A bigger picture around the rodeo system, it's pretty easy to see clearly that there is a lot of injustice happening.

But then when you are operating within an unjust system, it is adding some level of benefit for people.

But that doesn't make it just in any way. It just makes it a little bit better.

Since 1965, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, has held an incredibly

popular public event known as the Prison Rodeo,

where incarcerated men participate for cash prizes in contests so dangerous they have been

banned from the professional rodeo circuit. Angola is the largest maximum security prison in the United States

and uses their inmates to farm thousands of acres of land, selling crops and livestock to some of the

biggest companies in the world, all while paying laborers pennies on the hour. Our guest today is Adam Mahoney, a reporter for

capital B, a local and national non-profit news organization that publishes in-depth journalism

on topics of crucial importance to black people across the country.

Adam's recent article titled The Wildest Show in the South, Spectacle and Suffering at America's Biggest Prison, first brought this shocking event to my attention. And for this episode,

he discusses with me the surreal reality of the Angola Prison Rodeo and his experience

attending, gives me a background on the dark history of the penitentiary itself, and tells me the

various perspectives of those involved in this shocking and deeply American spectacle.

I'm your host, Chelsea Weber Smith, and this is American Hysteria.

I am really happy to welcome Adam Mahoney to American Hysteria.

We're going to have a lot to talk about today. Adam, thank you for being here. This is the first time we've ever talked. So I'm excited to

get to know you a little bit as well. Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm excited as well. This is a lot to

dive into. Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. And yeah, I was put in contact with you, I believe, by your agent. And she sent me a copy of the article that you recently wrote about the Angola Prison and the rodeo that they put on. And it was a pretty stunning revelation to learn about. I had no idea that something like this was going on, let alone was ever going on, but, you know, into this day. In fact, this last month in April, right, was the most recent rodeo.

Exactly. Yeah. And I mean, I was in the same boat as you prior to me moving to Louisiana.

And, you know, my first couple of months living in New Orleans, I kept hearing about the rodeo from folks who grew up here and their experiences as children.

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