The five Dots Tattoo is a Tattoo with different meanings in various cultures.

Portugal

In Portugal, the five dot tattoo resembles the five shields on the Portuguese flag. The five shields represent the five Holy Wounds inflicted upon Jesus during his crucifixion. In American and Canadian prisons the tattoo is worn by many Romanian and Portuguese-North Americans inmates, indicating the four walls of the prison with the inmate inside. This tattoo was also sometimes formerly worn by members of the Portuguese army. It is also prevalent as a Portuguese-American and Portuguese-Canadian street tattoo.

In Portugal those who wear the five dots between the thumb and the indicator finger, are former convicts of the fascist regime. People who were arrested on that time for protesting against the regime or to express political ideas, would be encarcerated and tortured to give up names of rebels or other people who shared the same ideals.

After the fascist regime has fallen, the dots on the hand took another meaning, 5 dots on the left hand would represent someone who was arrested for stealing something, sometimes with the dots comes other tattoos that translate another meaning, such as a dager would represent bravery and a heart homosexuality. Few years later those markings became a trend between young adults and in the mid 80's, the tattoos stoped being done outside the prisons. The true meaning of the 5 dot tattoos got a bit lost over the years, but what they use to represent that a individual got arrested due to political diferencies.

South Balkan

In Romania and Greece, tattoos of five dots resembling the dots on a dice, placed on the hand between index finger and thumb are found on prison inmates. This tattoo represents the individual between the four walls of the prison cell.

United States

In the U.S. the five dot tattoo on the hand is the sign of an anti-government group. The dots look like the number five on dice. The group is mostly in Colorado.

In the United States, the 5 dot tattoo means you are a member of the Crip gang. It is usually put on the left hand with the tattoo resembling the dots on a dice. It is also a tattoo common for the Oriental Troop gang. The Oriental Troops are Crip-affiliated, but the five dots also represent the "5" in "15," which represents the fifteenth letter of the alphabet: "O" for "Oriental."

Russia

In the Russian Criminal World five dot tattoo's are placed on the hand of an inmate it stands for "I will not forget prison".