Yes, I am a prisoner...I take cash, check or credit, thank you!

I spent the day with good friends at the Angola State Prison Rodeo. For those who are unaware, the rodeo is at the penitentiary in the middle of nowhere. You aren't allowed to bring electronics into the facility supposedly (I saw alot of contraband) and it wouldn't help anyway. You don't actually get substantial cell service until you get to the main highway...almost ten miles away.

Now where does technology fit into all of this? I have to admit that I was a skeptic when I was asking myself...cash or credit? I typically don't carry cash ever. Usually, at events that come and go such as this one, cash is the only form of payment taken. So I left a few minutes early and hit up an ATM before I met up with my group.

Yet to my surprise, when I got through the gates, I could pay for everything with a card. I was shocked! Food you could purchase with cards. Crafts, made and sold by the prisoners, could be purchased with credit cards. I took my claim check (because they still don't find it smart to give a prisoner a CC number) to the payment station and to my surprise, the clerk was inputting data into a computer with a terminal hooked to it for running cards. Clearly, the service had to have some form of phone connection or wireless service.

All of this to say that if you ever find yourself as a prisoner making crafts for the general public at large, rest assured you can and will get your money. Because Angola State Prison rodeo is forward thinking when it comes to IT. You, oh convicted one, can get your money via cash, check, or the coveted plastic payment method!

Yeehaw!