Day 22 NaBloWriMo Aleta in Angola

I want you to picture a fair. You know, food booths when you first walk in, the smell of fried chicken and jambalaya and sugar on top of funnel cakes. Then you notice the rides for kids, including space walks and water slides.... not far away are oodles of craft booths with inmates. Oh wait! What was that! Inmates you ask? That's right. Greg and I went to the Angola Rodeo, hosted by our own Louisiana State Penitentiary. The rodeo had everything I just mentioned.

Aleta goes to Angola ~ the Alcatraz of the South. This is a first for Greg and I ~ both going to a rodeo and going to Angola.















Greg calls this my "Prison Purse." . All of the crafts are made by the inmates. We talked with the guy behind in the booth. He said that all the purses are handmade; we'll never find another one like it. He told us that it took a long to time figure out the designs. Greg asked, "You made this? You're one of the inmates?" There was surprise in his voice and the man shook his head to confirm what Greg realized. It was a shock, I have to say. He was an African American, had kind eyes and was very polite. You'd never know he was an inmate.

From my understanding, inmates have to "earn" the right to work in the booths and mix with the crowd. Greg asked how the transaction was handled. The man responded that he takes the purse off of the booth, gives us a receipt that we take to the cashier's booth and then bring back the receipt showing it was paid and then he gives us the purse. I'm glad we didn't wait too long to go to the cashier's booth, because come to find out, if it's over an hour from the time of picking out the item and getting the receipt, the inmate has the right to put the item back on the booth table for sale. Makes sense, because they can give out receipts and a person can change his/her mind and not pay for the item.

At another booth, I purchased something. It's a gift for Mom, so I don't want to post a picture or say what it is. This guy was also at a booth table, but had more of a snaggle tooth look to him. A little scary and abrupt.... but he made something that I thought Mom would appreciate. I hope she likes it.











Those were the booths where the tables were out in the open and the inmates were too. Then you moved into an area that has a canopy with a bunch of tables under it. We found something we liked, but didn't see anyone "manning the table."

Greg asked a guy about what to do and he was told, "If you like something, hold it up and an inmate will claim it as his." This was different because the inmates were behind a chain-linked fence. What we bought was a welcome sign that you hang your keys on (picture above). Greg held it up and we looked around to find one of the inmates pointing to us.

We walked over and Greg said, "You put the design into the computer and it cuts this for you." The inmate responded, "No, this is all hand done." We told him it was beautiful work and he thanked us and seemed appreciative that we liked his craft. Greg asked, "Did you sign your name on the work?" The inmate responded, "No, I didn't." Greg said, "What happens if you become famous for your work then in the future?" The inmate laughed, took a puff off of his cigarette and said, "You can still find me here." He said it with a smile and we laughed, but I felt sad too.

When I told Mom about this, she said, "I wonder what he was in for.." What did these guys do? I talked with Greg afterwards... what did they do? Look at them now, most look kind and grateful to see people buying their work and care about what they do and they talk respectfully. Oh, I know not all of them do this and maybe it is a show. But these are PEOPLE. What went wrong, what happened? Greg said, "It all starts with the parents and their raising."















The crafts included purses, woodwork, furniture, wallets, paintings. All sorts of things. It was pretty amazing. I read somewhere that 90 percent of the money from the crafts goes towards the expense of the jail and the other 10 percent goes back to the inmates, in the form of art supplies, not cash.














A little more about Angola: It's one of the world's largest prisons, with more than 5,000 inmates living on an 18,000-acre plantation, which was once owned by Isacc Franklin. The inmates raise crops of all sorts of veggies. In fact, the prison only needs to spend 1.41 a day to feed each inmate, that is how much they are self sustained by the crops and livestock on the land as well as a pond for fishing.
















After Greg and I had something to eat, enjoyed the outdoor band performance (yes, inmates played) and purchased the items, we went into the rodeo arena, which was also built by the inmates. The rodeo originated in 1964.

Serious Livestock versus Serious Felons. Believe me, the livestock got the better of the inmates! The experience gave me the feeling of the Roman Empire with the gladiators versus criminals.

It started with an announcer, decked out rodeo style riding a horse and of course, what would be a rodeo without the clowns, a constant source of entertainment. The clowns were great for transition times (moving the livestock and inmates in and out of the arena for the next event). They would crack jokes with the announcer. There was one that Greg really liked, the clown dressed like a man from the front half up and the bottom half down he was a chicken. He was a man riding a chicken instead of a man riding a horse and he had a battle of abilities with the announcer.

The rodeo began with ~ the Saint's score! Talk about a way to rile up the crowd. WOO HOO - Saints were WINNING - YEAHHH!!!!! Now that's how you get our attention. Then, to the wild horses and bulls... did you know that they put a strap around the male horse’s and bull’s genitals? This is what makes the animal buck like crazy, tossing the inmates in the air. It was a sight alright... Madelyn, Greg's younger sister, said, "I feel bad for the animals, that's cruel." I kind of have to agree, though I did get caught up in the moment of watching the scene.

This rodeo has some unique, ummm, games... not the standard around the barrel kind of stuff (they did have that as well, but to be honest it wasn't nearly as entertaining as the games).

The Games:

1) Milking Cows. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Three inmates to a team. They had to milk a cow. A MAD COW. Trust me, those cows weren't going to go down without a fight!

2) BullDogging. Not the "toss a rope around a calf and tie it up." No, two inmates had to lock arms and when the calf was let out, they had to use their arms as the "rope" and bring the calf down by all fours. It obviously took a lot of strength!

3) Monkeys riding dogs and the herding sheep. Yep, monkeys riding dogs. Ok, THIS is when I really felt sorry for the animals, because it looked like the monkeys were strapped to the dogs.

4) Bareback horse riding. One inmate is standing on a large round canister, the other inmate is riding bareback and has to pull the other inmate on the horse. Now, keep in mind that none of these inmates have abilities with horses. Sometimes the inmate would fall off before getting to the other inmate. Sometimes the inmate on the canister was too nervous to jump. The announcer was funny, saying, "jump, jump, jump" and Greg's brother-in-law started with the chant too. Some inmates would take a flying leap and bring both of them down off the horse.

5) Hula Hoop, prison style. Six hula-hoops are tossed around the area. In each hula-hoop, a prison stands. They have to stay in the hula-hoop to win. What could possibly make the prison move? Try a wild bull that is egged on by the clowns. Those inmates were tossed around like rag dolls! Greg did some reading on this and said that when people are trained to be a clown, they are told "when the bull puts his head down, move your body down with him and make your body really relaxed and limp - it's when your body gets rigid that you can get hurt." Yeah... a bull charged at me - I don't think I can be... relaxed. Lol.

6) By far the best.... Convict poker. A red table and four chairs are placed in the middle of the area. (we had excellent sets - section 16 - right in the middle!) The inmates are given cards and have a seat. Here's the thing, an angry bull is released into the arena. The winner for this event is the convict that doesn't stand or get forcibly moved. I felt really sorry for the inmate with his back to the bull, you just knew it wasn't going to be good! One inmate had to be dragged out of the arena. He was the only one from all these games that seemed seriously hurt. "The inmates move quickly when properly motivated" said the announcer. Though we did hear later that the one who was pulled out was OK. The inmates get bragging rights for these games and for some of them, a monetary award goes to the winner.

We didn't stay for the grand finale of games ~ where the inmates have to take a poker chip off of the bull, which is tied between the horns. We left early so that we could beat the traffic. It was a smart idea, because Greg's parents told us that the last time they went to the rodeo, it took them one hour just to get off of the prison property, due to traffic.


Only thing negative is that I couldn't bring my camera. Darn. In fact, if you have a camera, you'll be escorted away! Not just cameras, no cell phones, no radios. They DO check purses and they didn't allow the binoculars that Greg's brother-in-law brought with him, though I really don't understand that!

To end this on some ugly truths... The average sentence in Angola is 88 years. 90 percent of those inmates will die there. 90 percent. Angola has more prisoners who will never be released than any other prison in America. It's the Alcatraz of the South. 88 years of your life, can you imagine? Living.... only to die there.

I think about the guys who sold us the crafts, how they work the land, how they brave the bulls.... I'd go back again, to support the system, because I do think it's a good thing for the prisoners, something that helps them throughout the year and gives them something to look forward to and something to earn the right to. But, I think I'd also like to make a weekend of it next time ~ instead of the 2 hour drive out and back on the same day ~ maybe stay at the Myrtle Plantation B&B and the Rodeo. The Angola Rodeo is always in October and if we stay at the Myrtles ~ what perfect timing, it's a haunted plantation, you know.

Comments

kimcox said…
Oh wow I never knew they did something like that. I am a craft shopoholic I love shoppping any craft fair. I may have to check this out next year. Thanks

Also thanks for visiting my blog.
septembermom said…
That's a cool purse. Love how Greg calls it your prison purse. Funny. I would enjoy that craft fair too. Sounds like so much fun :)
Theresa said…
That is so cool in a very bittersweet kind of way. I like that they give them the opportunity to sell their wares and the like. It may be life in prison.. but at least they try to make it a LIFE and not just some horrible waiting game you know?

Side note: my family and i are all originally from New Orleans (west jeff to be more specific) and every time the saints play you can hear my cajun father yelling at the tv from half a mile away. LOL
Unknown said…
Hard to picture anyone who hasn't been to a rodeo. Even harder to picture that at least one of the bull riders wasn't an acquaintance. {*grin*}

As a side note, I do a lot of speaking inside prisons - you'd be amazed at how pleasant some multiple murders are (and how unpleasant some are as well).

One thing that is pretty common is the scenario young kid with mental illness->failure to take medicine coupled with a certain lack of moral compass->rampage and killing spree->multiple life sentences->taking medicine in prison and finding a religion there->nice person while using the medicine. But we will probably never know whether they are changed enough to re-enter mainstream life again.

The young man who trained our dog in a prison program might be 29 years old, but has been in prison since he was 20. He went on such a spree and killed 5 defenseless people in 4 states when he was 19. He won't even be eligible for parole consideration for at least another 70 years. He learned how to write while in prison and the journal of the month while our dog lived and was trained by him 24x7 is interesting reading.

Time for me to stop blithering and get on with it. Maybe someday I'll do a post about the whole experience.
A New Yorker said…
I'm sorry Aleta...I'm supposed to move to your city because why? :)
Really interesting post, Thankfully I don't know much about prison culture. I guess it just shows that deep within most people, even those who've lives have gone horribly wrong at some point, there lives the desire to find meaningfulness in what they do.
Mari said…
It sounds like such fun. I would love to look at all the crafts. Your purse is beautiful! But as you said, how sad that most of these guys won't get out.
Sharon said…
I've never heard of such a thing! How amazing that the prison is giving these men a chance to express themselves artistically. And how tragic that their chosen have led them to such a sad situation. Sure makes me appreciate the grace of God!

Thanks for joining up with the Joy meme! It was great to have you take part.
Whitney said…
Wow! That is so cool! I have never heard of anything like that before. I think that if they have to earn the right to be there and be able to mingle almost, then it's a good transition for them back into the real world.
Anonymous said…
Wow. That sounds so interesting.
Stacey said…
This is why I love blogging! The things you learn about from other parts of the world. That was great. Thanks. :)
♥ Boomer ♥ said…
HOW.MUCH.FUN!!!! I love the way you made us see it all, smell the smells, feel the adventure (getting the receipt, and rushing back to get the purse) ... and I love the purse!
Kavi said…
Sounds like so much fun ! Thanks for sharing. I am sure some of this can be put up here as well...
Ugich Konitari said…
Aleta,

This thing about prison inmates doing stuff creatively, and the products being made available for the public to buy, appears to be something that is encouraged the world over.

We have a very old prison near Pune , at a place called Yeravda. At one time Mahatma Gandhi was kept there by the British. (One of the many prisons they had for him). Today, some of the inmates who are allowed to do so, produce wonderful things on looms (like throws, tablenapkin sets, and towels, and small rugs, and woodwork, and cane work. I read today in the newspaper about the inmates of Delhi's maximum security Tihar Jail even having a shop where they sold these things for outsiders.

Though they dont have here the sort of extravaganza with rides, and games etc like seems to be the thing in Angola.

But it is wonderful that the inmates get a chance to do these crafts and stuff.
Mozi Esme said…
What an event! I love that prison purse...
Lisa said…
That is a fascinating story. It must have been a strange feeling to buy something of personal value from a convict with a life sentence. It makes me wonder about what prison is for and what redemption means in the midst of punishment that never ends.

Thanks for writing that.
Holly said…
Okay, normally I 'get' stuff you write - as in I can see it, picture it, agree with your thought/views on it. But something about this I'm not getting. I get the crafts part, and I think it is great that a large portion of the money they earn is used to run the prison, and the remainder goes for their craft supplies. Nothing wrong or bizarre about that. I don't believe that these people should be such a huge burden on taxpayers, so the fact that they are earning a portion of their keep is a good thing in my opinion.

It's the games with bulls that I'm having a bit of an issue with. Some of them seem almost cruel. Is cruel the right word? Maybe cruel is a bit harsh. Maybe harsh is a better word? I'm having a hard time explaining. I'm not against bull riding, per se, and a bull running around an arena head butting people playing poker isn't really cruel or harsh for the bull. I guess it all just seems a bit bizarre to me. Maybe it wouldn't be if I actually saw it in person?