Holy shit Deadman Wonderland just got real (sorta)

Untrained inmates compete for prize money in rodeo for entertainment of public and very small prize money.

That's creepy as hell.

You do know that Angola Prison Rodeo has been running for over 40 years now, right?

Yeah, but apparently it's growing bigger. And it's still creepy as hell. In fact, forty years ago, Values Dissonace may have made this understandable. But today that just doesn't make much sense...

The worst part is, I don't know how to feel about this. Giving the prisoners a chance at going out a bit... Isn't this a False Dichotomy? Can't we Take a Third Option?

So what if it ''grows bigger''? Participation in the rodeo is voluntary and I'm sure that grown men can decide for themselves wether few little perks are worth the risk of injury or not.

On a slightly different topic, I would be interested to know what people think of various reincarnations of Campanile sera and bull events in them. Raw, you might be familiar with El Gran Prix del Verano.

Courtesy link to that other wiki (in Russian) with more details.

edited 23rd Nov '10 11:22:36 AM by RedYBlue

Bullfights are outlawed in Catalonia, by absolute majority. Everyone thinks they are barbarous and just plain lame. And so do I.

I wasn't talking about bullfights. Go here and skip to 45:00. Participants are usually regular people (or in this case athletes and celebrities) who are not trained to handle bulls.

Yeah, and that's a disgrace.

Indeed, they don't even get paid.

There are certainly human rights issues to wonder about. I cant tell from the link, but is there an actual risk of injury? I would also wonder what incentives or coercive pressures might exist to encourage prisoner participation. Are the prisoners provided an alternative way to experience fresh air, limited freedom and a way to meet their families, without participating in a spectator event? Also the fact that the penitentiary system benefits financially from this raises certain red flags. On the other hand, I can think of ways the prison could address these issues, I just don't know if they did.