Whether it was intended to be attached to your name on a roster, or put on your clothing or (even) tattooed...it meant....

Prisoner-- to have safe conduct to his/her family. Not to be recaptured.

You might not understand the Sumerian cuneiform, which allegedly means "to be returned to the Mother" (and is still disputed by scholars) but the idea can be read, even by an illiterate five thousand years hence. The star within a square enclosure, the embellished arrow conducting them outward.

Freedom.

No longer a slave. To be free. This is the first time that people have ever written this idea.

In the political climate of Sumer, this might mean a tax scofflaw, who might have been judged otherwise. Much has been made of this. All I can say is what I can see.