So, lets get this straight:
You kill someone and get to ride horsies all day? Mmmkay. No wonder you have teens vying at the opportunity to go to prison. Its hella fun! Screw college, I'm gonna go commit a crime.

If they are going to do something like this, they should not be able to keep the money, it should go back to the jail to help support the cost of their incarceration.

I've seen programs where inmates who are on special privilege for good behavior can do ranching work and farming and things of that nature - hard labor, but outside and not traditional "prison environment" and I think that's great. If you think about it, yes prison is supposed to be punishment, but when you lock a man up for 23 hours a day, only let him get "exercise" for one hour in a razor-wire fenced in yard, and he socializes and networks with other hardened felons making kinds of illicit deals, is the recidivism rate any surprise? Or the number of mentally ill people in prison? So there's something to be said about rehabilitation, and that's what I believe in.

However...this is different. I'm not sure if participating is a privilege for well-behaved inmates or if it's a free-for-all (or maybe even mandatory? I kinda doubt that though), but I think it's really inappropriate for them to be throwing an event like this. Especially with children. Especially when they're serving life sentences. I've seen other videos of alternative approaches in prisons, like I said, and thought they were great....but this one gave me the creeps.

the rodeo isn't exactly about riding nice horses. they are wild crazy ones who will kill you (somewhat similar to my ex-horse, but i digress)

I think in a way they provide a service. 1. they teach criminals a skill that can earn them money in the real world (rodeo circuit) and 2. they break horses that are nutty and you HAVE to be a little crazy or have nothing to lose to want to do that task. I'm sure they do other things that are of worth to the people who own the livestock.

It reminds me of that Simpson's episode where Homer screams "PRISON RODEO!" and veers off the road.

Hey yall! Welcome to Louisiana! Home of the annual Angola State Prison Rodeo!! That's right. We've got it goin' on down here.

And guys it's not like they get to spend their entire time in MAXIMUM SECURITY prison riding horses, it's just a once a year event. And cine, I believe all the profits from it do go to the prison (proceeds cover rodeo expenses and supplement the Louisiana State Penitentiary Inmate Welfare Fund which provides for inmate educational and recreational supplies.) Oh man I love it when my neck of the woods gets a shout out!

And liberty, they won't be selling any gumbo but you can get jambalaya and cracklins!

Thanks Syako. I was a bit thrown off because Liberty said some send money back to their families, so I thought they got to keep the proceeds, which I do not agree with.

On another note, since it is only once a year, and I assume that they only allow inmates that have had good behavior for the year, it can be seen as an incentive to be on their best behavior.

yeah I mean if you guys know anything about angola, it ain't pretty.

ah, the south. You get to go back to work on monday and say you did something really funny over the weekend. Like, went to a turkey race, or your kid competed in mutton busting.

This is according to wikipedia There is no realistic prospect of parole. A "short" prison sentence at Angola is 50 years. The average prison term is 88 years and many are serving even longer. As a result, the vast majority of prisoners sent to Angola die there of old age or illness.

I know Kris, like who else can say I went to the Shrimp and Petroleum Festival this weekend.

syako do you know the average length of time someone will survive in prison? My friend told me that it was 29 years, but I don't know if that was specific to a certain prison or what.

FYI: leanneluvsu, some inmates take online college courses, get their GED, and attend some type of college courses usually at the prison. There are libraries at the prison. What do you think punishment should be? I am just curious.

Thanks syako, for the information.

In my volunteer efforts, I tutor ex inmates and teach them how to pass their GED and how to read at a better level that will help them get a job and be productive not only to society but for the ones who have children.

ooh I don't know. I did read that Angola was once called the country's bloodiest prison. nice.

SHRIMP AND PETROLEUM. i have never heard anything like it! that just beats all.

Heck yes. Nothing like the two together, right? That's in my tiny home town of Morgan City, LA (two miles from the Gulf of mexico!)

A few winners get very minimal prize money that they send home, according to the sources I saw. The other proceeds go to the prison.

syako, thanks for sharing a local perspective!!!

What goes on in a festival such as Shrimp and Petroleum?

Here in New York, we have lots of Saint carnivals! I love them! You take a risk with your life every time you get on a ride.

Well there's a boat parade on the river where they decorate all the boats and everyone stands on the sides of the river and cheer them on. They have rides and SHRIMP! And I mean, shrimp and petroleum is what keeps the economy going in that town, so it's just a celebration for those two industries!

That is good that they send the little money they have homes, especially if they have children which I am sure they benefit from.

Life imprisonment for murder should not include this, it should harsh and painful, but then again wouldn't that somehow affect a person's rights according to the American constitution??? If I was president I would have different prisons for different offences, child molesters and rapists would get their own, murderers their own, robbers their own, druggies their own, but the rapists and murderers would have the harshest life.

I think festivals are super important to one's attitude. When i take office in the the Office of Homeland Attitude Adjustment, I'm going to create a brochure about the benefits of local festivals.

Oh my, I was imagining a pile of shrimp next to a jar of Vaseline. Shrimp and Petroleum (jelly)! I'm so literal this morning. That sounds so awesome syako! Thanks

Syako, that sounds like fun! And I LOVE shrimp!

Kris, you and Cabaker, AKA Secretary of Awesomeness, could create amazing brochures! I like the initiative!

Kris is that your official office for when Cine and I are in the White House in 2012?

Citizen, that's hilarious! No, oil, silly!! You know, Morgan City used to be Oil Central back in the 80's... then it was New Orleans then Houston. It just keeps moving around and so do all the families in the business.

Nyara, I totally agree that we are not harsh enough on our criminals, out of fear that we are being "cruel" or "impeding on their rights".

Sy, when you were gone the other day she got hired to head the OHAA!

sweet! I totally approve.

cine I was watching the first 48 yesterday and these 3 teens killed a 73 year old man and one of the boys is howling my life is over ,my life is over and the detective glares at him and she says, the man you killed his life is over, your life is not over. And I was like ain't that the truth. He gets to go to prison, will get paroled, will come out and enjoy the rest of his life or if he gets the death sentence he might die while on death row, or if he does get executed, they will try make it as humane as possible. Was he humane when he shot that man in the neck? I think a person loses any rights they have when they kill or rape an innocent person or child.

topics will be such things as:

"Hey, you aren't the only person who drives a car!" and
"How to offer a dissenting opinion on a web message board without being an a-hole."
"When agreeing to disagree is the best choice."
"Why using Racial-slurs is trashy."

etc.

lol kris.

"I think a person loses any rights they have when they kill or rape an innocent person or child."

I completely agree. Unfortunately most people see me as cruel because I don't give a rats ass about criminal rights. That is why I try to stay out of those threads. Not worth the fight.

If we did not make prisons into cable ready entertainment centers, then maybe people would have a larger fear of it.

Oh Kris as a subcategory on the car topic can it be "the left hand lane is for passing jackass!"

i agree with your statement Nya. The young man who killed my friend had a very sad, miserable look on his face in the newspaper photo of him in an orange suit, handcuffed. But, his life in prison sentence is still way better than what his victim got. I am sure he's very regretful, but you know what? too bad. if it's cruel to let him sit and wallow in regret, I guess that's okay!

yes, Cine. That will be in the brochure about driving privileges.

attitude adjustment. love it.

I think things like this are great. Prisoners who are able to engage in such activities have been shown to have much more successful rehabilitation than those prisoners who are basically treated like confined animals.

I dont even want to know the jokes going around in the booth selling sausages

I have no problem with it being once a year, so that they have something to look forward to for those "good" prisoners.

I can remember as a kid going with my folks to see the Texas Prison Rodeo, so this sort of activity for incarcerated populations isn't a concept that is all that new. I say populations because the women of what was then called Goree Women's Penitentiary also competed in the rodeo, in traditional womens' events like barrel racing.

However, times and things change. Goree is now a men's unit in the Texas prison system and the Texas penal system shut down their prison rodeo operations back in 1986.

I think this is good. I agree that I think it would help the inmates rehabilitate because they actually got to do something productive and even a tad fun.

I don't think that inmates should have the same rights as law abiding citizens though.

and I would go to one of these functions but I honestly don't think I would eat the food... I would have a hard time trusting what these inmates may have done to it.