people adds up to almost eight million dollars. Me and my group learned that there are many different organizations around the country that offer the same service of removing tattoos for free. We learned that there were many reasons why people with tattoos on their hands, face and neck prevented many former offenders from getting work. One reason is that if you have a tattoo of a tear underneath your eye, that represents how many people you have killed. Most stores and employers do not want a murderer working for them. Another reason is that they might scare away customers with all their tattoos. If you see someone with a lot of tattoos, then most people immediately think that they are a member of a gang or is a bad person. Dr Dave also told us that people who are ex-gang members and still have tattoos of their gang, can wander into the wrong neighborhood and can get hurt by a rival gang. This is when they can alter to tattoo to make it mean nothing. Dr. Dave had to sell his tattoo laser because it broke, and it costs 30000 dollars to fix, and almost 300000 dollars to buy a new one. He tells other people that do have a tattoo laser that they should remove tattoos for free. When Dr Dave did have his tattoo laser, he would see 10-20 patients a week. Whenever a minor under 18 came in, there were either with their parents, or handcuffed. To Dr Dave, it did not matter because in his eyes everyone who comes here all made mistakes and they should not be judged because of their age.Overall, it was a very informative experience and Dr Dave also recommended a lot of other places where we can go on another fieldwork.
(Me, Austin, Zeb and Dr Dave Ores)