Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is plotting a sequel to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’, this one featuring bucking broncos and bulls.
Daily Mail can reveal that a new ICE migrant detention center is being rush-built at the Angola state penitentiary in Louisiana, the largest and also one of the most dangerous maximum-security prisons in the United States.
It’s also host to ‘The Wildest Show in the South!’, a raucous rodeo featuring inmates getting tossed around by wild animals for the amusement of thousands of spectators.
With the blessing of Noem and her senior advisor Corey Lewandowski, Governor Jeff Landry has begun to lay the groundwork to open the facility in September, just weeks before the annual Angola Prison Rodeo, according to insiders with knowledge of the matter.
Just last week, Landry declared a state of emergency at the Angola prison, announcing it as necessary to fast-track repairs and add 400 beds to house what he described as an overflow of violent criminals.
The prison, just two miles from the Mississippi state border, is bounded on three sides by water.
It is plagued with a dark past. Stitched together from former slave plantations, most inmates serve life sentences, and new laws under Landry have ended parole and cut early release, trapping them within its 18,000 acres.
Once dubbed America’s bloodiest prison, inmates grind through brutal labor – clearing land, farming crops for global brands – while earning next to nothing.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is plotting a sequel to ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ pushing a rapid pace to open an ICE detention center inside Louisiana’s notorious Angola prison, home to some of the nation’s most dangerous inmates and the last prison rodeo
Angola prison, dubbed America’s ‘bloodiest’, was stitched together after the collapse of slave plantations in Louisiana and is notorious for its violence
Angola is the the last to host prison rodeos, which they call ‘The Wildest Show in the South!’ where thousands of spectators gather to watch prisoners be tossed around by wild animals for their amusement
Landry held the Bible for Noem wen she was sworn in as DHS secretary by Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas
Herman Wallace, one of the Angola 3 – Black Panther Party members who faced over 40 years in solitary – labeled the prison not just a jail, but ‘an institution crafted to crush men’.
Numerous inmates have described toiling in scorching heat without adequate care or breaks, leading to about 50 early deaths each year.
One Louisiana Democrat told Daily Mail: ‘We are very much concerned about migrants being held at one of the worst penitentiaries in the United States.
‘We’re also deeply concerned about the potential for migrants to be taking part in the Angola rodeo.
‘It sounds like a Squid Games plot in the idiocracy universe.’
The reported plan is to reopen the notoriously dangerous ‘Camp J,’ a section of the prison once used for solitary confinement, which was shuttered in 2018 due to safety concerns.
And Landry’s proclamation clears the way for his office to ‘make provisions for the availability and use of temporary emergency housing,’ and cites the need to ‘accommodate violent offenders who require the highest degree of security and will be transferred to its facilities.’
While Landry’s order doesn’t specify who the beds would be used for, sources tell Daily Mail that his plan is to house migrants amid the Trump administration’s crackdown.
The first Angola Prison Rodeo was held in September 1965, and Noem’s plan may be unveiled alongside Governor Landry’s annual gator-hunting weekend and political fundraiser
When asked for comment on the migrant plan, Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary for public affairs pointed Daily Mail to an CBS article that said plans are underway to open camps in states including Louisiana.
The executive order is effective from July 25 through August 23, suspending procurement and bidding rules to allow for expedited repairs.
Sources say Noem and Landry are already preparing to stage a splashy opening in September.
The two are longtime friends. Landry held the Bible for Noem’s swearing-in as DHS secretary.
Madison Sheahan, ICE deputy director, also has deep ties to Landry. The 28-year-old served in his cabinet as secretary of wildlife and fisheries.
Lewandowski, meanwhile, worked for Landry’s campaign for governor in 2023.
There’s talk about possibly having the announcement coincide with Landry’s popular gator hunt and political fundraiser in September, according to sources in Louisiana.
‘Of course, they’re probably timing with the legendary heathen weekend… Jeff’s alligator hunt fundraiser,’ a Baton Rouge political lobbyist who is critical of the move told Daily Mail. ‘Then October is rodeo month.
Noem, who has been dubbed ICE Barbie for supposedly treating her Cabinet position like a TV production, was on hand to trumpet the unveiling of Alligator Alcatraz in early July, joining Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and President Trump.
Construction of that facility in Florida’s Everglades was similarly expedited using a state of emergency declaration.
Executed in June, it took just days for the state to transform the Dade-Collier Training Transition Airport into a temporary tent city – officially named the Everglades Detention Center – housing up to 3,000 migrants, at an estimated cost of $450 million a year.
It took Noem just days in June for the state to transform the Dade-Collier Training Transition Airport into a temporary tent city dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, housing up to 3,000 migrants, at an estimated cost of $450 million a year to operate
Noem, nicknamed “ICE Barbie” for treating her Cabinet role like a TV show, helped unveil Alligator Alcatraz in early July alongside Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and President Trump (pictured touring the facility)
Road signs in Florida even use the nickname for the Everglades Detention Center
The project has sparked a backlash over the costs of operation and the conditions, which many detainees have protested by going on a hunger strike.
The Trump administration, however, has embraced the optics. The president joked that ‘we’re going to teach them (migrants) how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison.’
Noem, meanwhile, told CBS News this week that she hopes Alligator Alcatraz will serve as a model for ICE state-run detention centers, alluding to unspecified plans to open facilities in Louisiana, Arizona and Nebraska.
‘Most of them are interested,’ Noem said, adding that in states that support President Trump’s mission of securing the southern border, ‘many of them have facilities that may be empty or underutilized.’
While Louisiana also has a large population of wild alligators, the real attraction for Angola is its prison rodeo, which attracts 70,000 ticket-buyers to the prison for one weekend in April and every Sunday in October.
The Angola Prison Rodeo website explains that the show, the last prison rodeo in the nation after others were outlawed, begins with the grand entrance of the ‘Angola Rough Riders’ at full gallop. Next, all six chutes open simultaneously, releasing six angry bulls with ‘temporarily attached inmate cowboys.’
In one event, inmates struggle to ride a bucking bronco bareback for eight seconds. In another, teams hang onto short ropes dangling from behind six wild horses.
There’s also ‘bull-dogging’ in which two cowboys try to wrestle the animal to the ground.
Participation in the rodeo is voluntary but is said to serve as a ‘behavioral incentive’ for inmates who get to showcase their talents and earn money.
Inmates participate in Convict Poker where they attempt to be the last contestant with their hands on the table as a bull charges them during the Angola Prison Rodeo held at the Louisiana State Penitentiary
Pictured: A prisoner whose serving a life sentence for murder, waits for an opening event during the Angola Prison Rodeo held at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in 2023
The charity race ‘comically employs the principle of centrifugal force,’ having contestants try to balance a pitcher of water while being pulled at top speed by a horse and rider.
The wild cow milking contest features inmates chasing animals around the arena trying to extract milk.
For convict poker, four inmates play cards at a table in the middle of the arena when ‘suddenly, a wild bull is released with the sole purpose of unseating the poker players.’
Bull riding is the main event, featuring ‘inexperienced inmates’ sitting on top of a 2,000-pound Brahma bull.
There’s no word yet on whether the migrant inmates will get to participate in the events, some of which require special training. But this prospect has already become a source of mockery for critics.
‘Noem’s building circus tents and clown shows, Landry’s cheering from the cheap seats, and Corey’s cashing in behind the scenes
‘At this rate mass deportation will go down as one of the biggest failure scams in U.S. history,’ one insider told Daily Mail.
