How I Made $40,000 Running an Illegal Prison Tattoo Business | Chris Dobson

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.9 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2025

⏱️ 96 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris Dobson reveals how he ran a $40,000 tattoo business inside prison, the risks he took, and how he managed to make it work. #PrisonTattoo #UndergroundEconomy #PrisonLife #TrueCrime #HustleAndSurvive #IllegalBusiness #PrisonEconomy #InkBehindBars Connect with Chris Dobson: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slickphillips_art?igsh=cGtiYmxqcHY0OHAw Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://convictclothing.net/collections/convict-clothing-x-ian-bick Timestamps: 00:00:00 Growing Up in Newport News, Virginia 00:05:53 Growing Up in a Rough Town: Finding Art and Skateboarding 00:11:45 A Catalyst for Change: The High School Experience 00:17:33 Intense Home Invasion Survival Story 00:23:19 Media Misrepresentation and Legal Battles 00:29:30 Overcoming Heroin Addiction and Rehabilitation Struggles 00:35:21 A Life of Trauma and Addiction 00:41:17 Unplanned Robberies and Arrest 00:47:24 The Plea Deal Decision and Its Consequences 00:53:26 Experiences in South Carolina's Kirkland Reception Center 00:59:30 Life in Federal Prison: Long Sentences and Survival 01:05:56 Prison Life: Surviving and Adapting 01:10:56 Becoming a Tattoo Artist in Prison 01:16:33 The Role of Tattoo Artists in Prison Gangs 01:22:13 From Prison Hustle to Tattoo Career 01:28:28 Transitioning Home After Prison 01:34:34 Introduction of the Video Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:30.0	Chris, welcome to Lockton, man. Straight from North Carolina, right? Yeah, North Carolina.
0:34.8	Awesome. Well, you left the warm weather to come over here. I know. I don't know
0:38.5	how y'all do it. I don't know what you all doing. Dude, this is a warm day. It's 40 degrees that it's
0:42.1	warm. Yeah, it's beautiful. So you got lucky because some weeks it's, you know, seven degrees or below freezing. no, I can't do that.
0:35.0	Yeah, well, it's a pleasure having you here, man.
0:36.8	Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
0:38.0	Yeah, of course, man. I'm glad it worked out that we have a mutual connection.
0:41.2	For sure. That's crazy.
0:42.8	Which is a very, Well, it's a pleasure having you here, man. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Yeah, of course, man. I'm glad it worked out that we have a mutual connection.
0:55.8	For sure.
0:56.4	That's crazy.
1:14.7	Which is a very small world that you said you happen to be sending me the pictures of him earlier. And it's like, wow. Yeah. It's a world. So I'm glad that worked out. But did you grow up in North Carolina? No, I actually grew up in the beautiful city of Newport News, Virginia, in the Hampton Roads area.
1:16.5	Who'd you grow up with?
1:18.8	So I grew up with my mom and dad.
1:22.6	We were, um, my dad was in construction.
1:24.3	My mom was a preschool teacher.
1:32.9	So, uh, yeah, I, I think my parents did much parents, you know, they did a pretty good job.
1:35.1	They did their bed the best they could.
1:37.3	Any siblings?
1:45.2	Yeah, I got a brother that's 18 months older than me, and then I got a half sister from my dad, and she's like 20 years older than me. And then I got a half sister from my dad.
	...

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