Angola Prison Rodeo

Louisiana State Penitentiary, the site of the rodeo

The Angola Prison Rodeo, staged at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is the longest running prison rodeo in the United States.

It is held on one weekend in April and on every Sunday in October. On each occasion, thousands of visitors enter the prison complex.[1] Various prisoner organizations sell food at concession stands. Many of the prisoners use family recipes to craft the concession stand food. Prison guards conduct the financial transactions at the Angola Rodeo.[2]

As part of the prison rodeo,[3] there is a biannual Arts and Crafts Festival. Prisoners make handmade work. Melissa Schrift, author of Angola Prison Art: Captivity, Creativity, and Consumerism, wrote that "In addition to introducing innovations into vernacular prison art forms, Angola inmates find enormous value in creating works that embody or mimic the everyday images and goods so readily available in the outside world."[4]

The rodeo raises funds for religious educational programs for prisoners. As of 2013 each spring rodeo raises $450,000.[3] The rodeo's slogan is "the wildest show in the South".[3]

  1. ^ "Time in Prison." Archived October 23, 2012, at WebCite Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. 34/40. Retrieved on September 23, 2010.
  2. ^ *The Kitchen Sisters. "Broncos and Boudin: The Angola Prison Rodeo." National Public Radio. April 17, 2008. Retrieved on March 12, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c McGaughy, Lauren. "Despite controversy, Angola Prison Rodeo lends inmates sense of freedom." The Times-Picayune. April 20, 2013. Updated April 21, 2013. Retrieved on October 8, 2013.
  4. ^ Schrift, "Angola Prison Art: Captivity, Creativity, and Consumerism," p. 257.