Public Safety

Helping Youth Erase Signs of a Troubled Past

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A registered nurse holds a laser wand steadily over the teenage boy’s forearm and asks if he’s ready. He tells her that he didn’t get any of the numbing cream they usually give him when he comes, but says he’ll be all right without it. He requests the air blower to help with some of the pain and she begins.

The tattoo covers the length of his forearm. Soon, his right hand starts to shake as she methodically zaps the large cursive script spelling out a San Diego neighborhood. The nurse tells him he’s probably going to bleed a little, but that’s normal.

The next boy, Kaleb, has an area code tattooed on his wrist. The 16-year-old also endures the painful treatment with some wincing and the air blower. Afterward, the treated skin temporarily turns white and bleeds.

While no one can completely erase their past, law enforcement, the courts, a generous benefactor and a medical spa clinician are helping some young offenders remove tattoos that might otherwise hold them back as they try to turn their lives around.

The boys are undergoing their third tattoo removal treatment this day and are accompanied by Supervising Probation Officer Jason Rasch, who says he is there for support because they are undergoing a medical treatment after all. Ronda McEwen, director of the clinic where it is taking place, says the treatment is no more painful than a tattoo, but that pain only happens once. To remove a tattoo people experience that pain every six weeks for a minimum of six sessions.

“At first when I got (my tattoos), I didn’t really care what people thought about them. At first, it was about letting it be known,” says Issic, 18, on probation and also a participant in the new tattoo removal program. He is having two tattoos removed, one on his neck and one on his face. One is gang-related.

“Now that I want to change my life around, I really couldn’t because people judge me,” he says.

Probation, the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, San Diego Police, and Juvenile Court administer the program and select the probationer youth based on their genuine motivation to change and their commitment to the process, which can be lengthy. There is no cost to the teens, but they need to apply and be interviewed in front of a panel.

“Gang tattoos and other marks can hold kids back by associating them with criminal activity and making them less desirable to employers,” says Rasch. “The tattoos usually inhibit them from moving to the next step in their lives.”

Tattoos can even mean that rival gang members would hassle them even if they were no longer involved with gangs, he says. Rehabilitation services, such as the tattoo removal program, are a vital part of County Probation’s mission, Rasch says. Officers want to balance enforcement with prevention and intervention, he says.

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Many years ago, the California Youth Authority had a grant that would pay for tattoo removal services, but that grant ran out, Rasch says. The new program started a few months ago; it has three probation youth signed up so far, he says.

If not for the program, most of the youth who benefit from the service could not afford the treatment. McEwen, whose clinic does the tattoo removal procedure using registered nurses, says most tattoos require a minimum of six treatments and up to 12 depending on the size of the tattoo. Each treatment would cost a regular client between $150 and $500, she says.

When she learned of the need for these services, she wanted to help.

“We’ve got girls running around with pimps’ names on them,” she says shaking her head.

McEwen says every six weeks, her office rents the machine that is used for the procedure and her nurses donate their time. Private donor Gary Hooker foots the bill for the youth. Hooker, a retired race car auto parts manufacturer, says he knows some of the people who developed the program and has been involved for several years in helping troubled youth.

“To me, this is just something I can do. It’s just a higher purpose thing,” Hooker says.

Kaleb says he has been told it will take about a year for his tattoo to be gone but he’s committed. He says he was doing “stupid stuff,” and that landed him in Juvenile Hall, but he wants to get in the military when he turns 18. The tattoo on his wrist could be interpreted as gang-related, he says, and the Marine Corps has a strict policy prohibiting gang-related tattoos.

“I wanted to be in this program,” Kaleb says. “If I didn’t (get accepted for it), I wouldn’t be able to do what I want to do.”

San Diego Police Officer Ryan Welch used to work in the gang unit but has since moved to another assignment. Nonetheless, he remains committed to working with these youth and still helps the gang intervention officer assigned to the unit transport the youth to their appointments.

“It’s kind of breaking away from their old self and letting them start new,” Welch says about the tattoo removal program.

Issic’s treatment this week was his first, but he says he looks forward to getting the tattoo removed for good. He hopes he will look more appealing to managers and get hired as a security officer. He also is starting a fire science program, because ultimately he wants to be a firefighter.

Rasch says he often tells probation youth that they should take advantage of the counseling and social service programs they are offered while they are under supervision, because they can help them turn their lives around. Since the tattoo removal program is a lengthy commitment, youth only need to be on probation when they start, but some will finish their probation while still receiving the treatments.

“I’m hoping we’ll be able to make a difference,” Rasch says.

Yvette Urrea Moe is a communications specialist with the County of San Diego Communications Office. Contact