HISTORY
Roth, Mitchel P.
Convict Cowboys: The Untold History of the Texas Prison Rodeo
University of North Texas Press
Hardcover, 978-157441-652-7, 448 pages, $32.95 (ebook also available)
July 2016
Mitchel P. Roth, a criminology and criminal justice professor at Huntsville’s Sam Houston State University, has produced an eye-opening and much-needed look inside the world-famous Texas Prison Rodeo (TPR). His well-researched book includes perspectives on the economic and political forces that led to the TPR’s birth in 1931, as well as to its demise fifty-two years later, in 1986, at the hands of a budget-squeezing Texas legislature.
Today, in what is known as “prison tourism,” millions of people around the world pay good money to tour old prisons, jails, and dungeons and buy incarceration curios in the facilities’ gift shops. From the early days of the American penal system to the twentieth century’s first few decades, many prisons relied on cash from tourists and visitors to help cover their operating expenses. In Texas, Roth points out, prisons also earned income by leasing out convicts as laborers. But the practice faded when the Great Depression took hold. Law-abiding workers needed the jobs. So Texas prisons scrambled for new ways to bring in cash.
The Texas Prison Rodeo at Huntsville’s Walls Unit was the brainchild of Marshall Lee Simmons, in his first year as the Texas Prison System’s general manager. Simmons, a rodeo fan, favored harsh discipline for prisoners, but also believed in keeping them occupied and occasionally entertained. “To this end,” Roth writes, “Simmons allowed and encouraged inmates to create their own entertainment, which they did by organizing plays and bands, playing concerts and participating in baseball games.”
The first Texas Prison Rodeo was a low-key, mostly local affair at the Huntsville Walls Unit. But its fame quickly spread. Within just a few years, overflow crowds were arriving to watch convict cowboys compete and applaud appearances and performances by famous entertainers. Arena seating kept having to be expanded, until it eventually hit 30,000.
“All inmates who participated volunteered, jumping at the chance to break the monotony of prison farm work,” the author notes. “Next to parole, October TPR Sundays became the most popular inmate moments, for those who wanted to participate or simply take in the sights.”
The 30th annual Texas Prison Rodeo in 1961 is highlighted as a noteworthy example. It drew “at least 109,000 spectators” to its five shows. The huge turnout was boosted in part by the appearances of baseball legend Mickey Mantle, who had canceled an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show to be there, plus ex-Brooklyn Dodger Chuck Connors, star of the TV show The Rifleman.
The competitive events “also proved to be among the roughest in recent memory with a number of serious injuries.” Several convict cowboys were hospitalized for months, and two rodeo judges suffered broken bones.
From cover to cover, this is a clear-eyed look at a prison rodeo many people still hope can be resurrected someday.
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