Jailed Mexican Craftsmen Given Outlet for Creativity Mexico News Daily
go to original June 21, 2016

Jorge Cueto of Prison Art (rse/nahum daza)

Prisoners in Mexican jails are about to take over the country’s capital and its tourist destination resorts, but they also have their sights set on the fashion capitals of the world.

A singular line of engraved leather products known commercially as Prison Art is the result of the entrepreneurial vision of Jorge Cueto, a former inmate of the Puente Grande federal penitentiary in Jalisco. It also the fruit of the craftsmanship he had the good fortune to find among the prison population.

Unjustly arrested for fraud in 2012, Cueto spent 11 months behind bars before a judge determined there was no crime to prosecute and that he was innocent.

The time Cueto spent in jail was not lost, however, as he met with skilled leatherworkers and tattoo artists, and while in Puerto Grande he had the need for a small bag to keep a book, a notepad and his glasses.

Cueto bought the leather and had one of the tattoo artists draw a phoenix on it. He then had another artisan give shape to the bag.

The resulting product was a success among the inmates, and once the fourth bag was completed “everybody was happy,” remembers Cueto, “the tattoo artist, the guy who sold me the leather and the artisan; they kept asking me for more jobs.”

When it came time for his release, by which time he was working with 40 other inmates, he pledged during his farewell party to keep the work coming as many of the prisoners were now depending on the bag production as their sole source of income.

Read the rest at Mexico News Daily

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