bernie said. barbara walters on her meeting with bernie madoff. what he did and told her during a two-hour sitdown. an abc news exclusive. volcano divers. molten lava, bubbling up from the earth's core. our cameras follow a team of mens that they literally lower themself into the cauldron to become the first human to stand next to the lake of fire! and miracle baby! a mammoth tornado that hurls a pregnant woman 100 feet and a feverish ever to save the child. six months later, the dramatic

homecomi homecoming. from new york city, this is "nightline" october 27th, 2011. good evening. i'm terry moran. bernie madoff, one of the most infamous criminals in our time. a has been who swindled millions of investors who trusted him completely in many lost their life's savings in the biggest ponzi scheme ever. as if he was convicted and sentenced to 150 years in prison in 2009, few outside those prison walls have heard from him until now. abc's barbara walter spoke privately with madoff for nearly two hours and she joins us now. barbara, the question people want to know, what's he like? >> he's in a federal correction center in north carolina line called buckner. he seemed composed. once in a while things got emotional. there were tears. he has a tick when he talks.

he has a khaki pants and a khaki shirt. you can't have pencils but can have pen and pad which is why i could take perfect notes. he seemed comfortable there. that's what surprise med, terry. he's comfortable there. he was the mastermind of the biggest ponzi scheme in american history. >> this would be one of the biggest fraud cases ever. >> it's shaken an i a battered public. >> he swindled billions from investors and today he lives in a cell, sentenced to prison for 150 years. i went to his prison in north carolina two weeks ago and sat face-to-face with him for two hours. he told me were surprisingly, that he's happier now than he's been in years, quote, i feel safer here than outside. i know i will die in prison, but i live the last 20 years of my life in fear. now i have no fear because i am

no long her control of my own life. when i asked him if he missed his old life he responded, "hell, no." he acknowledges he should be punished and he realized he destroyed his family. his son hung himself last year his own home. crushed by the betrayal of his father. mark's widow, receive any, told "20/20" how she felt about may don't have now. >> i hate bernie madoff. if i saw bernie madoff now i would tell him i hold him fully responsible for killing my husband. and i'd spit in his face. >> after that interview which madoff saw he wrote an e-mail saying he was advised not to watch but he did anyway and he said it was as painful as i expected. i am guilty of causing my son's death and the unbearable pain i caused stephanie and everyone

else. before he went to prison, madoff says during his four months in the new york jail, he contemplated suicide but didn't have the courage to do it. but his wife, ruth, in a forthcoming interview with "60 minutes" said the two of them did attempt suicide together on christmas eve of 2008. >> i don't know whose idea it was but we decided to kill ourselves because it was so horrendous what was happening. we had terrible phone calls. hate mail -- just beyond anything and i said, i can't -- i just can't go on. we took pills. and woke up the next day. >> what did you take? >> i think ambien. >> how many? >> i don't remember. >> i took what we had. >> did you leave notes?

>> no. it was very impulsive and i'm glad we woke up. >> reporter: today, madoff in prison is in therapy and he says he's able to compartmentalize what he did and he says he never thinks about suicide now. he's fine by day but he rarely sleeps and says he has horrible nightmares. i asked him if he was depressed and he said "yes, but the fact that i'm functioning troubles me a great deal." you can't do what i've done without guilt. madoff spends his days work in the commissary is what he calls a glorified bag boy. he makes $170 a month and that's one of the higher-paying jobs in the prison. he said everyone treats me well. the young kids are nice to me. they look up to me for all the wrong reasons. madoff spends his downtime in jail reading books, particularly danielle steel roman novels. when he told ruth he was reading them, she laughed and said

"don't tell anybody. most men don't read them." as for his wife, madoff said after his some's suicide last december, ruth told him, quote, let me go. he says they are is not seen or talked to each other since and he added, "ruth doesn't hate me. she has no one. it's not fair to her." she told him he had it easier in prison saying you are sheltered in there, no one is judging you. and he said that ruth is under an allowance until the final settlement. she shops in the gap and lives modestly. about his victims, madoff said, quote, "i understand why clients hate me. the gravy train is over. i can live with that. the average person thinks i robbed widows and orphans. i made wealthy people wealthier and he says he takes full responsibility for his crimes but added, nobody put a gun to my head. i never planned to do anything wrong. things just got out of hand.

i don't believe i'm a bad guy or a stupid. >> not a bad guy, barbara. fascinating. i heard him speak in court when he was sentenced and what struck me was there was a toughness, a kind of strength about bernie madoff. >> you know, by the way, he can make collect calls and he's been recorded but you have to realize that this is the guy that came from very humble begins, i think, in brooklyn and he said he was dealing with the biggest people in the world. he was dealing with the biggest banks. that was so high up all this had happened to him, him, you know, he was a none and that's one of the reasons, terry, that it was so hard for him to admit that he was taking people's money and never investing it. that he was leelly a crook. too hard to give it back. >> pride? >> yeah. >> barbara walters, great reporting. >> just ahead, turn the corner and the molten heart of an active volcano. our cameras go on an incredible rare journey.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> there are few spectacles that rival a volcano, turning rock

into a soup. it has a hypnotic appeal and drawn like moss to the flame but rarely do humans ever truly get close to an active crater. but tonight, we meet men who hope to make a living by getting dangerously close to lava and they think some of you might pay to join them. here's my co-anchor, bill weir. >> once upon a time if a volcanic islander wanted life insurance, he had to keep the god happy and the lava calm. behold, the modern twist. men who lowered themselves into hell as an offering to the gods of adventure and fame. and what do these men say to those who think they are suicidal looms? >> i've been doing this for over 25 years and i'm still alive so suck on that. >> reporter: his name is geoffe macly, an adren lick addict from new zealand who uses his camera

as an excuse to explore the most dangerous corners of the planet. >> this is mother nature's version of mass destruction. >> while typhoons and cyclones are well and good, geoffe has been obsessed with molten rock since he saw a 1970's documentary on maurice and k katia kraft who spent their life exploring active volcanos. >> it's so beautiful. you just fall in love with it. >> i would like to die in a volcano. and unfortunately, the probability for me to die in a volcano, is quite low, however, 92% of people die in bed. >> maurice got exactly what he wanted when the krafts were swallowed by this eruption in japan 20 years ago. but if this is a cautionary tale it is lost on macly, especially since he discovered mountain marrow on these southing pacific island and decided that he would be the first man to stand on the shores of its lava lake, a place where the temperature is around

1100 degrees. pure madness! >> a little bit of madness goes a long way, as i think people have gotten too soft in this day in age. very few people out there doing hard-core adventures. >> reporter: but just getting his team and 3,000 pounds of equipment to the rim of the crater is a death-defying task. the belching mountain creates its own violent weather system. gail-force gusts buffett the helicopter. but it seems risk is part of the arrangement whenever mackly calls. >> we saw and we had five minutes and he said, you guys want to jump into a volcano. >> reporter: and the climbers responded with an immediate "hell, yeah." >> to get a human down there, look, looking the size of an ant, that's the ultimate shot.

that's the "nat geo"cover. >> the men go over their gear while they wait. >> this must never be used in an explosive environment. >> reporter: and mackly day dreams about his next venture. volcano tourism. he figures if people will pay $100,000 to climb the himalayas there's money to be made to lead them down there. >> you're looking at the heartbeat of the earth. this is the heartbeat of the earth. that stuff is come frgt center of the earth. it doesn't get any more prime evil than that. i think it is something people would want to come and see. >> reporter: finally, a tiny window in the weather but there's only enough logistical time for two to make the trip down. the younger men go and mackly tries to hide his disappointment.

>> still, it's like climbing everest. a team of people sit out and not everyone gets to the top. >> reporter: in their shiny, insulated suits they're lowered down to the place no man has ever walked. the floor of the crater, a scorched hellscape but they press on. >> lava from the center of the earth. >> reporter: the ground moves constantly and one wrong move, oner rant burst of lava could end their lives. >> this is intense. it's a whole different world down here. >> reporter: they make the sprint to the edge of the lava lake and in true explorer fashion, plant the silver bird of their kiwi homeland. >> i have the new zealand flag so officially this is new zealand territory. >> this is the very lift of the lava lake. probably one meter away and the lava is coming out over the top

of us. that, my friend, is lava! >> there's people in the world ever to have been down there, more people have been on the moon than have been down there. most people in the united states probably never heard of it. this is unspoiled area, like being on mars. >> it doesn't get any better than this. and mornings? rough. i tried tissues and neti pot thingy and even more tissues then i said enough! and i found the solution. [ female announcer ] drug-free breathe right nasal strips. i put it on and...wow! instant relief. i breathed better...slept better felt better. [ female announcer ] take the breathe right challenge and breathe better or your money back. [ man ] come on! it's your right to breathe right!

the storm struck with biblical fury, more than 100 tornados ripping through the american south six months ago today. much of the small town of phil campbell, alabama, was leveled. 26 were killed there. but there were also incredible stories of survival ta came out of that day.

here's our story. >> reporter: on the 27th of april in phil campbell, alabama, the winds, 210 miles an hour strong, hard to believe anyone could have survived. when michelle and amanda jones we are last here she was five months pregnant and they were huddled on a corner on their knees praying for god to spare them and their unborn child from the tornado that ripped them from their home. >> the entire time, i kept, you know, thinking to myself, i need to put myself in fetal position, you know, to at least save my baby. >> 26 people lost their lives that day and renee ber whiry, amanda's 52-year-old mother was one of them. >> i was trying to hold on to him and mama held on to me and it took her away. and when she left me she told me she said -- and i didn't get to tell her i loved her too. >> reporter: the family was

right in the path of the storm and when it passed, michelle was unconscious after a flying piece of wood pierced the side of his head. aman dan was thrown 100 feet, her right foot nearly cut in two and she was in danger of losing her baby. flying debris punctured her womb and by the time help came she was in premature labor. >> i immediately told them i was five months pregnant and they did a ultrasound and discover i i had a hole in my placenta. >> mitchell was september for treatment at another hospital and aplan da's desperate doctors sat her in a bed and turned her upside down and hoping to keep the baby from entering the world too soon. after a few long days the miracle happened, the wound that threatened the baby's life started to heal on us own and her labor pains went away. >> and the next thank you know, everything is good. it was miraculous. it was wonderful. >> reporter: amanda and michelle were reunited in june and on

september 1st, a very healthy and 7 pound baby boy named caden was born. his parents have a sense of humor and nicknamed him stormy. >> how do you feel when people call your son a miracle baby. >> it makes u us feet wonderful. he's our hero. no doubt about it. i keep thinking, you know, what if he was already born. there was to way that i could have held on to him. >> reporter: today they're still recovering from very serious wounds. amanda can barely walk. mitchell can barely see out of his left eye and can hardly move his right hand. tonight they live in a donated apartment and still don't know how the money will come but told me they're happy and loving every minute of life with their new son. >> we're doing the best we can. we have this little baby here to take care of. he's taking care of us. >> i can be having a bad day and when i see him it's just -- it's over with. he's just a blessing. a blessing, a blessing.

>> reporter: for "nightline" from phil campbell, alabama. >> a blessing. thanks to steve for that. finally tonight a look ahead. tomorrow night on "20/20" barbara walters brings us a fascinating hour of four people that made billions off of humble begins and created hugely successful companies and thousands of jobs. among them, the driving force behind cirque du soleil. the world's most successful circus. his latest production set to the music of michael jackson. ♪ billie jean >> that's tomorrow night on "20/20." and thank you for watching abc news 'we hope you check in for good morning america. they're working whi y