barrel. it's all right here. >> but we met a pair of cellmates who were so eager to show off their contraband tattoo gun, they were willing to reveal its hiding spot. >> watch him bro. >> i'm watching. >> this is my tattoo gun. i plug it up to the tv. i plug this into the tv and this in to my gun and i take the ink pen with a sharpened staple, and tattoo it. i just did this stuff on my bunkie right here. >> did that one last night and that one last night. >> i was waiting for the police to see you, because i know you probably don't get too much contraband shown to you. >> as correction officers are always standing nearby during our interviews, the gun was quickly confiscated but the cellies still had plenty of other prison tattoos to display.

>> my jason mask. >> that's how we pass our time right there. >> that's what we do all the time. just tattoo art. i just did the stuff on his head, the stars on his face. >> we tattooed last night until 5:00 in the morning. >> yep, till 5:00 this morning. that's what we do, sleep all day, tattoo all night. >> i got most of these tattoos done in less than a month. my mom has no idea i have any tattoos. i didn't have any tattoos. >> so how you going to explain it when you get out? >> i don't know. i'll let the tv show do the explaining. >> do you want to say anything to your mom right now since she's probably watching? >> sorry mom. coming up, the inmates' stories beneath the ink. >> i got these praying hands for my dad. >> my father got shot by the police when i was 2. >> and, later, the one topic the inmates love to hate. >> the food is slop. >> [ bleep ] nasty.

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and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. for every story an inmate

tells us about his life, there's often another story told in ink on his body. >> most of my tats have to do with death or protection. one day we're all going to die eventually. >> we all have a meaning. they all have a time and place where they meant something. it's more like a memory road map. >> we conduct some very difficult interviews in prison, asking the inmates to reflect on some terrible things that they've experienced years ago, topics that maybe they haven't talked about in years and one way for us to connect with them, to get them to open up, is to ask them to tell us about their tattoos. >> what is that? that's a gun? >> that's a gun. i got it right here on my ribs. that's a quote. you have to learn the rules to the game and learn how to play them better than anyone else. i took it from einstein and kind of applied it to the streets. >> i am what the streets created, i ran the streets, grew up in the streets, life in the streets.

what you see is what the streets created. >> i've been doing heroin a little over ten years. it's very expensive star. may not look expensive, but, i put a lot of money into that star. >> sometimes an inmate's tattoos lead us to a particularly revealing story. >> don't you got a hundred dollar bill? >> i do got a hundred dollar bill tattoo. >> where is that at? >> it's crazy, bro. i got a hundred dollar bill tattooed on my penis. >> oh. so what do you tell the girls about that? >> i mean, it's money to blow. >> while robby mackinell can laugh about some tattoos, others carry a more somber tone. >> for all my soldiers who ain't survived i hope they live in a sky. it's like a song, like a memorial piece. instead of getting rest in peace

for everybody, get it for a bunch of people. that's my mom's name in the heart with the ribbon and the flower and the angel. honor thy mother. and then i got these praying hands for my dad. it was just the praying hands. everything else around it i got it recently. my father got shot by the police when i was 2, and it was all over the news when it happened. him and my mom started having problems and she filed domestic cases on him a couple of times and ended up getting them dropped and one day she went down to the city/county building to file charges against him. when she came out, my grandma took her down there, he jumped in the car with them, put a gun on both of them. my grandma tried to get out, he shot at my grandma, but the first round was blank. then my mom tried to get out and he shot her in the mouth. she got out and ran into the city market, he ran in there and slit her throat and then ran up across to the parking garage, and the police found him in there. they had a shoot-out and stuff.

>> mackinelli's mother survived the attack. his father died five days later. while his praying hands tattoo helped lead us to this story, he's hardly alone when it comes to tattoos dedicated to loved ones. >> i didn't have to put a certain face in there because this pretty much resembles all the females in my life that's hurting while i'm in here. pretty much resembles my daughter, my mom, my sisters. >> this is a portrait of my girl and this is her name below it. she better be happy for that, that's all i can really say. not too many guys go through that right there. >> what does that say? who is that? >> serenity. my daughter. my pride and joy. >> that's my baby. he ain't no baby no more. he's 8 now. yeah. he was like 16 months when i got locked up. >> that's my mom and my grandma right there. i got my whole family on my leg. my kids, mom and dad. nieces and nephews. >> i've got memorial tattoos on my stomach from my grandfather. i've got a largemouth bass.

right? right? he was a fisherman and i wanted to be original. right? >> this is my son. he passed away while i was in here last june. >> no. >> my baby son. he was going to be 2 years old. rest in peace. my little angel watching over me, man. every one of these got a story behind it. a lot of blood and sweat and work go into it. rest in peace for my son, man. >> but not everyone wants to remember. some inmates wish they could erase their ink. >> if i could acid dip my whole body and take off every tattoo, i would. it's embarrassing to my family when i take my shirt off at functions. but they accept me for who i am. they know me past the tattoos. don't read a book by its cover. i wish i didn't have none of these, believe it or not. now that i have them and i'm stuck with them, it tells a life story. >> things you do when you're young will haunt you until you die. believe that. straight up.

in more ways than one. coming up -- >> i've been in the restaurant business for almost 15 years. >> the "lockup" guide to fine dining. prison style. >> you guys can go to lunch without me today. it's actually pretty good. ion f- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries.

hello, i'm milissa rehberger with some breaking political news. newt gingrich has picked up a big endorsement tonight in florida. former presidential candidate herman cain gave his support just days before the crucial primary. cain made a surprise visit in west palm beach and says he's making the choice because of gingrich's political choices and ideas. more news later. now back to "lockup." due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. ♪

>> if there's one place to discover the blues, it's in the nation's prisons and jails. incarceration brings not only the lack of freedom but cramped quarters and the ever present threat of violence. but we found one of the most discussed and reviled aspects of prison life is the food. >> this is the jungle. you want to eat, you came to the wrong place. >> we're not [ bleep ] animals. we're not dogs. you feed dogs. you serve us chow. >> and portion sizes rarely compare to those on the streets. >> this is for little kids. that's why we pray. pray for canteen. >> should focus on how little these [ bleep ] trays is. grown ass men eating these little ass trays. see these little ass portions, y'all? they got to do something about this [ bleep ] >> these meals aren't even enough if you're anorexic. >> ain't no sunshine in this

jail. but the biggest complaint is the taste. >> the food is ridiculous. it's slop. i wouldn't even feed that kind of food to my animals. >> the food is disgusting. >> [ bleep ] nasty. i don't know what that is. i don't know what that is. i don't know what that is. and a green banana. >> help us. please, people, help us. >> i've been filming inside prisons for a long time and i think i can count on one hand the number of inmates that not only have said that the food is good but that the food is okay. acceptable. literally one hand. >> prison food is good. >> what's that? >> i said prison food's good. >> you are officially the first person that we have ever heard say that. >> it's a different story at the

maricopa county jail in phoenix where the food delivery system -- well, you can see for yourself. >> this is kibbles and bits and beefy bits right here. i mean dark food. >> this would [ bleep ] make you go crazy. get to hurting people. >> i don't even know what i have. >> but that reaction is exactly the one the man who runs the jail strives for. sheriff joe arpaio says he simply wants to motivate inmates to not come back. >> our meals went up from 15 cents to 18. i'm not too happy with that. you know, we have a little inflation. we give them two meals a day. >> brunch. >> this is it. that's all you get until dinnertime. >> usually a bologna sandwich, an orange, donated cookies. and at night they get a hot meal. >> a lot of these guys won't talk up but i'm going tell you what i think. the food here is garbage, bro. >> you don't eat it? >> no. >> how come?

>> the only reason i eat is the fruit. the only reason i take the tray is so that i can talk to everybody in the run. because when they give you your food, the trap stays opened until they pick it up. i don't eat it, though. >> we throw more of it away than we eat, honestly. the food that we get -- >> well, once you serve it you can't use it for anything else. do you have food in wyoming? >> we do. and we recognize it. no, but seriously. >> i've got more people in jail than you have in your whole state. >> you've got that right. >> the two meals for every one of its 8,000 inmates, the the mare marco maricopa county jail churns out 16,000 meals per day. they're all prepared at the facility's food factory, where the vast majority of the workers are inmates. >> we have close to 100 inmates working each day. they work eight-hour days. they work from around 5:00 in the morning until 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon and come in

around 3:00 and work until 10:00 or 11:00 at night depending on what shift they're assigned to. many of the conditions are very extreme. very, very cold in a lot of the areas. some are very warm, wet. they still have to come here and work hard because it's necessary to get our production done. >> rather than eat the food provided to them -- >> sorry. can't do it. >> one group of female inmates regularly made a super dessert out of a variety of lesser desserts, all bought from the jail canteen. >> it looks pretty gross, huh. >> we take it and process it in the bag. >> now that it's in the blender, it's gross, huh? just the bottom part is 2,000 calories. not even all this stuff. >> they were putting honey bun, upon sugar packet, and just about everything sweet that you could find, they had poured into this cake. >> it doesn't look very tantalizing but it's really bomb. we're just going to throw them bad boys on there. i'm not martha stewart. >> that's our cake.

>> the only thing i could think in my mind was oh, my gosh, i hope they don't ask me to try this. but at the same time, out of politeness, of course, i knew that they would and that i would have to sample this sugar bomb that they had just made. >> come on, try it. >> taste it. >> on camera. >> we washed our hands. >> okay. you're going to like it. >> oh, i love it. >> do you have like a whole grain vegan version? >> come on. man bites. >> better get him some water. >> it's like the sweetest donut i've ever had. it's like man versus maricopa. this show has quickly turned into me trying everything in prison. >> we've met dozens of other inmates who make elaborate desserts from canteen items. but they also make their own entrees. they call them spreads. >> a lot of people think i make the best spread. a lot of the girls give me props on it.

we'll see. >> we met mona salame at the orange county jail in southern california and she showed us a dish that has won her praise. >> there's all different ways to make a spread, but we're going to make it with soup, popcorn, beans, pork. i love to cook everything with flavor. so i put a lot of spice into it. it will be ready in about ten minutes. so i'm going to wrap it up in the paper right now so you can keep the heat and cooks it up, because the water is not really that hot. i've been in the restaurant business for almost 15 years. so i better make the best spread. it has nothing to do with what i used to make but it's the flavor and the food and it's all the same. i'm done. >> i knew she wasn't going to eat this whole thing so when she

offered it up to the crew, i felt inclined to try it. >> where am i going here? >> go wherever. go in the middle so this way you can -- >> get everything? >> go like whatever. yeah. get dirty with it. there you go. >> all right. here we go. it's actually really good. you guys can go to lunch without me today. got me a spread. i wasn't lying to her when i told her that it was good. but on the second bite, there was a bit of a pork rind in there, and i've never even tried those before. >> you don't like the pork in it? >> huh un. >> the first bite was much better than the second bite. i appreciate that. this is a new one for me. thank you for turning me on to the spread. coming up, jail food to go. >> if you're going to take a chance getting caught, do it in a big way. >> go big or go home. right? >> and when inmates do more than play with their food, this is what they get. >> that's horrible. i don't think a dog would eat that. managing my diabetes is part of my life,

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this is the life i chose, where friends become foes, and the money gets you killed quicker than you know. jail, locked up on extended stay. on msn -- nsnbc, man, locked up wabash extended stay. msnbc, locked up wabash, extended stay. welcome to the belly of the beast. >> we hear a lot of inmates describe prison as the belly of the beast. >> this place sucks, man. >> it's usually not used to describe prison kitchens. but that might be the most appropriate use of the phrase there is. >> our crews are always looking for ways to get these kind of iconic prison or jail shots, and the kitchen is a great place to

get them, because i don't think anything really says incarceration more than seeing some bland food scooped on to an institutional tray by a 6'4" inmate covered in tattoos and the funny thing about the food is, inmates always complain about it but inevitably, they are always looking for ways to get more of it. >> this is so we don't starve later on. but if you want to see a real sack, look over there. show them what you got. >> but if you're going to do it, if you're going to take a chance at getting caught, do it in a big way. >> go big or go home. and since we can't go home -- >> this is how we do it here. >> most inmate meals are prepared and served by other inmates. kitchen work is far from glamorous, but it has its perks. >> the reason i do it is to get out of my cell, come down here, get a little freedom, and eat a little better. >> ray slagel loved working in the kitchen at the limon correctional facility in colorado because he could trade extra food for tokens, coin slots used to purchase ice cream

and soda from prison vending machines. >> two tokens. i said double cheeseburger. i should have shown you one. double cheeseburger, two tokens. that's a good deal. yeah, yeah, i can't even get them fast enough. you know. i usually sell two of those a day. >> while most menus are designed to provide a basic level of nutrition, steven doad, the food service director at the hillsboro county jail in tampa, florida, has taken a more wholesome approach to inmate meals. >> we make up 11,000 meals a day and we have a 28-day cycle menu which has a variety for the inmates. and our last menu design we decided we were going to make this a heart healthy menu. that's the only jail in florida that i know of that does a heart healthy menu. the food has to have 2,650 calories per day. we have 33% or less fat. we have 3.5 grams of sodium per

day or less. there are the 100% required amounts of vitamins and minerals to make a healthy lifestyle for anyone. >> most inmates are hired for kitchen jobs based on their behavior history and the trust they've earned from staff. as opposed to any culinary experience. john powers met all of those qualifications, but he also just happened to be the real deal. >> i worked at a restaurant. i'm a culinary chef. i'm a sous chef. i've owned a couple of steak houses in the area. a caribbean restaurant in hernando county. i've been in the food business since 1985. >> since most inmates complain about the food, we asked powers for a professional evaluation. >> it is bland. a lot of the food is bland and i agree somewhat it isn't enough food, but once you're here for a week or two weeks, you get used to it. people are eating -- used to being on the street and eating when they want and what they want.

unfortunately, when you come here, that's not what you get to do. >> it's not enough to fill you, just enough to put something in your stomach to keep you going. >> there's chicken in here but the chicken is not real good chicken. very bad chicken. but, anyway, whatever. >> it is what it is. i eat to survive. >> i think that the food tastes reasonably good. what we have done is try to create neutral food tastes so if the food is bland, at least they are not having something that they find objectionable. >> once you're here a little bit, you're like, you know what? it's really not that bad. a little salt would be nice, and pepper. but other than that, it's, you know, it is hard. >> you keep looking over your shoulder at the other chef here. how come? >> i work for him, so -- that's like the boss. so i'll make sure i don't say anything too bad.

i don't want to offend him or say anything out of line. i'm sure i'll have a little talk with him when we're done with this conversation. >> back at the limon correctional facility, we encounter perhaps the most unusual of all inmate meals. prepared for us by captain hubbard it's a sort of self-contained meal for inmates who tend to throw their food in their cells, or at others. >> what we've got here is basically all of the food groups. nine ounces of ground beef, carrots are weighed out, shredded potatoes, shredded cabbage, seven ounces. vegetable oil. bens, ten ounces, precooked. tomato puree. hopefully it will hold together fairly well. the recipe says to put it in a roll pan but this will do just

fine. this should weigh out at about 3 1/2 pounds and it goes in the oven at 325 degrees. very, very nutritious dish. doesn't take it long to heat up. >> when captain hubbard made one for us, it didn't look bad. watching him make it, it was almost like making your average meatloaf but the inmates described it as being so horrible, they acted like it was the worst thing you could possibly have. when in actuality, i'd seen things on the menu that were much worse looking than this meat loaf. >> my reputation, they don't care for it at all. i've tasted it. it's not really that bad. >> inmate carlos alexander would be his own judge. >> this is horrible. >> [ bleep ] that's good. are you for real man?

this is good! >> it tastes like cardboard. y'all ought to try some of this. jake you want to eat that? >> i want salt and pepper. that's cheating though, right? >> you don't like it. >> it isn't that bad. it actually wasn't too bad. it was very bland, but if you have the right condiments, it would have been like a standard meatloaf, almost. unfortunately, the inmates in seg never have the right condiments. >> that's horrible. i don't think a dog would eat that. >> coming up, when it comes to inmate workouts, creativity, teamwork, and a little bit of zen make all of the difference. zen make all of the difference. >> lift the buttocks up any amount. excellent.

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spend time visiting a maximum security prison and you might just find yourself re-evaluating your waistline and your commitment to the gym. when we visited san quentin state prison, we discovered how committed some of the 5,000 inmates were to their workouts. the state of california banned free weights from the rec yard for security reasons, but that didn't deter anyone from lifting. >> it's weights. >> yeah? >> that's how we work out. we got water bags. >> how much does it weigh? >> about 30 pounds. >> not very much. >> there it is. >> some of the challenges of working out in prison aren't only about the access to the equipment you have or don't have, but it's also the kind of

restrictions you have. oftentimes these prisons go on lockdown and people are kept in their cells or housing units for long periods of time and not really allowed out. but they still always find a way to work out. >> this is about 55 or 60 pounds. >> and in a world where fist fights are all too real, many inmates incorporate shadow boxing into their workouts. but jamie, a former jujitsu instructor doing time at indiana state prison went beyond just punching air. >> this is a makeshift punching bag since we're in our cell 23-plus blankets a day. i took a wool blanket, whatever you need. some people put a book in there to make it harder. it's not as giving as a regular punching bag.

but we do with what we got. i'm come back here and just fire off some punches, about 50, 60 jabs. this is probably one of the best exercises to do in here. you can do a whole lot of punching, and it works the whole part of your body. >> one of the more memorable punches we ever saw came from a female inmate, paula rivas at the orange county jail. >> i'm a fighter. i use my fists. i used to go to the boxing gym and i trained. >> i really liked getting that shot of paula and the basketball. she definitely stood out amongst the other female inmates and, man, that looked like a really difficult thing to do. >> i look pretty much good for my age. i'm 44 years old and i look a lot better than some of them youngsters. i know i'm handsome. >> rivas had an in-cell workout. that would rival most of the men's, as well. >> inmates when they're working out, the impression it makes upon me is how disciplined they are. they keep track of every sit-up, every push-up, every squat, every curl, you name it. i noticed one day there was an inmate that was pacing back and

forth in their cell and she had playing cards and she would place a card on the table, go back to the end of the cell, come forward and as she was passing the table she put another card down and we asked her what that was all about. >> hey, what are the cards for? >> to count my miles. three decks of cards is one mile. so it makes it easier so you don't walk in circles all day. ♪ >> working out is also a good way to kill time. there's a lot of time to be spent in prison. and this is just one more way to do it. >> at the suffolk county jail in boston, we encountered one group of inmates who found working out as a team kept them more motivated than working out alone. >> get that ab workout. get it toned up. this crew right here, that's what we do all day.

six day workout, one day rest. every day, every rep we're out here. we out here. >> man, it's not that big but twice this week, man. i take it for granted, man. big things come in small packages. rise against these walls and these bars. >> definitely. got to do something with your time. >> always working out. always working on my mind, my body, my soul. >> that's pretty much it. >> in another section of the jail, we discovered a group of women also working on mind, body, and soul. but in the most unexpected way. >> lift the buttocks up any amount, excellent. move the inner thighs through the back wall. >> we found out that once a week a professional yoga instructor would come inside the jail and teach yoga to the women. we decided to cover it and when we got there we saw a normal classroom environment had been transformed into a yoga studio. they had pushed the chairs and tables back against the walls and set up their yoga mats

against the great large window and really created a peaceful environment. >> now, use your breath. >> i been wanting to teach yoga in jail for a very long time. i found yoga is a wonderful, beneficial part of reducing the stress, but it also brings a sense of calmness and peace. you may find your mind is wandering. yoga is a way to control the scattered mind, the fluctuating mind. be your guiding force now. >> i don't believe any of the women had done yoga before so this was something really new for each one of them. afterwards, you could tell that they really got something out of it. it was more than just getting out of their cell for an hour. and it wasn't like the other, sort of classroom style programs they went to. the experience was really emotional for some of them. >> which part of it did you like the most? >> i would say the last part because then you could just sit there and breathe and a lot of

thoughts run through your head. >> like what? >> everything. good things, bad things. >> are you okay? >> brings it in touch with yourself. >> yeah, it's not a bad thing. >> it should give you some sense of relief. >> yeah, i would do it again. >> you would do it again? >> yes. >> and it's perfectly okay to cry. just get it out of the system. >> yeah. that's all of my feelings coming back. >> i'll be back. i'll be back. yeah. msnbc takes you behind the

walls of america's most notorious prisons, into a world of chaos and danger. now the scenes you've never seen. lockup: raw.