The arrangement also has meant that Jeff Van Scoyk, a second-generation owner of Colorado Saddlery, hasn't had to outsource his saddle-making jobs to foreign workers to stay in business.

The 15-year-old partnership has taken years to evolve, Van Scoyk said. But as the inmates became more experienced, the work became better and the problems fewer. "For the last four or five years, they've been really helpful and innovative," Van Scoyk said. "We've been real happy with our relationship."

Prisoners who get the saddle jobs are the most trustworthy in the prison. They have to be, because they work among hundreds of knives, scissors, chemicals and other items that are otherwise prohibited. But most of them have committed serious crimes.

The workers include inmates serving time for murder, meth distribution and aggravated robbery.

The stamper, who carves beautiful flowers and basket-weaving designs into leather, shot and killed his wife. The seat fitter, whose job is among the most technically difficult, is in for meth distribution. And the guy who edges and burnishes the leather rigging? He got 43 years for aggravated robbery.

Their crimes don't matter to the company.

Duncan Clark, employed by the prison to teach prisoners how to make saddles, said he doesn't spend much time thinking about the crimes that sent his workers to prison.

"If I did, I wouldn't get anything done," said Clark, who was a ranch manager for 13 years. "We work on a mutual-respect basis."