KALB.com on your mobile device - click here
RSS Feeds:
It was a year ago today that Rickey Johnson walked out of Angola Prison cleared of a rape conviction that had kept him there for 25 years.
So it is fitting that he begin a new phase of his life today. News Channel 5’s Joel Massey has more on the new business that he’s starting in Leesville.
Rickey Johnson has a new lease on life since he was freed from a life sentence at Angola prison for a rape that he didn’t commit. A year to the day of his release he is starting a leather shop business using skills that he learned from other prisoners at Angola.
Johnson said, “Basically I’m fixing to go to work. The first year has been like a little vacation but I like to stay busy. I’m a busy man so I’m going to do what I know how to do and make money at the same time.”
Johnson said he was bitter for the first ten years of his incarceration but slowly he learned to let it go to make the best of his situation by learning a trade while serving time.
“It takes more strength to hate than to love I can’t feel bitter about it because that would only hinder me from my future. No hard feelings about it now. Good feelings about what’s going to happen.”
He has 14 years experience making things out of leather. And he learned all he knows from several fellow Angola prisoners.
Johnson said, “I learned how to make the belts from a guy named Who Dat. I never did know his name but we always called him Who Dat and that’s who I learned from.”
Johnson received 150 thousand dollars for being wrongfully incarcerated, the maximum allowed in Louisiana and he used that money to open RJ Leather Shop. Now Rickey uses the skills he learned in prison on a daily basis.
“I picked up a goal that I wanted to set and that’s my own business I done set one that I’ve met already the next one is being successful in that business”
Johnson says this summer he wants to open his shop and have leather making classes for youth who want to learn the trade.
Money is something that one can get if he or she believe in working but your Life can not be replaced. Yes, you were wrongly accused and served years for a crime you did not do but one thing for sure, GOD DID NOT FORGET YOU. I DO BELIEVE THAT HE WAS THE LAWYER OF ALL OF YOUR LAWYERS THAT MADE THIS POSSIBLE FOR YOU. MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND LEAD YOU IN THE RIGHT PATH.
excellent story. god bless you mr johnson. how do i buy one of those great belts?
mel
Best of luck to you Mr. Johnson with your new business. May life bring you nothing but the best from here on out!!!
Kathy in San Diego, CA
KALB.com requires that you be a registered site member to post comments and content.
First, we are not being sneaky and gathering your email or other information to sell to telemarketers or e-mail spam companies.
Registration on this site is required simply to allow us to keep people who would post discriminatory, threatening and harassing messages and comments from doing it again.
By having user registration, we hope to provide you with a better user experience. Please view kalb.com's full Terms & Conditions
150 thousand dollars? That’s only $6,000 per year. Hardly appropriate for wrongfully convicting a person.