Some of Louisiana’s most violent criminals have taken part in America’s longest-running prison rodeo.
The rodeo started in 1965 in a small arena built by a handful of inmates and prison personnel and was opened to the public in 1967.
Proceeds from the event go towards the prison’s Inmate Welfare Fund, which helps pay for the prisoners' education and recreational supplies.
According to the prison’s athletic director Gary Frank, thousands of other inmates work throughout the year making arts and crafts to sell at the event.
Frank said of those who take part in the rodeo: “They sometimes get hurt but they know the dangers."
“Everybody has an inner kid in them and they just want to play. If they get into a fight, they don’t get to play – it helps take out the nonsense.”
The inmates also got to meet Miss Rodeo Louisiana Hannah Bergeron.
Milton Billiot, 44, who has been an inmate at Angola Prison since 1990 after he was jailed for shooting dead his cousin, said: “It makes me feel like somebody.”
“You come to Angola with a life sentence, you don’t feel like a person any more, you’re a nobody."
"This gives me a chance to be somebody again, to entertain the people and just have fun."
Angola prison is the largest maximum-security jail in the U.S., with a capacity for 6,300 inmates.
Frank said sports make the prison a safer place to live and work.
"It keeps them occupied, keeps their minds occupied. It also gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment," he declared.
