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Inmates train for a state powerlifting meet. A convicted killer tries to ride a 2,000-pound bull in a rodeo. A team of convicts plays fast-pitch softball and listens to a prayer service afterward. A squad of maximum security youth offenders leaves prison to play a basketball game against a regular high school team. Two teams of inmates play tackle football with several hundred of their peers lining the sidelines as spectators.

Organized competitive sports takes many forms in prison and is important to both inmates and corrections officials for its role in prison life. Sports in Prison, a five-part series of stories that will continue each of the next four Sundays, will explore the many facets of prison sports and examine the praise as well as the criticism it has received.