Two bills to create a revolving fund for prison rodeos in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections are getting pushed down the road as the legislative session ends.
The money in the fund would go to repairs and improvements to the stadium where the rodeos took place over a decade ago.
Neither bills, in the House and Senate, made it to Governor Stitt's desk after the DOC Director Steven Harpe pulled back on the proposal.
In a Senate meeting earlier this year, he told officials he wants an interim study this summer before asking for funding again in February 2025.
Here's the 2 News story from September 2023 when the push for funding got off the ground:
MCALESTER, Okla. — For more than 60 years, Oklahoma inmates got a taste of freedom and fun in the form of a prison rodeo. It ran annually on Labor Day at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary from 1940 to 2009, only skipping a few years due to World War II and a prison uprising in the 1970s.
It drew thousands of spectators from across Oklahoma. However, after shutting down due to budget cuts and insurance costs, the area is now overgrown with weeds and the stands are dilapidated.
Murals painted by inmates on the walls of the arena are fading or covered in nature.
But now, the Department of Corrections has set aside $1 million to begin repairs to the arena and are hoping to convince legislators for help in the next session.
“I don’t think they should have stopped, that’s my opinion,” said Deputy Warden Nanci Battles, who worked the rodeo four years and said eligibility requirements for the inmates improved behavior. “It changed their morale during that time; they strived to do things good.”
Lieutenant Daniel Dixon worked inside the security tower for one year of the rodeo, but his fondest memories were as a spectator as a kid. His high school worked concessions to fundraise for prom.
“The excitement you would feel when it comes time for the rodeo, there’d be signs all over town,” he said. “It was fun.”
One of the main attractions of a prison rodeo was something called Money the Hard Way. Cash was placed between the horns of a bull and the inmates would compete to grab the cash.
“It’s hard to have an event like that without someone getting hurt,” said Sergeant Jerry Price, who adds that’s drew the most crowds.
Price was the “Shoot Boss.” While he doesn’t miss the hot August days when the rodeo took place, he laughs about the one year it had rained. It was muddy and a rodeo clown had to come to his aid when he was inside the arena.
“He looks down at me and tells me I need to get out before the bull comes to get me and I was kinda stuck!” he said of his muddy boots. “But, I got out just in the nick of time.”
He believes the projected $9.3 million it would take to revamp the arena (according to an engineering study) would be worth it for the community and the inmates.
“It’s hard not to feel the electricity,” he remembered. “Even if you didn’t get to come to the rodeo and were still inside (the prison), you could feel the energy; it was something to behold.”
While it would be more than an 8-second fix, the DOC is hopeful for a turn-around in two years.
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