5:29PM, Nov 02, 2009
This moving, compassionate film follows the women from the Eddie Warriors Correctional Center as they compete in a closed-doors prison rodeo against inmates from nine all-male penitentiaries.
Prisoners compete on wild broncos and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries.
Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, mentors the women, who include Jamie Brooks, serving 30 years for murder, and Brandy Witte, serving 20 years for firearm possession and drugs dealing.
For them and their fellow inmates, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life as they become the heroes the public and guards applaud.
The prison rodeo at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has been running annually since 1940, and is one of the last of its kind. The state has one of the highest female incarceration rates in the country, and in 2006 women were allowed to compete at the rodeo for the first time.
Filmmaker Bradley Beesley ventures behind the prison's bars in the build up to the 2007 event, resulting in an emotional tribute to the human spirit.
These women face being seriously injured when stepping into an arena with bucking broncos and bulls, yet the fleeting sense of freedom they feel is seen to be worth the risks.
Amid the desperate tales of drug addiction and broken homes, the women come across as dignified and honest, flawed human beings, undoubtedly, but deeply regretful for the mistakes that they have made, and pragmatic about having to face the consequences of them.
Find out when True Stories: Sweethearts Of The Prison Rodeo is on TV.
