Book summary

A journalist reports on a year in the life of inmates at Angola Sate Prison in Louisiana, many of whom are serving life terms. One of the key events is the annual rodeo that inmates stage for the public. A "New York Times" Notable Book for 1998.

Media reviews

Rodeos are not usually associated with maximum-security prisons, yet every October for 35 years, Angola Prison in Louisiana has staged a full-scale rodeo viewed by thousands of spectators. Journalist Bergner wrote an article about the rodeo for Harper's magazine, then expanded the material into this volume, which traces a year in the lives of six convict rodeo riders. The text suffers at times from disorganization and from padding, but nevertheless it gives a vivid picture of this bizarre event. Bergner describes how the inmates willingly participate in the rodeo because they have been convinced by prison authorities that it amounts to absolution of their sins. The Louisiana public, many still heavily racist, come to watch the convicts "thrown every which way." It has all the earmarks of a Roman circus. The most fascinating of all is the modern-day Caesar, Warden Burl Cain, who is noted for both his evangelism and his skulduggery. Since this is not a typical prison story, it may appeal to the general reader.