prison rodeo

Worth the trip!



"Founded in 1940, the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo is the world's only rodeo held completely behind prison walls. Normal joes can get a behind-the-scenes glimpse inside a maximum security correctional facility while watching some real men-in-black teach cows and horses who is king. While watching your back to make sure you don't get shivved makes for an intense rodeo-watching experience, the crowd seems to enjoy it more when the inmates are all on the rodeo floor competing in an event called Money the Hard Way. Every year, rodeo organizers let a Brahma bull loose in the arena with a $100 bill tied to one of his horns. Since $100 is worth about 4 months pay to these hardened criminals, be ready for one hell of a scrap for that c-note. Almost 15,000 show up for this two-night, September event. Ticket range from $6 to $15."
-2camels.com

A trip to the Angola Prison Rodeo(Angola, LA) would also seem to be in order. Angola claims to be the oldest prison rodeo in the nation though the Oklahoma Rodeo predates it by 25 years. "The Greatest Show in the South," is only about half the size of Oklahoma's rodeo but Angola features:

Wild Cow Milking - Teams of inmate cowboys chase the animals around the arena trying to extract a little milk. The first team to bring milk to the judge wins the prize.

A game I like to call, Christians & Lions or . . .

Convict Poker - It's the ultimate poker game, and even winning has a price. Four inmate cowboys sit at a table in the middle of the arena playing a friendly game of poker. Suddenly, a wild bull is released with the sole purpose of unseating the poker play

And Angola's take on the Brahma game:

Guts & Glory - A chit (poker chip) is tied to the meanest, toughest Brahma bull available. The object here is to get close enough to the bull in order to snatch the chit. This is the last event of the day, and perhaps the most exciting.

The Angola Prison Musuem store has quite an assortment of bizare memorabila. Golf towels, shot glasses and blood hound stuffed animals. I mean, honestly, are you kidding me.



The oldest prison rodeo appears to be the Texas Prison Rodeo. Bud & Sissy take in the rodeo, in the Urban Cowboy. I'll never understand why Wes Hightower (former prison cowoy) decided to rob the Gilley's cash room after he lost the machanical bull showdown.

"The Texas Prison Rodeo was launched in 1931 during the depression years, being first held at the baseball park outside the "Walls" Unit. The baseball park, located on the east side of the prison, was normally home to the Walls Tigers baseball team. The rodeo was the brainchild of Lee Simmons, General Manager of the Texas Prison System. Simmons envisioned it as entertainment for employees and inmates. Welfare Director Albert Moore headed up the organization and planning for the early rodeos along with Warden Walter Waid and livestock supervisor, R. O. McFarland. The attendants included a small crowd of local citizens and prison. Simmons realized he had a winner on his hands. Two years later, over l5,000 fans traveled to Huntsville for the show. Soon, the Texas Prison Rodeo was drawing the largest crowds for a sporting event in the state of Texas. With a lifespan of more than 50 years, the Prison Rodeo became a Texas tradition, held every Sunday in October. Crowds grew to exceed 100,000 in some years."

"A favorite event unique to the Texas Prison Rodeo was the Hard Money Event. Forty Inmates with red shirts were turned into the arena with a raging wild bull with a Bull Durham tobacco sack tied between its horns. The object was for some brave inmate to get the sack and take it to the Judge. Fifty dollars had been placed in the sack but donations often ran the pay up, sometimes to $1500. This became a very popular event for the inmates due to the amount of money involved and was one of the most dangerous ones as well. The fast action kept fans on the edge of their seats throughout the event."

"Due to costly renovations that the prison system said were necessary to the arena stands, the rodeo was shut down after 1986."
-txprisonmuseum.org