Richard Gandara is having a tattoo removed from his neck. He squeezes the life out of a stress ball to help with the pain, as a laser slowly erases his old ink.

"It feels like you're getting hit with a bunch of rubber bands over and over," he says.
It's painful."

It's a slow process, but he's committed to erasing his past... no matter how much it hurts.

"I've been coming for two years. Ten sessions on my face. Three or four on my neck, and I'm just starting on my hands," he explains.

Gandara was a gang member for many years. He's been in prison for attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, and drugs.

He's spent more time in prison than out. When he was growing up, every male that he knew was a gang member - his uncles, his cousins, all the boys in his neighborhood and school. He says he had to join a gang... or die.

His tattoos once represented his gang life. But now he wants them removed to signify that he's a changed man.

"This is the person I used to be, but it's not who I am now," he explains. "I don't live the same lifestyle anymore. So I don't want to show something I'm not."

He has been participating in the Tattoo Removal Program at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills almost every Saturday morning or the past two years.

More than 365 former gang members and ex-convicts are currently enrolled in the program and at different phases of having their anti-social tattoos removed via laser. The program is free, but participants "pay" for their service by doing community service work or going to school.

Gandara is happy with the results so far as his tattoos have started to disappear. 

"It's a big difference. People notice I'm taking them off and I don't have the same type of attitude anymore. My wife even tells me I have softer eyes," he says, laughing. "So I guess it's helping my transformation."

Gandara's transformation has included giving up the gang life for a family life. 

"I'm living now. I can actually think about a future, I even make plans!"

Gandara is in the kitchen with his wife Veronica and her two young sons. The pair met two years ago and soon got married. He is now step-dad to her two boys, and he's around now for his two daughters from a previous relationship. The past two and a half years have been the longest stretch of time Gandara has been out of prison since he was 13 years old.

"When people get next to him they think he's going to hurt them," says Gandara's 8-year-old step-son, Bryan. "But he's actually a nice person."

"He has a family, he goes to work, he does all of that. And that's what he wanted to be and he's that now," his wife says as tears gather in her eyes. She looks at her husband, and begins to cry.

"What's wrong?" he asks her.

"I'm just so proud of him. He's come a long way," she says. 

It may be a slow process, but Gandara is committed to completing his transformation - one tattoo at a time.