Before we end, let's point out that there are loads of common tattoos that didn't make the cut in this article: three dots, five dots, clocks with no hands, crowns, shamrocks, chains, and so forth. We know prison tattoo supplies are limited, but we can get more inventive than that, can't we people? Time to think outside the box, or ... cell.
Anyway, the final entry in our list comes to us from where is perhaps the number one country where you don't want to be tossed in prison: Russia. Vice interviewed Damon Murray, co-publisher of "Russian Criminal Tattoo Police Files," which compiled photos taken of Russian inmates' tattoos from the 1960s through the 1980s by Arkady Bronnikov, who is regarded as Russia's leading expert on tattoo iconography. Murray said that crosses on the chest are amongst the most common tattoos that inmates choose. Ultimately, it's another symbol of loyalty, this time to the greater clan of thieves. And perhaps because it's a cross — a symbol associated with Christianity, the sacrifice of Jesus to atone for humanity's sins, etc. — it indicates that the person is blameless and pure before one's thieving community.
Living a Lot points out that crosses lost their original, Russian meaning once they made the cross-continental jump to the United States and other places. In Christian-majority countries, as we've alluded to, folks who see a cross would likely immediately think of Christianity. And yet, at this point, there does seem to be an overall, agreed upon, international meaning for crosses on chests: being a high-ranking member of an organized crime outfit.
