_- >> narrator: gang members disrupt the housing unit and inmates flood their cells.

the team takes action and they place one in special restraints. >> [bleep]. i'm going to [bleep] you first. >> i told them i could feel an attack was coming out. i feel like i'm going to hurt somebody. >> narrator: a female inmate poses a dangerous threat to staff. >> she took a swing at me, scratched my face and it was on. >> she was like, um-hmm, um-hmm. >> we went toe-to-toe. >> once somebody disrespects me, we're going to take care of charges. . >> narrator: already facing 15 charges, a gang member picks up more in jail. >> i challenge anybody. come in here, work this job for a week and see if we're overpaid.

>> from the alamo to its famous river walk, san antonio is one of the most popular tourist destinations in texas. but like any big city, there is a constant fight against crime. and the landmark of that battle is just outside downtown. the bear county jail is a modern day fortress that houses approximately 3500 male and female inmates. most have only been charged with crimes and awaiting trial or resolution of their cases. >> we're very regulated on how we have to handle inmates. we realize that even though they're incarcerated, they still have rights. we also realize that we're not

here to punish or to convict anyone. it's just a hold. . >> narrator: but in jail, holding inmates is never a simple proposition. especially when they don't want to be held. >> they're secured in a cell for 23 hours a day. they've got all the time to think of different games they can play with officers because they're trying to create a reputation for themselves that they're not to be messed with. >> i'm easy to get along with. but once somebody disrespects me or something, we're going to take care of business. >> narrator: joseg hidalgo of the tan goe autohomes. but hidalgo describes the gang as a fellowship. >> the one thing in prison is to

make sure that our home boys makes it safe back to our families. if one of our home boys needs something, we're going to be there. >> narrator: since the age of 14, hidalgo has spent most of his life inkars rated. >> i've got an ag robbery, possession, daily conducts, d.w.i., assault, bodily injury, i've got a whole list in my cell. >> narrator: he pled not guilty on all of his charges, including not guilty to the five new criminal charges he picked up in the jail. >> i did pick one up last week where i've got to wait to get indicted on that. >> what did you pick up last week? >> assault on a public servant. >> narrator: hidalgo's latest assault on staff occurred after a rare period of good behavior. >> most of the time in this facility, he has been housed and grouped alone.

when we house him and group him with other inmates, he tends to rub off on one of them. and instead of dealing with one hidalgo, we're dealing with many of them. he's been out of trouble. he's been cooperative. he's been behaving. and one thing we've requested is a cell mate. after careful review, we allowed him to have a cellie. >> hidalgo's cell mate was steven guerro. >> e grew up pretty good but hanging around with the wrong people. i guess a good kid went wrong, huh? >> narrator: on the second day guerro and hidalgo were housed with each other, the two inmates quickly showed up on staff's radar. >> hidalgo and guerro was across

each other's cell throughout the day. >> narrator: after the meal service, corporal lidy and his partner decided to check the cell for contraband. >> at about the time the door opened, i don't remember who was on which bunk, but hidalgo and guerro both stood up and came towards the door and stood side by side creating a barrier. >> he wanted to search the cell and we ain't trying to let him in. >> we're like, hey, you know, we want to come in. and they're like, no, you can't come in here. >> they were like get against the wall. i said for what? they said we're going to shake you down. i said no, you about going to shake me down. >> the first thing i realized was they had something in the cell. and then i realized, there's going to be a fight. >> narrator: hidalgo attacked him. >> hidalgo hit him. hidalgo hit him with his right hand. >> i defended myself. and i went off on him. we were fighting.

>> the officer, he was on the floor. repeatedly hitting my cellie. >> aparentally, he put him in a choke hold with his right and was banging on his head with his left. >> aufrszofficer lidy came to h defense. >> i came in, grabbed guerro by the arms. i pulled -- i tried to pull him off. >> the corporal is trying to restrain me, i'm getting at the other law man trying to get him off my celle, my home boy. there's blood everywhere. >> narrator: officers inside the housing unit security control room witnessed the fight and alerted the special emergency response team or sert. >> they arrived and came and dropped their knee on me. boom. split my chin which caused me to take stitches. the blood is coming out. i'm laying in my blood. so when i get up and come out, one of my early home boys seen

it. >> as hidalgo and guerro were escorted by the sert team, they witnessed the po segsz. >> i've been knowing him for a long time. we've been through a lot. and i wasn't just going to let it just ride. you know what i'm saying? >> i let my hair kind of get the best of me and ran out there with a shank. >> inmate gonzalez was able to defeat the locking device, open the cell door and ran out of the cell and was holding a 7-inch piece of metal. >> it was made out of the top blade of a squigi. >> unfortunately for gonzalez, hidalgo, guerro and the sert had already left the yuntd. >> he came running out because he thought they were still fighting.

he got to right about here and then he realized he was a day late for the party. >> there's four laws down there. sergea sergeant, lieutenant, corporal and a regular officer. >> he started to get real nervous, you know, he had no back-up. he's over there with a weapon and a secured facility. >> narrator: with gonzalez already out numbered 4 to 1, members of the sert team are called back to assist. >> i'm not stupid, you know. just layed down, they threw the shank away from me and just chilled out real quick. >> he threw the knife on the ground. not at the officer, it was clearly, gently thrown to the ground. >> luckily, nobody was hurt in the process. what is scary is that he did have that shank. and what does scare us is what would have happen if he was close enough to use it before an officer would have saw it.

it could have just as easily gone bad as it did go good. >> okay, serg. >> narrator: all three inmates were moved to single-man cells and were given new felony charges. for gonzalez, the new charge can carry especially serious consequences. he is awaiting trial on a murder charge. he has pled not guilty. >> i just wish i wouldn't have done that. it's going to get bad. they're going to see me as a threat to society coming out with shanks in jail, you know? that's probably going to stain me good. >> narrator: coming up, backed up toilets flood a housing unit. jeremy gonzalez faces off with a special response team. >> narrator: but, first. >> i had a mechanical pick up. >> narrator: one of the most

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>> narrator: knowing that some of their peers have less than ideal hygiene, many inmates at san antonio's bear county jail do all they can to make themselves as sanitary as possible. especially raymond diaz. >> you'd be surprised that 75% of the people with better hygienes happens. you could imagine the opposite, but it's not. . . >> narrator: diaz has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft, burglary and cocaine possession says cleanliness can also lead to conflict. >> there's people who get dropped, beat up, because they don't keep things clean. >> narrator: diaz's cell mate who is convicted of aggravated assault and is awaiting transfer to prison to begin a six-year

sentence is happy to indulge him. >> we joke he has an obsessive-compulsive disorder. >> which is fine for me, right? >> well, i'm not a germophobe, but being in prison might make some people anal. >> that's why we have the shirt there. it keeps the dust out and all. so for all the people who think that we live in filth, on the contrary, we probably have a cleaner cell than most people's houses. >> narrator: while the jail lets most inmates use cleaning supplies, others get only the bare minimum. >> it's very little. a mixture of water and two sanitary napkins to clean herself. >> heywood. here you go. all right. let me know when you're done, all right?

>> this is a yellow clean solution they give us. they won't give me the broom because i had an incident last week with one of the guards and we got into, like, a con tronation. now we won't give her the broom. >> we used to give her brooms and all of that stuff. last week, she decided she was going to try to jab at an officer through the tray slot with the broom. >> in the few mornnths she's be at bear county, she's been fighting with staff and other inmates. now she's confined to a single-person cell 23 hours per day. it is often a noisy, disruptive unit. >> some of them are very hostile. some of them are very aggressive. >> we do have to be very careful. >> her latest arrest came after a fight with a bank security

guard who had ordered her to get off a telephone. >> if he would have approached me differently, i probably wouldn't do that. but he was embarrassing me in front of the whole bank. he reached in to grab me and, bam, i have took him down. i had a mechanical pick. i said boom, i'm going to poke your eye out. >> narrator: heywood has yet to be tried on the resulting charge of aggravated assault with bodily injury but plans to plead not guilty on grounds of self defense. she admits, however, that her temper is hard to control. >> you start to feel yourself bubbling up. you start to feel that hot anger boiling inside of you. and you tell yourself you can control it. you tell yourself, i can control this. i'm not going to hurt nobody. but when it actually comes time to do it, bam, you just hit somebody. it oo like a reflex.

bam, you hit them. >> officer laura was also a victim of erica's temper. >> i was just doing my observation rounds and passing out mail like i would normally do. >> i told them in the hallway, i could feel the anxiety coming on. i knew an attack was coming on. i feel like i'm going to hurt somebody. >> erica was out in her day room. and at that time, she was only wearing leg armings. her hands were completely free. >> i confront the lady. i said why you trying to play me? and show just looked at me like um-hmm, um-hmm. >> she took a swing at me. she scratched my face and it was on. we went toe-to-toe. i did punch her in the face. i punched her body. all i wanted her to do was stop charging me. she continued to charge me. >> and then i started getting her back. i started fighting her back. next thing i know, here come the

sert team. >> i was able to move out of the way. all i saw was a sert officer with a tazer. and they tazed her. >> they shot me. i had a broom with a long string with a pin that looked like a dart stuck into my body. they got me mostly in the shoulder area and i could feel myself going off. the pain is so excruciating. all you can do is take that pain, take that pain, take that pain. >> who shot me? >> my family taught me do not let people disrespect you. we're just like that. we're just very reactive people. this is the way i grew up. people look at that like she's violent. she's this, she's that. i'm nowhere near what my family has raised me to be. and, man, they have no idea.

>> i'm mild, very mild, compared to some people. >> narrator: coming up. >> i threw some bodily fluids and things. bodily products. >> narrator: erica heywood adds a new weapon to her arsenal. >> i felt his crotch area and i felt a bulge. a catch like this is pretty rare. >> the on going battle to stop the illegal tattoo trade in the jail. push mush today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

. >> narrator: as in other correctional facilities, tattooing is not allowed at the bear county jail. violators could get up to 60 days in segregation. or even face additional criminal charges. but the demand for tattoos on the inside is so great, there are always artists willing to take the risk for a payout of commissary goods or other forms of compensation. they make ingenius tattoo guns

by assembling parts of other items they are allowed to possess. staff are constantly looking for them. >> i felt his crotch area and i felt the bulge. it wasn't a usual bulge. i just asked him what it was and opened it up. a catch like this is pretty rare. >> that's a good catch, man. >> this one here is the inside of a light. this, right here, is that same copper wire that came from the inside of the hair clippers and two checkers pieces to hold it together. these guys know what they're doing. >> another inmate, marcello, has gained a reputation for attaining high-quality, jailhouse tattoo guns. >> i said it goes for $25, $30. >> because he is due to leave the jail any day now to start his six-year prison sentence for salt, he agreed to demonstrate how it is done. >> right now, i really don't

care about it. if they rub me out? am i going to leave before they do this punishment or reprimand me? >> he starts with some wire skavaged from electric hair clippers. he winds the wire around a screw to make a crude electromagnet. but he also needs a metallic magnet, which is pilfered from a phone or intercom speaker. >> so the magnet, when you put it on top of the screw, it bounces with the cycles of the e electricity. it bounces like this. and then you use the sock strings to tie it up. that's pretty much how you do it. the magnet, when it bounces, it pushes the needle. >> i didn't invent it, but i learned it. >> several other bear county inmate also make their own tattoo guns. and the source of their knowledge could very wellspring from just one man.

jose hidalgo. >> early on in his incarceration, he was teaching the other inmates how to create these tattoo rigs. how to do the tattoos. as a result, they were destroying county property. >> we get creative. breaking lights to get the wire, burning grease to make the ink. >> even though we pulled him out, the knowledge it gave them are something we're combatting today. inmates are constantly making rigs. they're constantly tearing apart the light fixtures. this is something that he started. >> hidalgo has also been on the receiving end of the jailhouse tattoo trade. >> when inmate hidalgo first came into the facility, he didn't have anywhere near as many tattoos as he has now. most of the tattoos he's received, he's received in our facility and he's very proud of his tattoos.

>> i was made in the hood. so that's the reason for that. 237, that's my zip code. 778237. playboy bunny. i'm a player. so that's why i got that. >> he explained the initials of his gang. and on his abdomen is the image of a glock .40 millimeter handgun. crack cocaine, an ounce on the scale. i don't trust no one. especially when you're selling drugs. even the ones you do trust end up snitching on you. >> he's starting to worry about how a judge and jury will react to it. he's expected to soon begin a series of trials in a litany of charges, including assault and arson. >> i should have awaited.

after my trial. it's too late for all of that. a lot of people see me as tatted and judge me. it doesn't affect me. >> i asked him why. he said just for no reason. he's notorious for doing stuff like that. >> coming up, a major disruption prompts the special emergency response team to take action. maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.

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>> announcer: due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> narrator: despite staff's best efforts to stop them, some inmates at san antonio's bear county jail still find ways to illegally tattoo each other. but if staff can't get every tattoo, they can at least document them and add them to their intelligence data base. >> tattoos are the most common, nonverbal forms of communication in identifying gang affiliation. gang members love to put their gangs somewhere visibly on their body so rival gang members or their own gang members can identify them as are they friend or foe. and we train our class to look for these identifiers. if they can't get the gang member to self admit, than they

refer them and we look at these tattoos. we'll look at their history in the facility. do they have a history of gang activity. strong arming in the units, group assaults, things of that kind of nature. in conjunction with their tattoos, we can establish whether or not we think the guy is a gang member. >> raymond diaz is up front about his gang-related tattoos. >> the stuff i've got on me, a lot of them is gang related. they call them, like, stamps. everything was done behind bars with a staple. we don't use fancy needles and all of that. the main part of my chest is the blast. that's for tongo blast. that's probably one of the biggest prison gangs in texas. i chose to put it in big letters on my chest because when i get to a prison unit or pot or something, the first thing i do is take off my shrt. it's clearly visible. if somebody has a problem with me bs they're going to let it be known. >> diaz is also a tattoo artist

and says he's applied many of his tattoos himself. most are gang-related. but one is a fan tribute. >> which is my taylor swift. i did her for my own, personal gratification. i don't know what it is about her, but the first time i ever heard her voice, i was locked up. i would listen to her music and she's got this really, cute, country voice. it soothed me. no matter what's going on, there might be fights, chaos, you know, the building could be burning koun. but if i'm listening to taylor swift, i'm relaxed. >> narrator: but it seems no melody could quiet the out burst that punctuated life in the administrative wing which houses members of the largest gangs. >> usually, they'll cause a disruption if they're upset or they just want to gain attention. usually, they all feed off each other. if one is kicking the door, they

all join in and start screaming. some days, it's worse than others. they're young, ram ram bun shs and they have nothing better to do. everybody thinks that this job that we have is such a gravy job and such an easy job. i challenge anybody, come in here, work this job for a week. and see if we're overpaid. >> narrator: later in the day, the disturbance escalates and one of the inmates starts flooding the unit. >> a guy started flooding his cell. i asked him why. he said just for no reason. he's notorious for doing stuff like that. >> narrator: the inmate is well-known to staff. jeremy gonzalez. besides facing charges of murder and aggravated assault, gonzalez just picked up another felony charge after threatening jail officers with a 7 inch long

shank. he has been sanctioned for several other infractions as well. >> i was trying to do good. i've been doing good for six months strait. i've been trying to chill to get my visits back. you go through depression and then through being aggravated. it messes with your head. i just couldn't take it no more. >> within minutes, two other inmates add to the flame. >> they use whenever they find to stuff it down the toilet drain just to make it overflow to be belligerent and disruptive. >> gonzalez's friend and fellow auto says he is not impressed by his actions and that such behavior is now looked down upon by the gang. >> and they don't want to [bleep] it no more. we're a fast track here now.

>>. >> narrator: the special emergency response team or sert, was mobilized. >> the sert team was called in and it triggered the alarm system. they will put them in hand restraints due to their disru disruptive behavior. not to harm themselves or anybody else. >> narrator: the team begins with gonzalez who submits to their orders but not quietly. >> everyone in there was shackled and medically evaluated every 30 minutes by medical staff. >> then they check to see if there's anything cramping, any injury towards the inmate themselves. >> [bleep]. [bleep].

>> narrator: before long, the sert has restrained two other pairs of cell mates also involved in the flooding. >> just when officers think they have the situation under control, gonzalez manages to slip his hands out from behind him. the sert team decides it's time to deploy the restraint chair which is meant to immobilize inmates who attempt to threaten or not follow orders. >> roll over on your mattress. on your chest. >> narrator: as the sert team enters the cell, gonzalez launches a verbal assault.

>> mark my words. >> they notate that he's threatening everybody. >> you better hope i never get out the jail. i'll start swinging on you all. [bleep]. >> i'm going to [bleep] you first. >> narrator: only when gonzalez feels a tazer gun pressed against his back does he finally get in.

>> narrator: gonzalez will stay in the chair until he calms down. or up to a maximum of two hours. >> after that, what's going to happen next? still do the same [bleep]. come on, man. >> come on, man. >> that ain't going to stop nobody. for a couple hours, yeah, but not for life. i'm going to still do it again and keep doing it. >> narrator: coming up. the ingenius techniques the inmates use to conceal the tattoo par fa nail ya. erica heywood's disturbing behavior and the impact it has on her neighbors. >> went right under my bed. oh, man.

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>> narrator: managing the sprawling urban correctional facility like san antonio's bear county jail is a task full of challenges. from inmates acting up to dealing with gangs and an illicit tattoo trade, officers are constantly put to the test. >> these inmates in here do have time to study you. they know almost everything about your job. they know exactly when you're coming. they know exactly what you're looking for. inmates are actually doing a tattoo, they'll stop what they're doing, they'll put away everything. and most of the time, within 20 seconds. in that time, they actually hide

their tattoo rigs, their ink. they will hide it on top of the light fixture. under the stairs, as well. in a toilet. they will find any little, small opening that they know you won't find and they will put all of their contraband in there. >> narrator: hiding anything in jail where every area is subject to inspection at any time takes determination and creativity. just as marcello cardenas. >> this is what we use to add the guns, the tattoo guns. i'm just, right now, making one. >> narrator: cardenas is sharing his secrets because he is soon leaving for state prison and says he is not worried about punishment, has a clever technique for hiding his homemade tattoo guns. it gips with a box hinge. >> this is a way to break the wall. you scratch it. >> narrator: in this case, since the hole is still small,

cardenas demonstrates how he uses a bar of soap to conceal one of the magnets in his guns, rather than the gun itself. >> the thing we do here is put this in here. we break the soap so you can fix it like that. you have to take more time. but, right now shs i, i'm just g you. >> cardenas then gently peels small strips of paint off the wall. >> we peel that off a little bit. >> and then he moistens the paint with water. >> because this paint is bassed in water, so the water makes it sticky again. and then you're putting some paint on top of the soap like this. but better, you know. so you do it like that little by

little. and then you have the wall covered up. >> narrator: while cardenas using stealth to get around jail rules, heyward's disobedience is anything but covert. when managing, heywood went from difficult to dangerous. jail officials mandated new precautions to prevent for the violence. >> it came down that after the assault that happened with me and erica, they now have the sert team take her back just in case she tries to assault somebody else. >> narrator: now, she's only allowed to leave her cell under heavy security. hey we'd's assault came after heywood claimed to be having an affair with an officer, the

charge the officer and co-workers emphatically denied. >> all she does is write letters to him and causes him stress. >> narrator: officer laura believes jealousy drove her to attack. >> she started making these allegations. you want to take my man. >> i stayed inside the hospital for two weeks. they were like you're not incompetent. >> she tries to be the victim all of the time. if something happens to her, she's always like oh, they did this to me. i believerica is one of those mean people. she's not mental. she's just mean. >> stripped of her privileges and required to move about under heavy guard. heywood has continued her campaign against staff using the only weapons she has left.

>> i threw some bodily fluids and things. bodily products. >> she started gassing officers. you take urine and feces and take it and mix it up in a little cup and let it sit. when the officer comes to retrieve your tray, she lieu it out. it got completely on the right side of the officer. as far as these inmates go, we don't know what kind of diseases they have and all that bodily fluid carries. heywood's latest actions with bodily substances have gotten the attention of other inmates. >> so she'll take her feces, roll it up into a ball and throw it underneath which actually rolls into the other cell. >> she will aim it at certain doors. she'd aim it at 15's door, my door, number eight's door. but when you make her mad, she knows that we don't like it, of course.

so she'll try to throw it at our door. >> as disgusting as the barage might be, heywood's neighbors take it in stride. they've even developed mitigation strategies. >> she actually started getting nice about it. she'll warn us. she'll be like, okay. what did you say, heywood? so i get this here and i put it like this on the bottom. and i barricade it in there. do you know what i mean? so i've got to barricade this on the bottom of my door. one time, i got real [bleep] because she threw a piece of a meat ball. and my friend said don't worry about it, it wasn't a piece of [bleep], it was a meat ball. it went right under my bed. i was mad.

>> the lady brought me a tray. >> she's never responsible for what she does. every time we put blame on her, this is what you did. oh, no, you triggered it. that's your fault. >> she's just something else, for real. >> narrator: coming up. >> the true coasts of jose hidalgo's life choices. i. >> i'm still here because he is my son. but people grow up and change. and i'm hoping my son will change. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting

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hidalgo? >> yeah. >> narrator: jose hidalgo is getting ready for a big day. for the nearly three years he's been in jail, hidalgo has only seen himself get into deeper trouble. but he's maintained strong support from his family. today, his mother and grandmother have arrived to visit him. >> i visit him as much as i could. maybe every week, every two weeks. and it takes maybe four to five hours to even see him. because he is one of the inmates that has to be walked with security next to him. he is not in population. he's always in lockdown. >> hidalgo also gets financial support from his family. they deposit money into his inmate account, which he can use to purchase snacks or toiletries from the jail commissary. >> i see people who don't have family around.

it's a struggle. if it wasn't for them, i'd be struggling, too. >> thank you. >> my mom, she only speaks spanish. so when we come here to visit him, we talk to him and both of our languages. but she's always there for him. she loves him very much. >> narrator: hidalgo's mother worries about the extended time her son might have to serve. he's recently added five new felony charges to the 16 that brought him here. >> he's always getting in

trouble, mainly, because he gets mad and frustrated just being locked up. it worries me. it seems like charges are never going to stop. >> narrator: hidalgo has a date for his most recent charge, aggravated assault. >> i'm just praying that everything is going to be okay. >> if i beat that one charge, i've still got to wait for the other charges. >> now that he's had all of these cases, sometimes i feel that he's never going to come out. i mean, i'm still here for him because he is my son. but i hope one of these days he's going to change his life. people grow up and people change. and i hope my son will change.

>> i said this is not the life i would choose for everybody. right now, i've got to see what will happen with me. and that's pretty much it. >> narrator: hidalgo's friend, jeremy gonzalez is in the resengs vooup vision unit after he flooded his housing unit. his murder trial has been postponed. and in the meantime, he has limited his contact with family because it's just too hard to deal with. >> i try not too use the phone because it breaks my head. it puts me in a world that i eep not going to be for a while. >> despite his efforts to avoid thinking about family, a remienter has just arrived by way of today's male. mail.

>> i got this letter from my 12-year-old sister. she's so smart. i'm real proud of her. >> hey, brother. how have you been? i've been good. just working hard in school. i want to see you, but every time i go, you're on restriction. you need to behave in there. >> i love you brother. be good and write back. sincerely, your sister. >> she's worried about me. she's so young. she shouldn't have to be worried about me. i hate to say it, but i try to forget about all of them, you know what i mean? if i don't, i'll just think and think and go crazy in the cell. you can't do nothing else but try to make the best of it.