McALESTER, Okla. - James Barcus has been in and out of prison for years, but the hardest time he’ll ever do was expected to come this weekend, atop a wild, bucking bronco in one of the nation’s few rodeos held behind prison walls.

“I ain’t never rode anything in my life,” said the minimum security inmate who lives next door to the maximum security Oklahoma State Penitentiary, where the public has paid to watch criminals test their toughness against angry bulls and horses for 64 years.

The Outlaw Rodeo, billed as the “World’s Largest Behind the Walls,” is a big draw in these eastern Oklahoma hills, with 12,000 people expected Friday and Saturday nights. Professionals also compete in the sanctioned event, but boosters say it’s the thrill of being inside a prison arena with convicted felons that brings the crowd.

Inmate teams made up of 10 or so members come from 10 state prisons. When Barcus signed up, he was looking for a break from the Jackie Brannon Correctional Center, where he’s serving time for violating probation by taking marijuana into a county jail.

He learned this week he wouldn’t be an alternate but a competitor.

“It’s scary,” said the wiry 26-year-old who grew up in southern Oklahoma’s rodeo country.

On Tuesday, with the sun blazing on the prison’s ballfield, he climbed atop a barrel suspended from four ropes and four springs. With one gloved hand strapped down, and the other raised over his head, he nodded and his fellow inmates began to jerk and pull on the ropes.

Barcus grimaced as he sailed skyward and then slammed down, his legs tight on the barrel against the force. His free hand flailed. He held on two or three seconds and then flew into the grass, where he sat in his prison grays shaking his head.

Most of the inmates don’t get the chance to practice on live animals, and the barrel is a poor substitute, said Corey Swanner, one of five inmates on this team who claims some riding experience “out in the world.”

The big difference: “The bull,” he said, “is looking to kill you.”

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The American Correctional Association knows of only one other major prison rodeo, the Angola Prison Rodeo at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The Oklahoma event is getting more attention this year as a stop on ESPN SportsCenter’s “50 States in 50 Days” tour.

The rodeo has drawn protests from animal-rights activists, and cost the manpower-short Corrections Department more than $15,000 in overtime for security last year. But state officials have no intention of messing with a tradition that gives the local economy a boost and local politicians the chance to glad-hand with the crowd.

“It’s not something you can just step away from,” said the department’s spokesman, Jerry Massie. “The community supports it so much.”