JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — He was charged with armed robbery and five counts of kidnapping in 1992. Today, Jimmy Riggs says he's a changed man.
Riggs served time in what he calls the worst prison in the state. Now, he's finding that there's life after incarceration.
He owns two tattoo shops in Jacksonville and has been in business for four years. Before that, his life was very different and he is not ashamed to tell the story.
Riggs grew up on the south side of Jacksonville and first got in trouble as a kid, about 12-years-old.
"I think the first charge I had was aggravated assault for a fight I got in on a basketball court," Riggs said.
He says he had an anger problem - got in fights then began doing drug and started shooting up cocaine at 15 or 16. Then, at 17, Riggs found himself facing 20 years in prison after holding up a grocery store at gun point to support his drug habit.
"As bad as you can get, I was there. I was at the worst prison in the state, arguably. And, I was one of the worst guys there for a while," said Riggs.
Seven years in, he decided enough was enough. He got sober and started reading and praying.
"I felt the best I had ever felt in my life when I was in there. But it was happening inside, not what was going on outside. and when I got out, I brought me with me," Riggs said.
He also got back into drawing, which was something he started as a kid.
"I would trace the Sunday comics. Then, from there, I got to where I could just look at them and do it, to where now, I can just look at anything and draw it with a pencil, or a pen, or charcoal, or oil paints or acrylic," said Riggs.
He smuggled paint in to prison and soon built his own tattoo machine. He used the motor from an air freshener and welding wire. He would burn things like chess pieces and use the carbon from the smoke to mix with alcohol for the ink.
He was hesitant to start a career in tattooing because he thought that meant he had failed.
"When I went in, there was no internet, there were no cell phones. Things were different when I got out. I didn't know that there was a whole subculture and the popularity and a legitimate career in tattooing," Riggs said.
He tried to get a job in corporate America, working with computers, but no one would hire him because of his record.
"It was out of frustration and desperation that I started tattooing again. It saved me before, when I was inside, and I learned to tattoo, that's how I survived. It's how I made money. It saved me again out here," he said.
Now, eight years out of prison, Riggs is living his life, doing what he loves.
"I wish the guys in prison could see this, because I would tell them to quit playing the games and get real. There's nothing going on cool in there. If you want to have any kind of life, you have to make it for yourself and you have to be free to do that," said Riggs.
Story Videographer: Josh Whitston
