Freedom puts an end to the career of Texas prison Zapatero

Jon Herskovitz / ReutersInmate Arnold Darby was one of the most prodigious bootmakers in the Texas prison system, resulting in more than 1,000 pairs for the police, agents of the FBI and the office of the Governor.HUNTSVILLE, Texas - agents would come from everything Texas Let's go a few kilometres from the boots made by inmate Arnold Darby.Darby, 64, soft-spoken, bespectacled and tattooed, was one of the most prodigious bootmakers in the Texas prison system, resulting more than 1,000 pairs of shoes tailored for police, agents of the FBI and the office of the Governor, said that prison officials.But freedom in putting an end to that.After 37 years behind bars, serving a sentence for robbery and murder, Darby went on probation in 2011.I was looking for highly skilled Shoemaker to open his own business in a State that loves its boots. But lack of money, he settled for the manufacture of boxes at a food processing plant.After a year abroad, Darby violated probation for driving intoxicated and was sent to prison.This time, however, it has not been in the new unit long enough to win what is considered a privileged position in a workshop, and the zapatero-alardeada jail not sure if ever will make boots again."I was working six or seven days a week, and I started to drink a little. That is what brought me back, "said Darby in an interview from the Goree prison unit in Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston.The Texas Parole Board said in a statement sent by e-mail: "Mr. Darby was overturned on August 29, 2012, when he renounced his audience for DWI, failure to stop and render information and violation of the GPS monitor".Its next review of parole is in March 2015, and Darby does not expect to be in a Bank of bootmaking until then."Once was a model prisoner and made boots for everyone," said Larry Fitzgerald, a spokesman from long ago by the Texas Department of Justice Criminal, who has since retired."You have to be to work in the workshop of handicraft - because they are surrounded by weapons of all kinds," he said.Fitzgerald has three pairs of boots of Darby.Darby went to prison in 1974 for aggravated robbery. It later received life imprisonment for killing two fellow prisoners in the gang violence. There was also an escape attempt on the road, where he was shot in the head."What more lament of all was getting in the game," said Darby.In prison for 14 years, Darby met Zapatero who taught him the trade. It started small, but soon discovered that it was made to be a shoemaker.The work had softened to Darby and turned out a lot of boots.Accomplished clients dating sizing of start-up of the unit on walls in Huntsville, the prison where Texas implemented the death penalty. They met Darby in a cell reserved for visits which was also near the House of death.Buyers had to sign a contract with the State for the use of prison labor, for which Texas received a cut and Darby a smaller cut. The money was paid into a fund because Darby was not allowed directly receive cash or speculator.However Darby was spending about $2,000 a year from the Fund to buy goods at the police station, burning money almost as fast as it came.Financial planning was not a priority for Darby, who was serving sentences and had already been rejected for parole 22 times.23 Time was the charm and Darby was put on probation - with background was mostly depleted, said.If Darby again, he plans to sit down with his ex-wife and enjoy life in a small town in Texas and perhaps do the pair of thigh high boots red inlaid butterfly has always wanted.After decades of estrangement, ex-wife of Darby saw a story about it in the True West magazine and contacted the man who was last seen in the 1970s.Their romance has been revived during probation and pledged to stay together when you leave again.Considering your age and your record Darby are not sure if you ever can get the funds to open a store. But you already have the sign - in cut-glass - made by one of fellow prisoners in a workshop."Manufacture of boots has made me happy," said Darby. "It was something that I could see and could be proud of."Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.