due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. 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." >> i think it's inaccurate to say that there is never a dull moment in prison. actually, there are plenty of dull moments in prison, but it is just that all of that monotony is broken up with sheer terror. there is a lot of bottled up negative energy in prison and as

the lockup crews have found out many times, you never know when things can explode. >> i have a bad impulse problem. >> the assault was a cup of urine thrown in an officer's face yesterday. >> it's a sad jail. it's all about chaos! it's chaos! they throw us in here like an animal in a cage. the day we arrived at colorado state penitentiary, a super max prison at the base of the rocky mountains, we found a sterile, austere environment. steel doors behind which inmates are locked up 23 hours a day, but despite his surroundings, inmate shawn shields was in high spirits. when he sat down with us, he was eager to help our producer get

the interview under way. >> quiet on the set, you boneheads. >> it's a prison, you know? >> all right. let's roll the tape. >> then he calmly told us how he got 16 years added to the original sentence of 12 for robbery. >> me and another inmate had an altercation. i manipulated the door so that it would not latch completely, and when he came out to walk, i came down after him, and proceeded to stab him. >> why? was it because you guys weren't getting along? >> it was just a verbal altercation. >> is there a lot of verbal -- >> there is a lot of verbal altercations between people. you have to understand there are 16 men living together behind closed doors with stress, animosity towards one another in some cases, and it is not always a pleasant place to be. >> when inmates erupt, no one is safe, including correctional staff.

>> we had an inmate that was on his way to the rec yard and came behind an officer and used a derogatory statement toward him. i immediately told him that his recreation was being taken for that comment. he decided to lean forward as if he was going to brace himself and then just bit right into my left arm. this is my left arm the day that the bite occurred. he bit in so fast and so hard that i didn't even feel him bite. he severed the nerve in my arm where i now have permanent damage. >> 209. >> while officer mills' bite wound was severe, his ordeal was not nearly as terrifying as the nightmare one of his fellow officers experienced. in this previously unaired footage provided to "lockup" by the prison, hostage negotiators are outside of the cell of inmate willie hill.

moments earlier, hill overpowered a female correctional officer and shackled her with her own restraints and was now holding her at knifepoint in the cell. >> she's keeping him distracted. >> meanwhile, river bend's emergency response team suits up for action, and while the negotiator speaks with hill, the team quietly assembles undetected outside of the cell door. >> here we go. coming in. >> at a precise moment the door is open, and the team rushes the cell setting off a flash bang grenade. the team uses pepper spray to subdue the inmate. within seconds, the still shackled officer is pulled to safety.

a short time later, hill is also removed from the cell. though dazed by the effects of the pepper spray, he is uninjured and the assault earned him two months in punitive segregation and an extended sentence. riverbend's emergency response team regularly trains for crises where a cell extraction is called for. our crew was there to cover one session. >> as you can see when you get that many people in as small a

cell as it is, it makes havoc about being able to operate in there. >> straighten him out. there you go. pull him out. straighten him down. >> that is the reason why we do more training. the more training you get to do, the better you get and the less injury you have on the inmate or the staff. >> during the course of our shoot at riverbend, the extraction team would assemble once again, but this time, it would be for real. the incident was triggered when officers conducted a routine cell search for weapons in the prison's maximum security unit. >> the inmates are primarily in here because of behavior, assaultive, and if they can get their hands on pieces of metal particularly they will sharpen them to make shanks or knives. >> we search a lot. we search as much as we can to make sure they are not storing

contraband items like weapons, drugs, money. >> it was in this cell search that we first met this inmate who was serving an eight-year sentence for carjacking. >> can you tell me from your perspective what's going on? >> they shaking us down to see if we have illegal things on us that we ain't supposed to have. stuff like that. >> his cell is thoroughly searched. >> they like to hide shanks or homemade knives in the boots. they will come in here and tear out the soles and put them in the bottom. they have 24 hours a day to think of where to put stuff, so it is an endless process. >> so what are you doing? >> they're not allowed to have anything on the doors or walls. just taking it down. >> this kind of looks like a doctor's waiting room. got a little magazine thing. >> yeah.

harmless as a set of headphones can be considered contraband. >> is there a number on it? >> no. no number on it. that is contraband and we are taking it. >> at riverbend every electronic item had to be documented and approved by the officials. there was no record of the headphones so they were confiscated by the search team. >> go ahead and bring him back. >> later, he is led back to his cell. >> we followed him back to the cell really having no idea how he would react. cell searches are fairly common, so we weren't expecting anything in particular. as it turned out to, headphones were really a big deal. inmates have so little when they are in prison, that the slightest thing becomes a precious possession. >> why did you take my headphones? >> there wasn't a number on them. >> a short time later, he appeals to another c.o. for the return of his headphones. >> what do you want?

>> i want my headphones. >> we went through it. >> what am i supposed to do? >> what are you supposed to do if you want them replaced? >> they were brand new. they were brand new. i ain't done nothing. i try to talk to you like a man, you don't want to hear that. this is what we go through everyday. they want us to act like animals. it is the only thing they know. we already got a lack of everything being back here. we are in a jail. it is like being buried alive being back here. >> though he is agitated, our producer attempts to interview him about living in maximum security. >> terrell. where are you? >> right here. >> tell me what it is like being in maximum? >> ask me what being back here is like asking a cancer patient how it feels to die slowly. it's like, equated to be demoralized on a day-to-day basis. that is what i feel like.

that's what i feel like. >> our producer didn't know just how meaningful the next question would become. >> have you heard about officers being assaulted by inmates? you've talked about that? >> i don't know anything about any guards being assaulted or inmates being assaulted by other inmates. i don't know nothing about that. i am here about my time and i am here about being focused on my time. i don't know nothing about no guards being assaulted. if anything i know about guards assaulting inmates. that is all i know. >> the next day, our crew saw the cell extraction crew being suited up for extraction, because he had assaulted two officers. coming up on lockup:raw." >> the assault was a cup of urine being thrown into the officer's face. >> the inmate raises the stakes. >> i'm going to ask you one more time, and that's it. right in our own backyard. so we combined our citi thankyou points to make it happen. tom chipped in 10,000 points.

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the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us.

during a routine cell search in maximum security in

tennessee, a set of headphones was taken from the cell of this man. by the next day, things had escalated. >> the riverbend cell extraction team has been called to remove all items out of unit 3201. he was assaultive toward staff. the assault was a cup of urine thrown in an officer's face yesterday and also a coke bottle full of water thrown and hit an officer in the back of the head. when a unit manager discovered this today, he wanted all hard items removed from the cell. we have tried to gain we have tried to gain compliance voluntarily from the inmate, but he refused so a cell extraction team is called. >> when the cell extraction team is called, it means they're getting ready to forcibly remove an uncooperative inmate from the cell. when you see them all suited up, in riot gear and face masks, you

see how serious they take these procedures and the threat they can pose. they let us follow at a safe distance. >> inside the cell block, they give him one last chance to comply. >> okay. i am going to ask you one time to comply and if you don't, we will have to come in and get you. do you comply? >> you take my [ bleep ]. >> i'm going to ask you one more type, and that's it. >> please give me my [ bleep ]. >> with shropter still refusing orders, the extraction team moves in. >> on the bed. face down. don't resist. >> i didn't do nothing! >> don't resist. >> i ain't resisting. >> turn him over. face down. >> don't grab my [ bleep ]! >> gentlemen, take him out to the rec yard.

>> shroptsher is taken outside while his cell is cleared. >> watch your wrists now while we take these off. >> medical staff is always called in after a cell extraction to check for injuries. though they do not find any, shroptsher's complaints continue. >> you are cutting off my circulation. >> nothing i can do. >> if you could comply, then we would not have to go through this. >> [ bleep ] [ bleep ] you got [ bleep ] and these [ bleep ] cameras here, and that is why you did all of this [ bleep ] stuff. what is the matter with y'all. >> everything went the way it was supposed to. the inmate was removed from his cell, taken to the rec yard so all his property could be

removed, from his hard items and drinking materials he used to assault staff with. we went out to the rec yard and medical checked him out and no injuries and basically all that he was doing was theatrical and we moved him back into the house, and he will be in there for a minimum of two hours. as his demeanor and he wants to comply with the policies and the procedures he will be removed from the restraints. it went excellent. nobody got hurt. >> terrell shropter completed his sentence at riverbend and was released in february 2008. but another memorable inmate featured on "lockup" may never know such freedom. >> i was accused of assaulting an inmate with a padlock, so that is why i am in here. >> when we met dante bullock at the state penitentiary in iowa he was spending his third day in the administrative segregation

unit also known as the hole. authorities say he stuffed this padlock inside of a sock and brutally attacked another inmate with it. >> do you think that you have a violent past or history or angry, or what is the situation? >> i am violent when i am provoked. >> bullock is already serving a life sentence for kidnapping, but if the charges with the pad lock stick, he could be locked in his cell 23 hours a day. >> i was in the wrong place at the wrong time. the inmate had been assaulted and my defense to them was telling them i was in the area and pushed out of the way as the inmate was trying to get away from the person assaulting him. >> bullock was anxiously awaiting a hearing with the prison's administrative law judge to plead his case. in the meantime, he let us know that while ad seg meant losing his television, the location of the cell at least made it possible to keep up with current events.

>> this cell right here is in front of the police station, and to me, it is the best cell on this range due to the fact that you get a lot of movement and who is coming in and out and inmates and the dogs and catch a little of who is with the cos who got into it with who and whatever may be. >> so you know what happened with brad and jen? >> brad and jen? yeah, they're divorced. >> three days later, bullock was about to face his own life altering event, his hearing on the assault charge. >> we are coming up to see the judge today. he is being charged with a serious rule violation, and we -- anybody who is locked up gets belly chains put on them and handcuffed and the dog is just a little extra security. >> the dog is not only to protect staff from bullock, but since bullock is believed to have assaulted another inmate,

it will also protect him from revenge seekers during the walk to the hearing. coming up -- >> how can i defend myself in a report when you say there is a weapon involved and i don't know which weapon it is. >> i showed it to you. >> and the hearing heats up as bullock and the judge face off. >> now you tell me what the weapon is. >> if you choose to be hard headed about it, which apparently, you are, then there is nothing more i can do. [ creaking ] [ male announcer ] trophies and awards lift you up. but they can also hold you back. unless you ask, what's next? [ zapping ] [ clang ] this is the next level of performance. the next level of innovation. the next rx. the all-new f sport. this is the pursuit of perfection. and also to build my career.

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at the anamosa state penitentiary in iowa, bullock faces one year in the hole for allegedly assaulting another inmate with a homemade weapon, a lock in a sock. >> anything you say may be used against you in a criminal prosecution. >> our cameras were with bullock as he was about to plead his case during a prison disciplinary hearing. >> have a chair please, mr. bullock. your number? >> 747 --

>> after addressing procedural matters, administrative law judge william suspeen reads the correctional officer's account of the assault. >> determine by the investigation that inmate bullock assaulted [ bleep ] with a weapon and sustained injuries to his head above the right eye and required stitches and broke his right hand trying to block the weapon that required a cast. i have here photos of the scene, of the incident that i will share with you. this is the victim of the assault, and injuries. also before me i have the sock with a padlock and combination lock inside. i have a statement from the staff member that located that. >> i didn't have nothing to do with the assault. when the assault took place, i was on the stairs. an inmate ran by me. i could have easily been mistaken and that is what i believe that i was mistaken that by me being pushed aside that i was the one that assaulted him. >> inmates who saw the assault remain anonymous in hearings

like this, but it is up to the judge to determine the credibility. >> do you have any enemies in the institution, mr. bullock? >> no, i don't. >> tell me why some people would make things up about you. >> people i gamble with. >> who are they? >> i'm not going to disclose their names. >> well, i am trying to help you with your defense. i'm giving you an opportunity to provide to me names of people that may not be credible. if you choose not to provide those names, that's entirely up to you. >> how can i defend myself when you say there is a weapon involved, but i don't know what the weapon is. >> i showed it to you. >> now you tell me what it is, but in the report, it don't say nothing what the weapon is. >> is there anything else you wanted to say today? >> yeah, you ain't got no evidence. how can you put a padlock with me. >> let me assure you, that there were multiple witnesses to the incident. >> how do i know they are credible? >> that is my responsibility to determine their credibility.

just as i attempt to determine your credibility. you have been given every opportunity to present a defense here today. and i've listened to your defense, and your -- no, you told me that your defense was, i didn't have nothing to do with this. that is what you told me. >> you guys have the opportunity to make sure the report clearly states when, where, how and who. >> the standard of evidence is sum evidence. the courts have ruled that that can be the report of the staff member. now, hopefully, i am going to be using a greater standard than that for you, and i usually do, but that is all that is required to make a finding of a violation of the rules in the administrative hearing in this institution. now, whether you accept that or not is entirely up to you. i have answered your questions and i have given you an opportunity to present your defense and at this point i will conclude your testimony, and you may have a chair. >> you're telling me the padlock is mine, and you ain't even proved the padlock -- >> i've given you an answer. >> you may have a chair in the

other room. >> well, they say that the padlock is mine, but they can't prove it is mine. >> have a seat. >> i believe i have a clear understanding of due process. i am not certain he does. we have met that requirement. >> i understand it is a serious issue and you would take it serious, you know what i mean? and -- look at, you know, saying what really happened. >> it is only a matter of moments before the judge is ready to render a decision. >> mr. bullock, my finding is that assault with a weapon is a class a violation for our policy and the accountability for that is 365 days of disciplinary detention and a forfeiture of 365 days of earned time. you are also required to pay any medical costs associated with this incident. you have been locked up for six days awaiting for the hearing and i will give you that six days toward the 365 days. you may go.

>> coming up on "lockup:raw, inmates gone wild," the story behind this takedown. and one brawling inmate learns how effective nonlethal weaponry can be. >> i didn't remember getting shot. i don't know if i got shot. it's very important to understand how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical,

he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies. cuban cajun raw seafood pizza parlor french fondue tex-mex fro-yo tapas puck chinese takeout taco truck free range chicken pancake stack baked alaska 5% cashback. signup for 5% cashback at restaurants through june. it pays to discover.

here's what's happening. evacuations in colorado springs as a wildfire threatened 250 homes. another fire near rocky mountain national park burned nearly 20 homes. and the wildfire north of denver burned 280 acres. and rains lashing the coast of florida. it's expected to move west

towards the texas coast over the next to days. i'm veronica della cruz. now back to "lockup." when producers traveled to the joliet prison floors, they had this built four years prior this castle-like prison was built in 1847, four years prior to the civil war. and the friction between staff and inmates seems every bit as old. [ bleep ] speaking the truth, man. >> during our shoot in joliejola disruptive inmate was being

taken to segregation. our cameras were there as captain tim morgan attempted to make the transfer. first, a brief stop to process paperwork. >> you see the [ bleep ] dude hit me, man. for real. he hit me, man. >> that particular inmate was from the rnc and we had just received him in from the county. he was upset for one reason or another. i don't even know what it was. he was at the front of the bars being aggressive. i told him to go have a seat in the back of the cell, and remain quiet. he wouldn't. disobeyed and then he was insolent toward myself and another officer, and then it progressed. >> why you hit me? >> nobody hit you. >> you did hit me. i swear to god. you hit me now. hit me again. when they leave, you will hit me again. don't touch me, man. >> as captain morgan processes the paperwork -- >> he several hit me in the back of my head. in these handcuffs he twisted my

head. >> -- the inmate continues his tirade against him. >> let's go. >> captain morgan completes the paperwork and then escorts him toward segregation. a 23-hour-a-day cell for inmates who violate rules. >> i was taking him to north segregation to lock him up in the seg unit. >> don't be twisted my -- [ bleep ] ankle, man. >> when the inmate turns on him, morgan tightens his grip. but the situation would soon get much more intense. >> that is when he tried to pull away from me and turn around on me. and that's when i pulled him to the ground. and until i could get more security help. >> no, no, no. >> i'm going to walk.

[ bleep ] >> those particular charges that i charged the inmate with were insolence, disobeying a direct order, assault. he attempted to spit on me, as well as turn around on me. this inmate will go to adjustment committee, which is a hearing -- a panel of hearing officers, and he will plead his case against my disciplinary report that i give him. and they will do whatever is just. >> while this inmate received an extended term in segregation, combative inmates always risk suffering physical consequences, as well. wherever inmates congregate, common areas and cell blocks and the yard or the cafeteria, there is usually an overhead post manned by armed correctional officers. if extreme violence breaks out, these officers may use lethal means as a last resort, but they usually stop most assaults through verbal orders.

>> keep moving on to the track. >> if that doesn't work, they have an arsenal of nonlethal weapons, including ones that fire wood blocks. though not deadly, woodblock rounds can leave a lasting impression as we discovered at the kern valley state prison in california. >> shot the [ bleep ] out of you, huh? >> i don't remember being shot. i don't even know if i got shot. >> we often talk to the correctional officers about the nonlethal weapons they use, but it is not often that we end up actually seeing what those weapons do, and such was the case with george johns. this was something that happened just the night before. we were lucky to talk to him. >> escort! >> during our shoot at kern valley, inmate george johns serving eight years for being involved in a high speed chase while on parole started a fight in the cafeteria and was hit in the head by a wooden block. we met him the following morning.

>> tell me the story. tell me what happened. >> well, i had a personal problem and i ran over to handle it, but i didn't make it. i was in the chow hall eating and i got irritated and decided i didn't like this guy and fight him. that it is. >> next thing you remember? >> they were dragging me out, telling me i got hit in the head with a block. >> can we see your head? >> the shooting left johns with seven staples in his head and a wound still caked with dry blood. he says that the scar running to the back of his head was the result of getting run over when he was younger. >> so you knew the other guy that you got into the fight with? >> kind of, sort of, apparently didn't like him. >> i was eating my dinner, baked potato and gravy and at the corner of the chow hall and the guy was running and i didn't see him and he hit me and i ran into him and hit the cement and got a

stitches on the back of the head. >> jeff ahart is the inmate johns attacked. >> the deal is that he wants to go around intimidating other people and try to throw his weight around and try to manipulate or whatever. >> though asked a number of times by the producer why he started the fight, johns was never specific. >> if you can't tell me what was going on, then just tell me you can't say what is going on. >> i just told you what -- as far as i can go. i ain't gonna tell you why i didn't like him. he didn't spit in my soup or nothing. it just progressed to the point where i felt like i had to kick his ass, that's it. i exploded. i have a bad impulse problem. >> but ahart has his suspicions about why the attack occurred. he thinks that johns wanted to be sent to the hole in order to be segregated from other inmates for his own protection. >> he chose to hit me, attack me right in front of the cops in the tower, right in the chow hall. so i consider that to be a

protective custody pc move on his part. >> he was just saying that the other guy, johns, was doing a pc move and trying to say he owes drug money on the yard or something like that and the reason he is doing that is so that he is in the hole now, so he won't get stabbed on the yard or whatever. when he's in the hole he doesn't have contact with other inmates. if they do something in front of the cops they will be locked up and sent to the hole and they will stay here until a later date. they will have to eventually have the deal with it, but for a short time, he is safe in here. >> johns in fact did get sentenced to time in the hole, but never confirmed whether it was on purpose or not. >> so was it worth it? >> not really. >> but at the time, yeah, i didn't think about the consequences. i didn't think about falling down and getting burned and getting staples. i didn't think about none of that.

>> up next -- >> prison made whiskey, they call it prune juice. >> alcohol inside of the correctional institutions are a big problem. >> when inmates get drunk. >> when the white lightning hits you, you immediately get violent. games, our town had a "brilliant" idea. support team usa and show our olympic spirit right in our own backyard. so we combined our citi thankyou points to make it happen. tom chipped in 10,000 points. karen kicked in 20,000. and by pooling more thankyou points from folks all over town, we were able to watch team usa... [ cheering ] in true london fashion. [ male announcer ] now citi thankyou visa card holders can combine the thankyou points they've earned and get even greater rewards. ♪ well, more and more people are bundling their home and auto insurance with progressive. sure seems and why that way. wouldn't you? you can save on both your home and auto policies.

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you cannot tell how wild a prison inmate might be just by looking at him, but sometimes you can learn a lot by his nickname, and it seems in prison almost everybody has one. >> my name is alvin williams and everyone calls me gator. a lot of us have animal names in here, because it has to represent something, but that is prison life. >> calvin williams got his

nickname while working as a sparring partner to a heavyweight boxer. >> every time i get against the ropes, he'll jab me and hit me real hard and i'll get upset about it, man, you hit me too hard. he kept on doing it. i kept on attacking him, and i knew i could not beat him hand to hand, but when they broke us up, they wiped off the blood, it was in the shape of a gator. with the head and the tail. the whole nine yards. i don't know how it happened. i just bit him. >> what is your nickname? >> cocoa joe. >> people on the street, they call me hustler. >> skunk. >> stinky, because it sprayed me. >> everybody said i kind of looked like dracula and people started to call me drac for short and it stuck. >> coko, is that cocaine, cocoa man? >> i don't know, they gave me that name. >> you have to hustle, and that is how i got the name hustle. >> ben quick, i don't know how i got that one. >> coyote. >> what is that for?

>> it is a nickname my grandfather gave me as a baby. >> and i'm the littlest guy out there, and that is how i got those three. >> they call me outlaw. >> outlaw? >> yeah. >> self-explanatory? >> yes, it is self-explanatory. >> they call me dude like the coal miner's daughter and not the daughter part, dude. but doolittle on there. >> and the name hustle got me here, too. sometime it ain't good to hustle. >> while nicknames are common in prison, we have discovered something else is, as well, but it is not as harmless. >> what is that? >> prison-made whiskey. they call it julu. it's got prunes in it, and they just wait until it ferments good. >> what does it smell like? smell it and tell us.

>> it is a strong whiskey aroma. >> inmate-manufactured alcohol goes by many names, prison julep, pruno, white lightning, hooch. whatever it's called, our crews have seen it, heard about it, smelled it, and it exists in every prison we've filmed in. >> alcohol is used daily. daily inside of our correctional institutions are a very big problem, because it only takes a small amount of time to make the alcohol, and just about everyone does it. so it is a constant cat-and-mouse game. >> this is a bag of pruno that we discovered in an inmate cell a couple of days ago. a regular garbage bag and inside, you can smell the sweet smell of the prune oil itself and the apples. >> how much could that make? >> well, it is actually, i would say it would serve up to five or ten people depending, because some of the inmates actually sell the pruno. >> you have a cocktail there?

>> well, i guess if you go to the right person, i am sure you could. i don't know the particulars of it. they say i have got caught of it, but i don't know the makeup or how to do it, and even if i did, i probably wouldn't divulge that. >> but we have met plenty of officers and inmates who would. >> we give them everything they need for pruno. you need fresh fruit, which we have to give them, and you need something with sugar in it, and most fruit have some, and i mean, extra sugar helps and we don't give them that, but you can get candy from the canteen issue, and sugar coated and you need containers to keep it in while it is heating. we give them little milk cartons and if they want to destroy state property, the mattresses and the pillows are all in plastic cases that can be torn apart, and they make a very nice bag. then you need heat. you have a light fixture in there and lamps give off heat. fruit, sugar, water, container,

and heat. three to five days, and you have drinkable pruno. >> like a vintner selecting a certain grape variety for their wine, inmates can choose from a wide array of ingredients to brew their hooch. >> corn, corn cobs. >> ketchup, tomato paste. >> pineapple. >> grapefruits. >> peaches. >> drinks. >> sugar and yeast. >> get the hands on prune and what they like to use. >> of the many experts we have met, the truest connoisseur had to be tyrone outlaw, an inmate at kern valley state prison. ironically, located right in the heart of california's central valley wine country. >> we have two types of alcohol. we have pruno made from oranges and fruit that you let sit and rot and we pour it into a bag and make mush out of it and then add a lot of hot water to it and add sugar which ferments it to make the alcohol base.

then we take it from the bag and pour it into the pillow case and strain it and keep all of the mush out of it and put the liquid in the bag to be used for apples and two boxes of sugar and you will have three gallons of pruno, and you can sell it and each part is $10 for a pound and that's 16 ounce. or $10 apiece or you can just get drunk off of it all you want. >> outlaw then told us about a much more potent concoction. >> the second version we do is called white lightning, that is similar to jack daniels, hennessey, and in fact, 150 proof. >> according to outlaw, white lightning has a very dark side. >> pruno can get you drunk and riled up and get you just that intoxication under the influence trip, whereas white lightning can cause you to drink a half a cup of white lightning and it will actually if the cos were to

come to ask you a common question like something like can i see your i.d. card, because you have the white lightning this system, you will immediately get violent. a lot of times they do that and they have to take the dudes to the ground because they are on white lightning and takes six or seven cos to bring them down. >> at pelican bay, we saw the definite inmate's guide to distilling white lightning. a hand drawn illustration confiscated in a cell search. >> it explains to his friends in the tier how to manufacture pure alcohol. >> they're actually making it. everclear. 150 proof. that's not your regular pruno. a little more sophisticated. >> this is the final result. this here is about the equivalent of grain alcohol. extremely potent. >> how does this taste? talk to me about the taste? >> white lightning tastes exactly like whiskey without any cut.

some guys will cut it with say kool-aid or something because it is too strong. then you have other guys, they just down it. just raw. and a lot of these dudes that make this stuff, they don't realize that the bacteria in the stuff they're drinking will give them tuberculosis and other diseases. because it is nothing but rotten food that it is made from. >> since drunken inmates can lead to big trouble, correctional officers are constantly on the lookout. >> they're out there searching. they'll find it. three days later, the same cell, they're making alcohol again. it is just constant. we have over 3,000 inmates doing this. >> coming up -- >> one of the items he makes the most of, these scorpions and spiders. >> the confiscated artwork of america's most infamous inmate.

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while some inmates may spend their time behind bars creating mayhem, we've met plenty of others who choose a very different path. they use their time in prison to do something constructive. for many, that means turning to art. paul majors had been in and out of prison for most of the last 23 years when we met him at the riverbend maximum security institution in tennessee. >> it's therapeutic for me because it gives me a chance to escape and release a lot of tension. i can look at the situation in the world today and what i can't say verbally, i can say in a picture because they say a picture paints a thousand words. and i guess this is my way of saying a thousand words. i use acrylics, water colors,

chalk pastels, pen and ink, if they gave me a stick in mud, i would use that. anything i get my hands on, i can use. >> some prison artists, especially those confined to high security cell nearly have to go to such lengths to create art. >> i got different techniques. but sometimes i just take the color off an m & m. lick a piece of paper and fold it into a cone and color comes off and i use that as color. and i paint. >> because of his high security level as a confirmed gang member, we could only shoot david's art outside his cell. at pelican bay. a corrections officer offered to hold it in place for our camera. but at another california prison, one inmate's artwork is either immediately confiscated and destroyed or kept in a secured location. the inmate is charles manson. >> we have some manson

memorabilia that charles manson has created since he's been incarcerated here at corcoran. >> during one of our shoots at california state prison corcoran, our crew barely got a glimpse of manson before he covered up his window. a recent mug shot shows how much he has aged since first coming to prison in 1971. but his artwork provides a unique insight into his life behind bars. >> here a scorpion that he's made. basically, taking thread from various types of items, socks and t-shirts and towel, he creates it and uses -- it looks like a marker to color. this is probably one of the items that he makes the most of. scorpions and spiders. i would assume this is something like a harp. and he's made it out of toilet paper and newspaper.

it looks like some dental floss, a small stick, and probably for the coloring, he used kool-aid to get the coloring for it. >> why do you have it? >> he's not allowed to have it. occasionally, we go through and do cell searches and confiscate all items. he doesn't have a hobby card and other inmates try to sneak it out and put it on ebay and sell it. so we go in and confiscate it and dispose of it. >> how does he react when you take this stuff? >> sometime he's passive. occasionally he gets pretty angry and threatens us. for the most part, he is usually pretty passive. he knows all he will do is make more. >> there's one other remnant of manson's artistic interests hanging on the wall of the prison's investigative services office. >> this is when charles manson was out in the protective yard. the inmates that were out on the

maximum security yard were able to defeat the security lock and got through there. manson was out in the yard playing the guitar and they ended up breaking it. i don't know if they hit him with it. they ended up breaking his guitar so we took it. he wasn't hurt or anything. we quelled it pretty quick. the guy that came into the yard was more scared than manson. he came in real quick and broke the guitar up and got down. he complied with the orders. >> any idea what song manson was singing? >> no, no. >> "revolution?" >> i have no idea what he was playing. >> "helter skelter." >> yeah, i don't know.