Digressions of a Dilettante

Digressions of a Dilettante
Vignettes of Inanity by Bud Hearn

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Angola State Prison Rodeo...An Extreme Parody

Friends: Angola State Prison Rodeo….an Extreme Parody


Sunday, October 14th, Angola State Prison, Angola, Louisiana. The “Notice” read: “You are about to enter a penal institution….” We all puckered up!

Eight Intrepid Voyeurs in a white van entered through rolls of concertina wire the gates of this prison to watch, of all things, a prison rodeo. Orchestrated by George, there were Rocky, Adam, John, Ed, Tommy, Duane and myself… you know these fools, but last names are omitted to hold down the ridicule.

Warden Burl Cain welcomes us by a massive sign, warning that should we want to ever leave the premises we should keep all alcohol, guns, knives and contraband in our vehicles. None of us wanted the body searches promised to perpetrators.

The “games” began on a football-sized arena of plowed dirt smelling of excrement, urine and fear. The crowd, some 10,000 spectators, who, remarkably, bore familial resemblances to the inmates (mostly locals, but atavistically related….obesity being a kind word). The prisoner “cowboys” were corralled in a wire cage located just under the “executive viewing stand,” where Warden Cain and his invitees viewed the carnage to come, and could easily poke the prisoners with sharp sticks to keep them attentive. At a distance it was not easy to confirm, but I’m quite sure the “Cowboys” bore bodily evidences of floggings, burns and electric shock used to encourage them to “volunteer” for these games.

The “events” seemed to have originated with Caligula but embellished by fiendish manipulation. There was no way for the participant to “win” except by death, which seemed a hellish, psychological price to pay, since it reaffirmed the participants’ view of themselves as “losers.” But hey, this is Louisiana, where the hole in the wall of the State Capital, created by the bullet that killed Huey P. Long, is still enshrined and worshipped.

Space here prohibits a full recounting of the spectacle posing as a “rodeo”, but one event is worth noting: a red card table was set up in mid-arena, 4 “cowboys” in flak jackets sit at it playing poker. The 1,800 pound bull – one mean sucker – is released. He charges the table, bodies fly through the air, landing with loud thuds in the soft urine-soaked dust, unconscious and awaiting an exit on stretchers. Two remain seated at the “site” – the bull charges again with a snorting rage, his horns like swords flashing an ominous glare, and narrowly misses the two remaining players who are frozen by fear. Buzz --- time’s up. These two dodge death and share the $200 purse!

This display of human degradation continued for another two hours, punctuated by wild screams of approval from fat-intoxicated spectators gorging themselves on fried pig cracklins, chitlins and pig tails. The only break in the tense drama of death and mayhem was the Elvis-dressed dude with 3 sheep dogs ridden by little monkeys wearing cowboy outfits and chasing wild goats. The short hilarity of it all was almost too much to bear and some became incontinent in the constrained effort of containment.

Finally, our adrenal glands could take no more of the brute amusement, and in a long parade of vehicles we made our way out into the humid dusk of a declining Delta day, heading back to a more rational way of life --- but all the while, riding in the silent darkness, wondering: “What was this all about?”


Bud
October 18, 2007

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