‘I just want a job’: Face tattoo inked in jail holding man back from employment

MARK Cropp wants to get off the dole, get a job and put food on the table for his family. But there’s one not-so-small problem.

Mark Cropp says his face tattoo is holding him back from getting a job. Picture: NZ Herald

MARK Cropp wants to get off the dole, get a job and put food on the table for his family.

But there’s one small problem — a giant tattoo saying “DEVAST8” that covers half of his face is proving off-putting for prospective employers.

That’s what he told the New Zealand Herald yesterday, but since sharing his story, young dad say he’s been flooded with job offers.

The Oamaru-born teenager said he had his face inked a few months ago, while drunk on home-brew in a jail cell in Christchurch.

He was locked up in 2015, aged 17, for aggravated robbery, after he and a friend pulled a knife on a tourist in Nelson.

The tourist had pulled out of a marijuana sale. Cropp and an associate were trying to sell him a fake “tinnie”.

Cropp pleaded guilty in the Nelson District Court to charges of aggravated robbery, escaping custody, assault with a weapon, intentional damage, breach of community work and theft.

He told the Herald he committed the crime to get enough money to help house him and his pregnant girlfriend after they were kicked out of his parents’ home.

“My partner Taneia was just a month due to drop my baby, and we had nowhere to go so I committed the crime — and I never got to see (the baby) again,” he said.

He says he was in and out of state-supported Child Youth and Family care (CYF) since the age of 6, and kicked out of school aged 11.

Mark Cropp's told the NZ Herald his tattoo is part of who he is. Picture: NZ Herald

“Part of the reason why I am who I am is that I grew up without my parents, I grew up with drugs and alcohol around, and became a criminal,” he said. “But going to jail gave me a wake-up call.”

While serving his two-year jail sentence in Otago Correction Facility, Cropp said he was put in the same cell as his brother.

Late last year, he said they decided he should get a new facial tattoo after Cropp started getting trouble from other inmates.

“I was going through a rough patch, of quite a lot of people hating on me, trying to bully me,” he said. “Part of jail life, you get people with tattoos and you look at them, step back, ‘Watch out for that guy’ sort of thing.

“It’s my nickname, it’s not gang-affiliated.”

The tattoo was “only supposed to be a little one along the jawline” but “that all went out the window when we had a bit too much to drink inside”.

Cropp said he had been drinking home-brew, made from fermented apples, sugar and bread.

“I drunk it and before I knew it I had this on my face ... It was swollen like a bloody pumpkin,” he said.

Lyndal Miles, acting prison director of Otago Correction Facility confirmed to the Herald the tattooing occurred overnight in the cell Cropp was sharing with his brother.

“It was discovered on unlock. The cell was searched, a tattoo gun was found and there was no evidence of home-brew. Mr Cropp was moved to single cell confinement,” she said.

She said equipment that may be used for tattooing, such as needles and ink, were considered contraband items and prisoners found with such items were charged through the internal misconduct system.

Corrections facilitates offer access for prisoners to tattoo removal services at low or no cost through Work and Income and a variety of private and non-government organisations, Miles said.

Any applicable cost for the service is funded by the prisoner.

Two offers of access to removal services were made to Cropp but he declined, Miles said.

Cropp’s partner had their baby while he was in prison, and has since lost custody. The couple are now living in emergency accommodation in a caravan park in Takanini, south Auckland.

They desperately want their daughter back.

“We were told she would have a home for life for her in CYF care,” Cropp said. “I got to meet my daughter for the first time yesterday. She was a bit wary of me to start with but she ended up giving me a hug, she gave me a kiss.”

Mark Cropp posted this picture on a local jobs Facebook page saying he was “keen as” to work, but his tatt was stopping him. Picture: Mark Cropp/Facebook

After that meeting, Cropp was inspired to get work so put a photo of himself on an Auckland job Facebook page.

“I was over people judging for my facial tattoo ... that’s why I made the decision to put that photo on Facebook, to turn around and say ‘I am just a normal human being, you do not have to judge me because of the way I look’,” he posted.

He said he has a painting and decorating qualification, and some day he wants to be a tattoo artist.

But right now, “I just want any job at the end of the day ... I’m sick of being on the dole”.

“I want to be able to put meat on the table — we want to live a normal life.”

He said he had visited job agencies appealing for work.

“One employment place said to me ‘I wouldn’t employ you with that on you face, I wouldn’t even take a second look at you’. I’ve had other people that just shrugged and laughed at me,” he wrote.

But since sharing his plight, he has had a potential scaffolding job offer and has been flooded with well-wishes and suggestions of possible jobs.

People have also suggested growing a beard — he’s tried that — or using thick concealer. They’ve even quoted him for tattoo removal, but he’s not sure.

“That’s the thing — it’s part of who I am. But if it comes down to it, if I have to get rid of it to be a normal person and function in society again, then I have to,” he said.

Since Cropp shared his story, he’s received numerous offers from Kiwi employers happy to hire the young man despite his appearance and criminal convictions.

One of the people to offer him a job is Douglas George Hebert, who owns scaffolding company PR Contracting. He was happy to offer Cropp a labouring job paying $22 an hour.

“We’ve all made bad choices, doesn’t mean we’re bad people,” he said.

“I’m a big, brown man covered in tattoos myself, and I have been on the receiving end of judgment from people who don’t even know me.”

The young father also has tattoos on his hands and arms. Picture: NZ Herald

Cropp appealed his 2015 sentence but the High Court at Nelson dismissed the appeal.

Justice Brewer noted Cropp’s “significant criminal history”, which included convictions for violence and dishonesty.

“I regard his attitude toward addressing his drug and alcohol issues, in addition to

his criminal behaviour, to be worrying,” Justice Brewer said.

“His affidavit filed in support shows extremely poor insight into his behaviour, his responsibilities as a new parent and his drug and alcohol addiction.”

But he said courses for addiction while completed in custody “show cause for hope”.

The Parole Board said in a decision released to the Herald on Thursday that standard and special conditions of Cropp’s release were in place for six months.

Special conditions included attending recommended intervention for alcohol and drug use, attending a psychological assessment and completing treatment/counselling as recommended, and residing at an address approved by a probation officer and not to move without prior written approval of the officer.