“These connections are crucial to making prison time easier, for creating safety, and for stealing joy in a place that isn’t designed for it,” Renea Baek Goddard writes.

For all the LGBTQ+ individuals I bonded with in prison, including the three I spoke with to talk about their tattoos, ink connected them with others through identities, experiences, cultures, and values. These connections are crucial to making prison time easier, for creating safety, and for stealing joy in a place that isn’t designed for it.