Cowboys are stereotypically Southwestern men with spurs andcowboy hats, but at The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola,convicted criminals take their places, making the Angola PrisonRodeo anything but ordinary.
Every Sunday in October, Angola State Penitentiary hosts a rodeothat is commonly known as “The Wildest Show in theSouth.”
The prison is located in Angola, La., on 18,000 acres in WestFeliciana Parish, just outside of St. Francisville, La.
Cathy Fontenot, the assistant warden of programming at TheLouisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, said the rodeo started in1964 and is the oldest running prison rodeo in the UnitedStates.
Prisons and rodeos are not typically associated with oneanother, but the idea has proven to be successful at Angola that iscurrently celebrating 40 years of rodeos.
Fontenot said the inmates and staff came up with the idea of therodeo together. The trusted inmates began to practice bull ridingand as people found out about it, crowds came to watch and iteventually became a nationally famous show. Today the show featuresan arena holding 7,500 people and draws in 70,000 peopleannually.
Some of the prisoners that take part in the rodeo may neverleave Angola, making the rodeo their only chance to interact withthe free society.
Fontenot said that Angola has the largest “lifer”population with more than 64 percent of its 5,108 inmates serving alife sentence and 27 percent serving technical life sentences of200 to 300 years.
“The inmates look forward to this every year,”Fontenot said. “It’s something that the free people cancome into every week. No other maximum security prison opens itsgates to 10,000 people.”
Not just any prisoner can take part in the rodeo.
Fontenot said that death row inmates cannot take part in therodeo, nor are they allowed to make and sell items at therodeo’s craft fair.
Fontenot said the profits from the rodeo’s ticket salespay for the rodeo’s expenses and also go to support theInmate Welfare Fund, a program that provides funding for issuessuch as education and chapels for the prison.
Andrew Baer has attended the rodeo annually since he was 6 yearsold.
“I think a lot of people go to see the prisoners gethurt,” Baer said. “Whether they deserve it or not isyour own opinion. They just really want to please thecrowd.”
Angola Rodeo features the traditional bull-riding events butalso incorporates more unusual events such as “ConvictPoker” and “Guts and Glory.”
Baer said these are the most highly anticipated events at therodeo.
Convict Poker is an event in which four convicts sit at a bloodred table and chairs in front of a bull chute. The convicts playimaginary poker while waiting patiently for a wild bull to bereleased into the arena. The last man seated at the table is thechampion.
“The poker event is interesting because no one ever getsout of their chair,” Baer said. “They usually getknocked out of their chairs. I like to see how bad these guysreally want it.”
The last event of the show is Guts and Glory, an event in whicha poker chip worth $500 is tied to the horns of the most ferociousbull available. The men attempt to retrieve the chip from the hornsof a monstrous, black bull with red painted horns.
Fontenot said the prisoners do not have experience riding bulls,nor do they practice outside the show.
The rodeo also features an inmate craft fair. The prisoners handmake items such as jewelry, leather craft, paintings andwoodworking to sell at the show.
Hunter Fuqua, a native of Baton Rouge, enjoyed being in such aclose vicinity to so many murderers and rapists.
“I thought it was exciting to be near that manycriminals,” Fuqua said. “It’s almost like theyare celebrities, but in a different way.”
T-shirts for sale boast the slogan: “Angola Prison: AGated Community.”
This slogan might seem offensive to prisoners, but according toFontenot, the prisoners came up with a slogan of their own.
“The inmates came up with a shirt that I find would bemore offensive,” Fontenot said. “It is called‘Angola Bed and Breakfast: Three hots and acot.'”
Inmate clubs prepare most of the food served at concessionstands that are spread throughout the grounds.  
“I think the whole point is for prisoners to go out andhave fun because they are obviously a little crazy anyway,”Fuqua said. “It’s cool to watch someone inexperiencedtry to do it too, and see if they would be any good atit.”
The rodeo begins at 2 p.m., and the craft fair closes at 5 p.m.Angola recommends that tickets, which are $10, be purchased inadvance by calling (225) 655-2030.