An Oklahoma State Penitentiary inmate wants to stop the annual Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo because of alleged mistreatment of prisoners at the facility. Inmate Michael C. Washington, serving a 35-year prison term for a 1977 robbery, mailed mailed legal papers seeking a temporary restraining order to the Pittsburg County court clerk’s office, reports the Associated Press.
Washington asked the courts to stop OSP Warden Mike Mullin and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections from hosting the event, which is scheduled for Sept. 3-4 at the OSP Prison Rodeo arena. The inmate alleged that the only reason the DOC wants the rodeo to go on is for “economic reasons, in total disregard for the way inmates are being treated inside the prison.”