Presenting an alternative view on social issues such as exclusion, crime and punishment, Polish artist Katarzyna Mirczak has photographed tattoo-covered skin specimens sourced from deceased prisoners in Poland.

Cataloged from the body art archive at the department of forensic medicine at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, the 60 extractions are carefully preserved in formaldehyde, sheltered within a glass jar to reveal the designs.

Often, prison tattoos represent connections between the convicts, acting as a kind of secret criminal code.

Its a crude, primitive art-form, but its hard to see these pieces, which were a part of some ones actual body, completely removed from their former humanity.

Still, the images are kind of fascinating. There's basic old school flash, of course, but the juvenile, coarse pornographic images are even more interesting.

The series was motivated by the aim to decipher this hidden language by looking closely at repeated symbols and motifs.

Based on their emblematic signs, the past, place of residence or the criminal group in which the individuals were involved could be determined.

Conditions in prisons allowed only for the use of only primitive and often dangerous tools to be used in tattooing.

Paper clips, pins, wires, razor blades and pieces of glass were required to puncture the skin with charcoal, burned rubber, cork, pencil refills, ink and crayons acted as color pigments, often mixed with water, urine or soap.

Not all tattoos, even ones done in prison, represent some deeper meaning or cultural affiliation, but with some of these you have to wonder what possessed some one to risk infection for a dirty little doodle.