DENVER Against the backdrop of one of Colorados vast mountain ranges sits a lively leather shop where, for many workers, who happen to be incarcerated, the work feels like freedom.We're out here 40 hours a week. I mean, so whil e we're out here, we like to say we're not in prison, because we're out here working in as close to a real-world job as you're going to get, Ryan Krueger, the lead saddle builder and team trainer for the leather shop. I've been with the leather shop for 13 years now. We primarily build saddles for different manufacturers.The leather shop inside Fremont Correctional Facility is an inmate-run vocational program under Colorado Correctional Industries. Incarcerated craftsmen handcraft custom leather goods, including western saddles, horse tack, law enforcement gear, and everyday accessories, according to the report.Colorado Correctional Industries sells those items to the general public and uses the profits to pay the inmates who work in the shop minimum wage, which is well above what the average inmate can make while incarcerated.So as a person, as a man, it makes me feel a lot better about myself, that I'm not relying on my family to support me, that I'm able to still support my kids, Krueger said.Krueger and the other leather shop workers have plenty of time to perfect their craft, with most serving long sentences. WATCH in the player below| Micah Smith's report Inmate craftsmen at Fremont Correctional Facility's leather shop create a piece of Colorado historyI've been incarcerated for 20 years. So for the first five years that I was incarcerated, I did the same jobs that a lot of guys do, where I was a porter in the unit, cleaning tables or sweeping floors. I was a GED ParaPRO, Krueger said. There are only 20 of us in the entire Department of Corrections that work in this shop. So, I've actually trained pretty much every saddle builder that's in the shop right now.Jeremy Hodges was a carpenter for most of his life before incarceration. In the leather shop, Hodges is a tooler, someone who carves or stamps designs into leather.I am the Special Projects Manager of the tooling section. So, a lot of the leather goods that we do here start from scratch with an inception and an idea, Hodges said. It feels good being able to give back to not just the community, but to the world. Actually, we have had saddles that have gone all the way to France. I have a saddle in the museum there to represent D-Day.And soon, a saddle created at the leather shop will be on display at History Colorado.Museum curators are traveling across the state, including Fremont, to collect oral histories and artifacts that tell Colorados story in honor of the state's 150th year of statehood.They told us (the saddle) was for the history of textiles through Colorado history; we went back and did some research. And this is actually a saddle that's meant to mimic an 1800s Colorado minor saddle, Krueger said. It's all hand-built, all hand-built and hand-tooled.Ricardo Chalchi-Sevilla is also a leather tooler who worked on the saddle.Tooling is the more exciting job in the shop, giving it the personality, Chalchi-Sevilla said. I've been doing this for 10 years. Almost 10 years. It is a good experience for me, the best experience in life.Chalchi-Sevilla, Hodges, and Krueger said theyre excited to contribute to history using a skill set all three credit with saving and transforming lives. ...read more read less