Bros Plan Wildly Insensitive 'Escape From Angola' Triathlon on Grounds of Angola Prison [UPDATED]

An “endurance sports” company is planning a prison-escape themed triathlon, set on the grounds of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, a prison where real, living people are doing real hard time, including many on death row. Participants in this endurance race will sleep in an old death row cell block, and winners will receive actual, disused prison keys. The race organizers want you to know they’re not being “disrespectful.” Oh?

The Escape from Angola race is planned for March 20, put on by a company called FRESHJUNKIE Racing. They’re currently taking a world of well-deserved heat on their Facebook page for the concept of the race, mainly due to how wildly insensitive and oblivious it is to actual human suffering.

A Course Overview exults about how “beautiful” and “serene” Angola is, and promises an exciting overnight package where you can pretend you’re in prison, just like the thousands of mainly poor and black inmates who are currently, really, in prison there:

Finisher Medals will be a replica key to the prison and the overall male and female winners will receive retired keys from the prison.

The race also has an overnight package for those wanting to sleep on site.

The overnight guests will sleep in a former cell blocks unit that, until 2006, was death row. This building is being renovated to house the new Angola Museum and is regularly used to house church groups and prison ministries who stay overnight for their service to the inmates. Part of the money from this overnight packages goes to the prison’s museum fund that will depict the history of the museum.

It’s unclear who thought this was a good idea; Escape from Angola’s website says the idea was born from a “friend of FRESHJUNKIE” and someone at Angola:

In 2014, a friend of FRESHJUNKIE Racing, a Louisiana-based endurance sports company, and the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola suggested that the grounds of Angola would make for a great triathlon course since it has its own lake, is surrounded by some scenic, quiet roads perfect for biking and has a nice paved road that meanders throughout the 18,000 acres of property, making it ideal for a run.

That sounds a whole lot like something Burl Cain would suggest, Angola’s old warden, who recently retired after decades on the job and many public scandals involving side-deals he’s accused of taking, in violation of corrections rules. (This is actually the second time Cain retired; he did so previously in 2002, but a legal loophole allowed him to remain at work while collecting nearly $800,000 total in retirement benefits. He’s still living on Angola’s grounds in a house that was built for him until March 7 and will continue getting regular paychecks until August, netting another $134,000.)

Angola began its life as a slave plantation before becoming a penitentiary around the turn of the century. It’s widely known for its prison rodeo and crafts fair, where inmates participate in bull-riding and sell handmade crafts to visitors. It’s also home to the state’s death row, where a federal appeals court ruled this summer that inmates weren’t entitled to access to air conditioning. Several death row inmates sued in 2013 after heat indices reached as high as 172 degrees in their cells. “I feel like I’m on fire,” one testified.