McAlester, Ok - Babies in strollers, burgers on the grill, programs in the air. You'd never know it by the atmosphere, but all of these people are going to prison.

"Welcome to the rodeo folks," bellows a prison official.

Big Mac. The grand daddy of pens. Maximum Security. There's a weird feeling in your gut as you walk up to the castle-like entrance of the only behind the walls rodeo.

"Smile as you come in,' he says.

A smile that freezes in nervousness when you notice the guard in the cage, shotgun at arms reach. The inmates are sequestered in a special section, surrounded by fence, garnished with razor wife.

"We're ready to get it going, ready for 8 o'clock to get here, time to cowboy up," says Dustin and Jack.

Listening to all this bravado, directly beneath their feet, are the broncs and bulls. Heads as large and thick as anvils, with one particular nasty fella, who's only got one eye. The sun sets, the crowds fill the stands, including Jack's mom, and the inmates say one final prayer.

"Amen!"

When the chutes start opening, occasionally someone will actually have a pretty good ride. But given that this is the first time most of these guys have ever been on a horse...usually the horse wins.

"You making friends?," a guard asks Jack as he pets his bronc moments before his ride. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing," he says.

Jack has a shot at the buckle if he can hold on. He does fairly well, but falls off just shy of 6 seconds. But no time to fret. Cause there's a bull with a bag of cash on its head. It's called money the hard way, and several inmates learn why as they get plowed over by 2,000 angry pounds of beef, including one guy who gets knocked out cold.

"Man he got, he got it right there," says Dustin.

This is a unique rodeo where the spectators have also been visitors.

"It's been great, we been blowing kisses back and forth to each other a lot," says Jack's mom.

A wall temporarily came down. But it went right back up with the realization of who got to go home and who didn't. And despite the calm, Dustin and Jack are about to face something much scarier than a rampaging bull.

"I don't know what it's like out there right now," says Dustin.

His next challenge? How to convince people he's not dangerous when he gets out of prison?

"Well, I don't know, that's gonna have to be something for them to, hopefully I can get a fair chance and maybe set back and give 'em a little time to make their own opinion about me," he says.

As for Jack...

"It's gonna be hard to get a job because I'm an ex-con," he says.

Just flying straight will be the task.

"I never had a good work history, I just sold drugs, man," he says.

Hopefully, the strength it takes to stare a bull in the face will channel itself in the outside world.

"You just keep praying man. God will take care of everything," says Jack.

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