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tv   Lockup Raw  MSNBC  June 29, 2013 9:00pm-10:01pm PDT

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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 get mad sometimes, man. i get angry. >> the emotional toll here is like water torture. every day it's like a drip, drip, drip. >> always somebody bugging out, always somebody causing trouble in the cellhouse. >> i'm not a man till i can tell you that. >> [ bleep ] >> it really wears on you after
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a while. you know, you've got to get away from it. >> [ bleep ]. i really like birds. they're pretty neat. >> "lockup" crews have met hundreds of inmates facing long-term sentences. for some like dale veers at iowa state penitentiary, that means the chance to pick up a new skill or two. >> you start out with a block. then cut it down. and then i keep grinding and shaping it until i get it where it's supposed to be. >> a life sentence for kidnapping has given viers a chance to master bird carving. >> i kept the very first bird i ever carved because i just knew that i would get better. that is the first one i carved. that's my duck head. duck's getting a little bit
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better. i have another bird here. they get better. >> when we met him, viers was hard at work on his most elaborate piece yet. >> i have a robin pulling a worm out of the ground. >> he even had a live model to work with. >> i've got a worm in here. see? he's alive. i've had him for three weeks. so i can get the color and everything right when i make it. >> viers is hardly alone when it comes to finding creative ways to kill time. at first our crew thought indiana state prison inmate donte kidd's stack of toilet paper with a mirror on top was some form of abstract art. but he had a far more practical reason for pushing his creation into the corridor outside his cell. >> for those who don't have tvs, sometimes they try to watch it off the range or something like that. put it on the range. catch a reflection of an individual's tv from the next
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cell and sit back and watch tv. >> kidd, serving time for drug sales, dreamt up his creation when his own tv stopped working. >> i call it a porta tv stand. actually because toilet paper, porta stand. just a little jailhouse ingenuity. not as good as high def. you know what i mean? >> while the quality of kidd's television viewing might be compromised, other inmates lose the privilege altogether for causing trouble. >> i don't have a tv. they took all my privileges for spitting on that dude. so it's like i don't know, probably take my privileges and, like, good time, that don't matter here. there ain't no sunshine here, man. >> when we met edwin smith, he had been at colorado state penitentiary for less than a month just starting a 30-year sentence for cutting a man's throat in a bar fight. he lost his television privileges for spitting on an officer during intake and things were about to go even further downhill. >> mentally, you have to take it [ bleep ]. i guess, because i mean, you
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can't really fight with them. >> the night before our interview with him, smith had received a lesson in supermax security when he chose to hold up in his cell. >> we're here to perform a cell extraction on smith, edwin. the reason for the extraction is the inmate refused to come out for a cell search. >> smith's actions triggered colorado's emergency response team. one of their primary functions is to extract uncooperative inmates from their cells. >> when our crews follow a cell extraction, it's one of the most intense moments on "lockup." it's when an inmate refuses to cuff up or come out of the cell or is doing damage to the cell and the special response team is called in. >> need you to cuff up. if you refuse to cuff up, we will introduce oc gas in her cell. >> what's that? >> you'll find out. it's a chemical agent. >> it's almost like watching a car chase on tv. you know the inmate's not going to win. the officers have the equipment, pepper spray, stun shields, handcuffs, the manpower.
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>> one last chance to cuff up. inmate refuses, introduce gas. >> ow! whoo! >> the gas quickly convinces smith to cooperate with correctional staff. >> strip down to your boxers. take your shirt off. turn around. when we open this door, i want you to drop straight down to your knees, do you understand me? >> yes. >> because of the spitting incident when he first arrived, officers cover smith's head with a spit net. >> we're going to put a net over your head. don't pull away from us. >> i can't breathe. it's been hell, man. they threw gas on me and degraded me, treated me like an animal. i can't breathe. ow! >> as long as you're compliant, you'll get a decontamination shower.
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>> the trick with this stuff is the more you rub, the more it's going to burn. >> oh, really? now you tell me. >> as far as cell extractions go, smith's was fairly routine. it was a different story at the spring creek correctional center in alaska. >> [ bleep ]. >> prisoner demonstrated aggressive agitated behavior by using abusive language and continually banging on his cell walls causing injury to his hands and wrists. >> when spring creek's extraction team was called to remove steven blevins from his cell, he was in a state of rage and had been pounding the walls with his bare fists for over an hour. >> [ bleep ]. come on. come on. come on. >> but when we first met blevins, he was in a much calmer state as he told us how mental illness led to murder.
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>> i fell in june of '93, psychotic delusion, out on a fishing boat. i attributed it to working too much, too long, too hard. and basically tweaked out and killed a couple guys. i've been fishing out of dutch harbor about 4 1/2 years and never thought about murder, never contemplated killing somebody, but a guy walked by me one time and just -- i thought that he was going to kill me and i killed him and another guy first. >> how? >> with a knife. fishing knife. just a six-inch fishing knife in the chest did it fine. >> were you hearing voices? what was going on? >> no, no. it's kind of a story line. i just -- i believed they were going to kill me. and a moment passed that when i thought they were going to do it
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now. and i was either going to be killed by them or kill them first. and i decided to kill them first. i didn't say nothing to them or talk about it to them. i just did it, you know, and threw them into the bay. >> blevins almost got away with the double murder. he told state troopers looking for the missing men that they had quit their jobs and had moved on. but when blevins tried to leave the state, his anger resurfaced. >> next day was my time to ship out, and i assaulted a guy at the airport. so the troopers found me for the second time in three days or whatever and they went back to the boat and found the blood and the bodies. and -- >> how did they find the bodies? >> one floated up on the spit. the other was sunk beneath the stern of the boat. >> when we met him, blevins was taking medication to correct the chemical imbalance that drove him to kill. the prison gave us permission to interview him.
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>> as long as i take the medication twice a day, i can stay on the compound. you know? >> what happens if you don't? >> what happens is if i refuse it, in a matter of maybe three days, they're going to use whatever means they need to use to put the drugs in me. >> the prison provided this dramatic evidence of what does happen when blevins goes off his meds. >> what you gonna do? i can be like this now for an hour from now. [ bleep ]. come on. >> his behavior has increased in the past two days. mental health recommended the restraint chair be used. so he does not cause any harm to himself. >> blevins, come over here and talk to me for a minute. if you don't cuff up, we will come in on you and use oc. >> [ bleep ]. come and get me.
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come and get me. coming up, the extraction team moves in. and later -- >> this is your maximum security unit inside of a maximum security prison. >> killing time in the hole. >> i'm being accused of attempted murder to a staff. [ bleep ]. it's not a candy bar. 130 calories 7 grams of protein the new fiber one caramel nut protein bar. what makes a sleep number store different? what makes a sleep number you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those. if you want a soft bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. welcome to the sleep number summer closeout. where you'll find great savings on the extraordinary sleep number bed, as we make room for our latest sleep innovations. this is your body there.
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inmate steven blevins, suffering the effects of having gone off his medication, has been continuously pounding the walls of his cell at the spring creek correctional facility in alaska for more than an hour. >> mr. blevins, we need you to come over here and cuff up. >> [ bleep ]. >> with blevins refusing orders to cuff up, it's up to the prison's special response team to forcefully remove him from his cell so that he can be given his medication.
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first, they attempt to subdue him with pepper spray. >> mr. blevins, cuff up. >> the burning spray eventually brings compliance. >> ah! >> blevins is removed from his cell and sedated. he is strapped into a restraint chair and watched until he no longer poses a threat to himself. >> mr. blevins, do you have any injuries you want to report? no? >> never crossed my mind one time other than to tell someone that i'm not interested in doing it. you know? >> today, spring creek staff uses medication and therapy to help blevins serve his 45-year
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sentence. >> even though he's done a horrible double murder, he's still a person and he has to have some kind of human contact. so what i try to focus on is just a relationship. we try to be alert to prisoners' mental status, to make sure they're not thinking of harming themselves or someone else. beyond that, we try to help them be together enough to serve their time and serve it as quietly and peacefully as possible. >> serving time quietly and peacefully is exactly how we found ramona rosario. in the gym at the north carolina correctional institution for women. she was a long way from home. >> i'm originally from dominican republic. i live in new york city. and that was my first time that i come to north carolina and i got in trouble. >> seven years earlier, rosario agreed to carry a package for a
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friend. she's now serving 18 to 24 years for trafficking heroin. >> i don't know anyone down here. i need to go home and be with my children. my children need me, and i think i have done enough time. >> rosario told us that she had one source of comfort from the seemingly endless amount of time she must be away from home. then she showed us what it was. ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ ♪ that saved a wretch like me i like to sing. i've been singing since i was little. i remember when i used to sing in my country when i was like 5, 6 years old. i've been singing a long time. now i have to sing in here.
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♪ my mother, she sing beautiful, and i think it's the talent in the family. ♪ >> but not all inmates make such harmonious use of their time or their voices. >> i wish death on all you [ bleep ]. >> at iowa state penitentiary, our crew went inside the unit that houses the state's most chronic offenders, cell house 220. known inside the walls as the hole. >> shut up! [ bleep ] you. >> this is unit cell house 220, the disciplinary detention unit for long-term disciplinary detention inmates. this is your maximum security
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unit inside of a maximum security prison. here's where we house all the disciplinary detention inmates that couldn't be handled in our general population area. now we have to deal with them over here. >> the co's told us these inmates are among the most incorrigible of all inmates within the prison. and my observation was that they seemed to be lacking in the ability to restrain their impulsive behavior. >> i'm in here for cutting myself and stuff like that. getting a bunch of reports for flooding my cell and stuff like that. >> and some are in for more violent deeds. our female producer was warned to keep a safe distance from luis nieves. >> just don't get too close. but yeah. >> i'm being accused of attempted murder to the staff. >> nieves is known at iowa state as the monster. he was appealing a murder conviction when we met him. >> were your victims or alleged
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victims mostly women or all women or what? >> i'm not allowed to say that. >> convicted of brutally killing a woman on the outside, he's in disciplinary detention for viciously assaulting a female prison worker. he claims the charges were made up. >> sometimes they got to cover their ass. they don't want to lose their pretty job. without this job, they ain't nothing. me on the other hand, job or no job, i'm still going to be the same individual. >> do you consider yourself a totally innocent man? >> i'm not an angel, i can tell you that. but i'm not a monster like everybody thinks me to be. >> in the cell next to nieves, we met robert harris. >> it's bad. i mean, all there is to do in here, you got to listen to other people banging on stuff. officers constantly running in on them and cussing. just a lot of crazy stuff. you know, what i call thugs.
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there's always somebody bugging out. there's always somebody causing trouble in the cellhouse. >> harris is serving ten years for forgery in order to obtain prescription narcotics. it's his behavior inside the institution that keeps him in 220. >> i'm in here on, like, three assaults. >> in fact, just days before our crew arrived, harris assaulted an officer escorting him to the shower. >> putting urine in a cup, mixing shampoo with it, he was in the shower taking a shower, takes it and throws it in the officer's face when the officer comes by. >> because i was so mad. right? i just wanted to prove to them there ain't nothing they can do to me to make me do what they want me to do. >> i don't want you to think every inmate we have in here is raising hell and causing problems. but there is a goodly number that is doing that. >> and for many of these inmates, killing time becomes cruel sport. our cameras rolled as they unleashed a seemingly endless barrage of insults on each other.
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>> hey, brianna, you was talking about how you suck [ bleep ] out at the rec pen. hey -- >> you show your [ bleep ]? >> he's really in here for prostitution. >> this is a very harsh environment for them because the other inmates will egg them on. they're very easily persuaded. >> you're special, brian. >> pants down and show all the inmates' butts. >> when i get out to the yard and i see these people out there, i'm going to smash them. you know, that's what it all amounts to. up next -- >> you don't feel like you're going to hurt anybody else? >> no. >> okay. >> the inmates in iowa's cell house 220 greet a new young arrival with taunts and threats. >> i'm scared to death where i'm at because i don't know what's going to happen.
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cell house 220 at iowa state penitentiary houses the most disruptive inmates in the entire state. this is administrative segregation, also known as ad seg. >> the first time i entered ad seg, i was completely blown away by the cacophony of noise. every single prisoner seemed to be screaming at the top of their lungs and every single scream was an insult directed toward someone else. >> iowa state penitentiary is a maximum security institution, and there are challenges every day just by a virtue of the type of inmate we have here. many are here because of their lengthy sentences but an awful lot of them are here by virtue of their conduct at other prisons. this is the end of the road for them. >> and our cameras were rolling as the latest van full of trouble arrived. >> we're expecting 12 inmates coming in. they'll be processed in, their photos taken, height and weight and they'll be processed and sent to the appropriate cell
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houses. >> among those on their way to cell house 220 is jeremy fickling, a baby-faced inmate with a penchant for violence. fickling is serving four years for assaulting a police officer. he was transferred to iowa state for allegedly throwing bodily fluids on a correctional officer. >> you don't feel like you're going to hurt anybody else? >> no. >> okay. all right. if things change, you're feeling bad, feeling like you might hurt yourself or somebody else, you need to tell the officers, okay? all right. >> despite his sheepish demeanor, officers aren't about to take any chances. a police dog escorts fickling all the way to 220. >> some of the inmates are assaultive. that's why they're here, a little extra security. >> entering the unit, fickling is both a new topic of conversation and a new target. >> hey, buddy. >> yeah? >> who is this? >> jeremy. >> from anamosa? where's he at now?
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>> a-2. >> they got the camera on him? >> yeah. >> don't do it, jeremy. it's a setup. jeremy, don't do it. >> tell me what's been going on since you've been in prison. where did you come from today? >> i came from state anamosa penitentiary. due to an inmate causing some problems. they accused me of throwing -- >> hang on. hang on. >> as our cameras roll, fickling's new neighbors continually attempt to disrupt the interview. >> i'm scared to death where i'm at because i don't know what's going to happen. i don't, you know, supposedly they say this is the worst penitentiary in iowa. >> but as we learned later, fickling's new neighbors have equal cause to be wary of him. >> the reason i'm mainly in lockup is because i got in a fight. that was my original thing while i was in ft. dodge. i assaulted this inmate with urine and feces. >> i don't want to sound ignorant. how do you use your bodily fluids and throw it on somebody?
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>> i mean -- i used a cup. i mean, there's crazier inmates. they'll put [ bleep ] in their hand and throw it at you. i mean, you got inmates that will smear it on the walls and write graffiti. i mean, it just depends on what your mind frame is. that's not me. i don't do that kind of thing. that shows like a little kid, a little kid playing in the toilet or something. that's just not a grown man thing, you know? but obviously i couldn't get to him, and he kept disrespecting me on the range. so i just dumped in my toilet. there was some pissy water in there and i winged it on him. water, whatever was in my toilet at the time that i done it. >> as we concluded our interview, cell house 220 was finally calm. but fickling's final words to us indicated things might not remain so. >> me, i don't know, i'll probably mess up somewhere along the line, you know. it's not easy doing time. next on "lockup: raw" --
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>> it's just a bunch of evil, through stuff at the time. >> it might be illegal, but prison. >> that's the first thing they do when they come in here is tattoo their body up. hoo-hoo hoo. sir... i'll get it together i promise... heeheehee. jimmy: ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? ronny:i'd say happier than the pillsbury doughboy on his way to a baking convention. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.
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hey there. i'm veronica de la cruz. here's what's happening. the state department is warning americans not to travel to egypt. the warning comes as violent protests rage there. in alexandria, an american college student was stabbed to death. a third man tied to former new england patriots player aaron hernandez is in custody. hernandez has been charged with murdering, with the murder, a killing of a semipro football player. random house now cutting ties with paula deen. celebrity chef has signed a five-book deal with the publisher. now back to "lockup." due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised.
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behind bars, tattooing is more than a favorite pastime, it's a passion, if not an addiction, in every prison we visited. >> that's the first thing they do when they come in here, is tattoo their body up. >> tattooing's cool. it's a fun thing to do. >> some of them don't make a bit of sense but they have them on there, they're covered. they all want them. >> i've got a couple years on a gravestone down here. a couple of my prison years. just a bunch of evil, crazy stuff, because i was going through some stuff at that time. >> go to almost any prison in america and you'll find an amazing assortment of tattoos. it's gotten to a point where we have a standard question our field producers ask the inmates. can you tell me about your tats? >> as you can see, i'm tattooed up. i'm from south vallejo. i represent south vallejo, always have, always will. 707, solana county. >> done by a good friend of mine. his name's carlos.
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this is joey. good homies, you know? >> i got all of my dead homies on my stomach, across my chest, on my forearm. all did. joe joe, nicky, melody, harper. little bobby. you know, so on and so forth. >> the one that means a lot to me is the one on the back. the guy is dead though. he got out of prison and did an overdose. joseph did this. came back for a few, 36 years. caught his lady in bed with somebody else. he came back. >> the three stars, i won't tell you about that. >> they may list their street gang or their neighborhood where they gang-banged on the streets. >> the whole tattoo thing really needs to be evaluated on an individual level. you ask me, i tell you what mine mean. someone else may mean something else. used to be you went to prison, you put spiderwebs on your arms. nowadays, certain gangs are using spiderwebs as murder symbols.
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>> lot of people trip out on it. that's just a part of life. you know? >> are there messages in here? >> a lot of evil stuff. i like kicking it out there with the bikers and stuff now. back on up, you know what i mean? because i beat you down. ain't going to show no mercy on me. that's for sure. because i don't even know you. disrespect me or somebody's going to come up to me and try to jack me up, i'll get them first, you know what i mean? it's every man for himself. >> but some prison tattoos can cause trouble. that's what charles pelham, an inmate at san quentin discovered about the tattoo on his forehead. but first, we asked about his missing leg. >> i had an accident, i fell off of a moving freight train and the wheel ran over me, crushed my foot. >> then he showed us the troublesome tattoo. >> it's a tattoo of a nazi flag. you know, it's supposed to mean that i represent the nazi clan.
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the rest of the brothers of the lodge, so to speak. i had this put on my face when i was a youngster. you understand? i wanted to make a political statement. i also wanted to impress my girlfriend, but it impressed her the wrong way and she got rid of me. >> why do you wear the hat? >> because there's people in here that tell me the thing on my face is not cool and they don't want to have to look at it. so i wear the hat and that's peace in the valley. does that explain anything? >> but none of our crews ever had a tattoo encounter quite like the one at utah state prison. moment that i first set eyes on curtis algire. it's really quite shocking to see the ss lightning bolts, swastikas, nazi imagery, and peeking out of that cell i was
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>> curtis algire and his cousin tony pete were covered head to toe in tattoos, many of which were applied by algire, himself. >> i do my whole face, my left >> how do you deal with the >> when you do it yourself, it's not near as bad. >> in the prison system, we do not authorize or condone tattooing. they come up with methods to do it. violation that it can land an >> i just did 14 months in the >> why? >> for tattooing. >> prison tattoos are applied are often confiscated during cell searches. ink and a homemade tattoo gun. >> they make their own tattoo from portable radios or tape
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>> use a pin, get a little battery or electrical socket or something >> spin the needle and it will go back and forth. were to ever accidentally leave a camera in prison overnight, >> before being sent to the hole bosheres was a prolific tattoo correctional center in alaska. artists is to not recognize an getting in trouble. it's a highly sterilized process on the streets. all the shops and stuff, it's very clinical. best we can. but kind of ramshackle materials we have to use, pens and guitar we don't have the autoclaves and sonic sterilizers and that stuff streets. new needles, stuff like that. i would like them to let us do tattoos, let us have all the
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sterilizations techniques. it's a part of the prison culture. out there now, too. it's a legitimate trade on the streets, and if they would promote it here, it would be a pretty good trade. people would get out of here licensed. you can even tattoo, yourself, but if we get that done here, people can get out, go out there, make money legitimately. i think if they just let us do positive thing. coming up on "lockup: >> if i wanted to be a political not necessarily his politics -- >> one inmate kills time with current events. president bush and his budget you'd be surprised, we discuss and later -- steel bars give and healthiest products for their family. that's why i created the honest company. i was just a concerned mom, with a crazy dream.
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it's monday at california's kern valley state prison. for inmate marcus armstrong, that means it's laundry day. >> a lot of guys don't trust the laundry. we do the laundry ourselves. some do it in the sink. me, i do it in the shower so i can really get it clean. soap it up, rinse it out, wring it out. get a little workout in the meantime. good as new after two hours. just like mamma taught me. >> it's also the best night for television. >> monday night, primetime tv come on and i watch the primetime shows. my favorite shows right now are "24," "smallville," "grey's anatomy," "desperate housewives." you know what i'm saying?
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i love you, bree. redhead. >> armstrong's weekly routine will continue indefinitely. he's serving 25 years to life for first-degree murder. >> sometimes i can see the victim in my case when i'm walking, you know what i'm saying? it's like demons that never go away. i have dreams about it, you know? >> the victim was a friend who learned that armstrong was involved in drug dealing and credit card fraud. >> she was an ex-girlfriend of mine, but we still lived together at the time. so at the time i guess you could say she was a roommate, you know what i'm saying? started finding out what i was doing, started infringing on her life. and she started getting scared and tried to stop me and didn't listen. and there's been this discrepancy now about whether she was going to the police and talking about it or who she was telling who i was involved with. and it led to her -- i can't even phrase it. it shouldn't have happened, what happened to her shouldn't have happened to her. >> armstrong told us he chose to
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plead guilty even though he wasn't the hit man. >> i knew what happened. i was definitely complicit. you know, i mean, i could have stopped it and i didn't. i can't blame anybody but myself personally. my mom and dad are married. you know, i'm from an inner city, but i was in the good part of the inner city. went to one of the best schools in the bay area, st. francis high school. mostly middle class family. i don't have no excuse for being here. >> once in prison, armstrong earned an additional six-year sentence. >> the sergeant sprayed a guy in a wheelchair for no reason. i didn't like it and i harmed him. >> what does that mean? >> physically hurt him. >> and what happened? physically hurt me back. >> that impulse to defend disabled inmates is now a key part of how he spends his long days in prison. >> i'm an a.d.a. supporter. that means i help the wheelchair people, anybody that have canes, wheelchairs, whatever and i'm also a slash porter.
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i keep the pod clean. in the morning, sweep the pods, clean the windows, whatever. clean the sinks. keep everything clean. once i get that done, i go to the wheelchair guys and see if clean. the yard, push them back. armstrong still faces the i compare it to that. every day it's like a drip, drip, drip. it's like you got sentenced. if i got out of here tomorrow, i back. i don't deserve to come back tomorrow. i go to the parole board and i'm deserve to be back out there karma really has something to
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his passion for current events. i get "tv guide," "xxl," "rolling stone," "newsweek," "blender." i get nine periodicals. i was going to major in english political columnist. like george will -- not necessarily his politics. sorry george. i watch abc news, i see george stephanopoulos talking. >> yeah. bill o'reilly. and i see your colleague, tom brokaw. that's what i wanted to get into. i love politics. you know what i'm saying? i see the katrina response. his budget cuts. that gets my juices going. >> and in prison, he's for his brand of political punditry. >> i have a subscription to "usa
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i let everybody read it. i write little comments. you'd be surprised, we discuss things in here. violence or gangs. we discuss issues. people are surprised the you know what i'm saying? response to an unexpected line of questioning from our producer on the pin-ups decorating his most of them come out of "xxl" but sided toward the hip hop they're not nude, they're all clothed, albeit scantily. >> uh-huh. they're very artistic, marcus. it's nice you represent minorities, but it's not so nice about women. not so nice about women. >> it's a bit misogynist. i'm going on 11 years, right,
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and all i dealt with is men, so but you'd be surprised -- myself personally, i read a lot of got another chance out there, i'm going to respect a woman. i'm not going to just objectify her. >> i'm just giving you a hard >> during our interview, armstrong saw a chance for his >> a lot of people in here are drug offenders, three strikes, i really believe there should be something done for rehabilitation. you know, it could be such a new if they get to the "r" part, they're not rehabilitating you got the internet out there. you know, people, i got the tomorrow and i'm pretty intelligent.
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a lot of guys came here, level getting out, they're not i always hear the christian right talking about religion. you know what i'm saying? jesus went to the lowest to low to preach. if you reach these guys, they'll be your most powerful warriors to push your agenda. give some of these guys a chance. a chance. you'd be surprised. that's all i have to say. up next -- machine. >> instead of taking it out on purdy. what makes a sleep number store different?
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cooped up in small cells,
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rarely seen beyond prison walls and razor wire, doing time inevitably takes a toll. >> as crowded as this place is, there's a lot of tension. seems like no matter where you go, you're bumping into someone. you know, and that really wears on you after a while. you know, you got to get away from it. >> inmate tommy miser never told us what landed him in iowa's anamosa state penitentiary, but when he showed us what he does to escape, it blew our crew away. ♪ anamosa is one of two prisons we visited with a music room fully stocked with instruments. inmates who earn the privilege come here to jam. >> it's like my pacifier. it keeps me level. keeps me from getting angry all the time and keeps me from doing something stupid. so i've got this to look forward to.
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wanted us to know one thing -- they're no cover band. tommy writes all the music, i >> we all need each other to make this band happen. if one of us gets locked up for the band. mainly, the guitar player, there's only a few around here that plays as good as he does. prison. you're no longer in prison up here. it's just like you're in a club a concert or something and you forget about what's going on out there. you forget about your 6 x 8 cell
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and all that stuff. it. ♪ they start with nothing, they come up in the ten years or five >> craig campbell has been running anamosa's music program for over 25 years. >> i mean, the music is all over the map. and we have the mexican bands we have an asian group for lack all the original sounds and they
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all have to come and work within to a whole different level. my home is here basically. create my own beats, my own music, my own lyrics. it's just fun for me. >> it's amazing. i think we're probably the ♪ >> i believe as a whole you would get along a lot better if we explore music and stop a, b, c, d, e, f, g. music is the key. out and relax, man. working at the only other band kentucky state penitentiary.
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>> i get mad sometimes. man. i get angry. anybody, i take it out on miss >> why the name? >> why the name? she is purdy. she is my favorite color, blue. >> convicted of robbery, began serving his 390-year sentence in 1985. days, he keeps time his own way. >> it just oozes from my pores, man. i mean, music is all i have. nothing else is going to last. music is always going to be there for me. and we had a long schedule of events that day. quite honestly kind of lost
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the guys were jamming out and we just didn't really want to actually at one point our production assistant got up and sang with the fellows for a ♪ >> your heartbeat is your rhythm. you've always got that rhythm. that's up to you. there is no way. they can take all of the microphones and all the stuff have this. and i've still got this and i they cannot take music. and the only way they can ever take your soul is if you give it
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america's prisons. dangerous. often deadly. there are 2 million people doing time. every day it's a battle to survive and to maintain order. >> down on your feet. down. >> pendleton juvenile is the last stop in indiana. for young offenders who have committed serious crimes. we spent months inside. where the staff is determined to rehabilitate impulsive teams who are often angry and violent. this is "lockup: pendleton juvenile extended stay."

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