Louisiana prison rodeo bucks the norm
An inmate trying to buy his time on the back of a wild horse in the Bareback Riding event at Louisiana State Prison in Angola, Louisiana (Oct 26, 2003) Credit: J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Sure, you could go to the jazz festival in New Orleans again this spring. But don't underestimate the Angola Prison Rodeo. It's a chance to see serious felons testing their mettle against serious livestock.
You also can glimpse the infamous lockup, bordered on three sides by the Mississippi River, where blues musician Leadbelly once did time.
It's an introduction, amid plenty of homegrown food and music, to the peculiarly tangled history of public incarceration and private enterprise in the Tunica Hills of rural Louisiana.
"You really can't describe it. You have to experience an Angola rodeo," says Gary Young, Louisiana State Penitentiary's project coordinator.
ABOUT THE PRISON
The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, once labeled the bloodiest prison in America, holds about 5,200 inmates and sprawls across 18,000 acres in West Feliciana Parish, 137 miles northwest of New Orleans. The penitentiary's crops include corn, soybeans, tomatoes, cotton and wheat.Its livestock includes hundreds of cattle and horses.praised for its inmate magazine and radio station, vocational training and even a degree program in theology.
Angola's leaders call it "the most-visited prison in the world," with more than 1,000 tourists a month, in addition to the roughly 70,000 people who come each year on rodeo days.
ANNUAL RODEO
The rodeo, which will be April 16-17 this year, is a joint project of prison workers and inmates. Admission is $15 and sellouts are common (advance tickets available at angolarodeo.com). Events include Guts & Glory, in which contestants grab at a wooden poker chip tied to the horn of a bull, and Convict Poker, in which four inmates enter the arena and sit in chairs around a poker table. A bull is let loose - last man sitting wins.
As many as 1,000 inmates have roles in the event, including selling crafts, manning concession booths and riding broncs. Proceeds go to the penitentiary's Inmate Welfare Fund, which pays for inmates' educational and recreational supplies, and construction of interfaith chapels.
