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. a marine violates the code and now faces a murder charge. a would-be soccer mom takes up with a violent street gang.

>> i didn't look in the back. i didn't want to see the body. >> an openly gay inmate adheres to the convict code and pays the price. >> they say i was involved and i wasn't involved. >> you know i told you what we saw on camera, right? >> a former karate instructor is charged with a fatal act of arson. >> it was just five minutes, whatever in time, that just kind of ruined everything. >> and a young inmate goes home to the father who had him arrested. >> you better hope to god they do not let me come nowhere near you. because i swear to god, il knock every [ bleep ] out of your mouth. >> over the years of producing "lockup" we've interviewed hundreds of inmates across the country in various maximum security prisons and jails. really their stories break down into two broad categories. the first, inmates that brag about their heinous crimes and leave no doubt as to why they're behind bars.

but the second and more puzzling category is the one where you kind of wonder, how did someone like you get into so much trouble. >> during our extended stay shoot at the orange county jail, we met more than one inmate who provoked that question, including a marine who valued strength above most other qualities. >> i grew up in strong island new york. that's the name we call long island. i was always going to get strong island on my back. i decided to switch it up and just get strong land. my kind of original twist to it. we breed strong men in long island, pretty much. and everywhere we go, pretty much let everybody know we're from long island, you know what i mean? >> even though christian carney was facing the most serious of charges, he still approached his workout routine with all the discipline of the marine he once was. while we have witnessed many in-cell workouts before, it was

what carney did afterwards that caught our attention. >> question. you're flexing. why are you flexing? >> every time i work out a specific muscle group, i'll flex it immediately after. it's called iso tension. everything i've learned i've learned from arnold schwarzenegger, his books. he was very big in body on flexing. he's a champion body builder. he's my hero. anything he says i'm going to do. >> along with conditioning, carney kept up another marine tradition, maintaining a clean shaven head at almost any price. >> while we filmed christian shaving his head, it seemed to go on forever. i don't know if it was the fact that his razor was so dull or the fact that he had no shaving cream, but it just turned into a bloody mess. >> it's part of the jail experience. you haven't been to jail unless you've chopped up head with a razor. did i miss any spots? >> did you use the aftershave? make sure you get that. yeah. >> i'm fine. >> what's that?

>> make sure you don't get infected, you know. >> when christian applied the after shave to his head, there was an uncomfortable laughter among all of us. we knew if it was us, we would be screaming in pain. but, he went about it as if it was nothing. you can see that he was sucking it up, and i think that's what made us laugh a little bit, because we knew deep inside he really felt it. >> but at the time of our extended stay shoot in orange county, carney was facing far more serious issues. he was awaiting trial, charged with the murder of a fellow marine. he had pled not guilty. but prosecutors say that carney had acquired a large sum of money by dealing drugs to other marines. they say carney's alleged victims stole the money, and that when carney found out, he and his co-defendant, also a marine, drove the victim to a remote area in orange county, and shot him four times.

>> when this case kind of blew up, i guess i was kind of looked at as just number one enemy of the marine corps. you know what i mean? trial for murder, karn wow not discuss the allegations. but in a separate case, had he already been convicted and sentenced to six years for dealing drugs to other marines. and that was a topic he was willing to discuss. >> i'll tell you right now, marines are going to do drugs. they're just like anybody else. you got 18-year-old kids coming in, college age. you know what i mean? some of them haven't even ever drank or anything like that in their lives. first time away from their parents. they're going to screw around, you know. and maybe it's not the best thing, you know, to be providing marines with that. not saying that's what i did, but that's what they charged me with. but you know what, if they don't get it from me, they're going to get it from somebody else. maybe they're going to go into a dangerous area to get it. at least they get it from somebody they know. they know it's safe. they know it's reliable. i don't know.

maybe that's bad philosophy. but believe you me, marines are going to do drugs. they're going to do it. >> because i was in the navy for ten years and christian carney was a marine, we did have an initial bond, and it did honestly rub me the wrong way because i feel like when you take an oath of honor and courage and commitment, you need to stand behind the code of the united states marine corps. and to see him justifying his actions as far as the drug use and the drug dealing, it did bother me. it did bother me. >> in our final interview with carney who served seven months in iraq and was awarded a good conduct medal, he once again spoke more like a marine than a convicted drug dealer and murder suspect. >> since i've been in jail i've been reduced to living out of a paper bag, i've recognized my potential. this has enabled me to recognize my potential. and i believe that sometimes in order to come up strong, you have to be put down as far as

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these are cracker bolts. it's a racist thing. >> every one of these got a story behind it. >> while many of the male inmates we meet in the course of shooting lockup wear their past

crimes or notorious affiliations on their bodies in ink, the majority of female inmates rarely give any hints in their physical appearances about the details of their past or the uncertainties of their futures. on our first day of shooting at the orange county jail in southern california, we interviewed a young mother who served as a prime example. >> can you tell me your name and how to spell it please. >> julie shanholtzer. s-h-a-n-h-o-l-t-z-e-r. >> on the first day of our extended stay shoots, we don't generally conduct extensive interviews. we go around and meet people and try to find out what they're there for. while we were doing this we saw julie shanholtzer. sitting over here talking to a group of inmates. she stood out. because she seemed very at ease in her environment. >> you're not allowed to shower unless i'm in the shower with you. yeah.

>> they're only taking her feet. >> and that prompted us to go and speak to her. >> you look like a california girl. you look like a beach bunny. >> that's what i want to be. one day. i don't dress weird. i dress like a mom. i want to be going to school to be a pastor. i found that drive in me now, and i'm so happy and proud of myself that i haven't changed my appearance. >> hands in your pockets. walk. >> i think i've gotten used to seeing the girl next door coming in. they make mistakes. they can't function out there. i've been a deputy for nine years, and i've known inmate shanholtzer for about my whole career. she's been in and out for various crimes. and now she's in for a violation. but she's always been a model inmate. very respectful. follows through the rules. gets along with others. >> it was difficult to align julie's appearance and

personality with her past, which included prior incarcerations, drug use, ties to a notorious gang, a brush with murder, and motherhood. >> i have three daughters that are adopted by their grandmother. and i have a beautiful little boy. >> how long has it been since you've seen your daughters? >> it's been nine years since i've seen my daughters. >> why is that? >> because i can't stay out of jail for over a year. i will not be a yo-yo mommy. once i'm out of jail for a year, then i will slowly try to work myself back in to their lives. this is not who i wanted to be. this is not what i wanted to be, but addiction is a gnarly, gnarly thing. >> open the door. >> a year earlier, shanholtzer was given a six-year suspended sentence, placed on parole, and required to go to a drug treatment program after pleading guilty to possession of a controlled substance. when she failed to attend the

drug program, the judge reinstated her six-year sentence. >> thank you. >> but shanoltzer said she had taken her recovery into her own hands. >> i got clean and sober. got my first job. radd member of my church. i'm learning how to drive. i'm 30 years old. i don't know how to drive. i'm going to school and i'm doing everything i can, and i finally got sick and tired of being on the run. so i turned myself in. i turned myself in with 36 members of my church with me, and i still got six years. >> shanholtzer's latest troubles paled in comparison to some of her past run-ins with the law. in her early 20s, she befriended members of a notorious street gang. >> i hooked up with them because i did drugs. and you do drugs you meet all kinds of walks of life. >> so you weren't in the gang? >> no. >> you were just doing drugs? >> dating a couple of them. >> one night, some of her

friends from the gang told her to take a ride with them in the truck. in the back was one of their victims, a decomposing 3-day-old corpse. shanholtzer says she was used as a prop to make others in the truck look less suspicious. >> i was asked to get in the truck because i don't have tattoos. i don't look the part of the white supremacist gang. and i did. i got in the truck. somebody tells you -- some guy with tattoos all over the place tells you to get in this truck and you smell the body, you know it's in there. you don't go no, never mind, i don't think so, i'm going to go home. no, you just go and you say okay and you pray to god that there's going to be a chance for you to get away from it. i kept on spraying perfume in the back so we didn't smell it. i didn't look in the back. i didn't want to see the body. >> a month later shanholtzer was arrested for murder. the charge was eventually reduced to accessory after the fact. she pled guilty and served a 16-month sentence at the orange

county jail. >> why were you running with that gang in the first place? >> my children's father was one of their friends. just start hanging out with all of his friends. and all his friends treated me like i was the princess, and i had troubles when i was going through school being made fun of. their nickname for me was julie germs. i don't know why they called me that. and all of it kind of coincided when i was finally mrs. popular, and i was like, you know, and -- i was popular once. for once. >> with? >> with the wrong people. a child is born to us. a son is given to us and he will be our ruler. he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty god, eternal father, prince of peace. but the angels said to him -- >> her ordeal with the gang did not end with her prior sentence. as part of her plea bargain, she

testified against one of the gang members. now she fears that if she has to serve her six years in state prison, her life will be in jeopardy. >> those people are not nice people. they're murderers. and it's not just one. it's multiple people. and they want to kill me. >> at the time of our shoot in orange county, shanholtzer was appealing her six-year sentence, and requesting that if she did have to serve the time, she do so at the orange county jail, where she felt more protected. >> that is one of my saints with my name. st. therese. >> very nifty. >> she also made a few good friends in the jail and developed a constructive daily routine. >> i'm not surprised that people that can't necessarily get it together out in the real world come in here and function very well in a controlled environment. many people do in here. >> hey there, handsome.

thank you. >> i am still learning life because i didn't know life. i'm 30 years old, just learning how to drive. but you know what, i'm doing it. i'm learning it. there's a lot of girls in here that don't know how. and i'm going to school, and i have dreams now, and i can help people. that's what i want to do. >> coming up -- >> hi, boys. >> peaches was one of those inmates that stands out in your mind years after you leave a prison. he's very flamboyant. very forthright. very honest. >> one inmate's independence is put to the test by the convict code. la's known definitely for its traffic,

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the convict code is something we've seen in most of the prisons we've visited. it comes down to you hear nothing, you see nothing, you say nothing. you do your time and mind your business. we met one inmate who observed the convict code but was also open about being gay, and that's a combination you rarely find in prison. >> hi. all the men in there. hey! kenneth morgan is serving nine years for forgery and drug trafficking when we met him during our extended stay shoot at the penitentiary of new mexico. >> i told him i had more legs than a bucket of chicken. i do, i tell you. >> he was known to most of the prison by his nickname, peaches. >> you going to get a gang tattoo on your back? >> it says peaches all the way across the back. >> it better not. >> peaches is one of those inmates that stands out in your

mind years after you leave a prison. he's very flamboyant, very forthright, very honest. >> like a poker party. you get around all five of them, oh, one, two, three, four, five. and you forgot to invite me. >> morgan says openness and honesty has served him well in an environment where homophobia can run rampant. >> i was 100% open that i was gay. that's the way i live my life and i wasn't going to hide it. people took more of a liking to me, a trust to me. i wasn't considered a liar like somebody that's hiding it. you know, it's the distrust there. it's all about trust being in prison. it's like, it's an open house. thank you. >> but honestly alone wasn't always enough. >> i've had to fight quite a few times. i'm not going to have anything taken from me. not material things, i mean sexual bodily function things, too. i'm not having anything taken from me. you have to stand your grand but

i'll put the purse down and i'll put my wallet on, okay? and i'll have to fight. you have to. and once you fight, they back off you. they respect you. what are you going to do with the pickles, may i ask? too hot for me. too caliente. >> morgan also earned the respect of other inmates as well as compensation in the form of commissary goods by providing skilled services not often found in prison. among other things, he's a tailor. >> now stand up here on the chair. i ain't getting on my knees, honey. you got me twisted. i'm not getting on my knees. >> you do it any other time. >> [ bleep ] >> none of the straight inmates were embarrassed to be seen with peaches. and that was also unusual in a general population setting. >> for a gay man in prison, it's like disney land. you just don't know what ride to get on. my family goes, are you ready to come home? i said yeah i'm ready to come

home, i just haven't earned my mickey mouse ears yet. so a couple more years and i've got my mickey mouse ears and i'm out the door. uh-huh. and i'm taking all the rides with me. i'll go ahead and fill out the paperwork and then i'll have you sign it. >> morgan also held a prison job as an inmate advocate. a sort of amateur lawyer for inmates facing sanctions for rule violations. >> on this i'm going to try to get you suspended sanctions. >> while morgan lived in the minimum security level two section of the penitentiary of new mexico, he was awaiting transfer to an even less restrictive level one prison, commonly known as the farm. >> i told them, it's like disney land. oh, i'm going to disney land. go find a ride. >> the farm is a lot more freedom. it's four-foot fences. you know, you're pretty much on your own will. you do what you want to do, you know. it's all trust that you build up. >> peaches was told he had six months to stay disciplinary free

in order to go to a lower level facility. that seemed pretty easy to do since he was so well acclimated in that prison. >> morgan! >> but adherence to the convict code would soon cost morgan his place in general population and the transfer he'd been waiting for. after a fight in his dorm, surveillance video caught morgan trying to clean up the blood. >> you could be a firsthand witness to an actual crime, but if you live by the convict code, you see nothing, you hear nothing, and you say nothing, and that was the case unfortunately with peaches. he was witness to a crime. but he wouldn't cop to it. >> morgan was moved to the segregation unit pending an investigation into his role in the fight. but he denied any involvement, even when confronted by deputy warden joni brown. >> they said i was involved, jodi, and i wasn't involved. >> okay. but you know what i told you we caught it all on videotape. >> but i wasn't in the fight or involved in the fight or nothing.

>> so you stood there, you watched them clean up the blood -- >> no, i did not stand there and watch them clean up the blood. >> well, the videotape has a little bit different take on it. >> the video doesn't lie. you can clearly see peaches trying to clean up the aftermath of this crime. >> coming up -- >> i want to show you the video. >> okay. >> okay? >> kenneth morgan is confronted by the evidence. >> and who is this? >> that's me. >> and then -- >> hi guys. >> by an inmate who just might take his place. >> mr. peach, you've got competition. >> he don't have a beard. so then the little tiny chipmunks go all the way up...

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i'm veronica de la cruz. nbc news has learned the white house also brief republican senators on syria in a conference call saturday. this has president obama says he is considering a limited narrow military response against the regime for chemical attacks against its own people. slight pain at the pump this

holiday weekend. aaa says the average price for a gallon of gas rose two cents to 3 it $59 a gallon. i'm veronica de la cruz. back to "lockup." due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. and there's miss rivera. smile. >> kenneth morgan, also known as peaches, was one of the more memorable inmates we met at the penitentiary of new mexico. his life in prison is marked by a clear duality. >> hi, boys! >> he was an open, if not flamboyantly gay inmate living in general population. but when it came to adhering to the inmates' unwritten code of conduct, he made it clear, he was no different than anyone else. during our shoot he had received one of his rare disciplinary write-ups for helping cover up a bloody fight between two other

inmates. >> right here, this is peaches. looks like he's got the shirt that was taken from the inmate. looks like he was rubbing the floor right here. so that's one of my biggest issues right there. i want to show you the video. okay? so get over here. who is this? >> that's me. >> and what does it appear that you're doing right there? >> kicking the shirt. >> not cleaning up blood. or nothing like that? >> i just kicked it up. that's all i did. i didn't clean anything. >> why would you do that? >> because i was actually way over here by my cubicle and i kicked it all the way around giving it to them, telling them to deal with it. >> so you still deny your participation, huh? were you supervising the cleanup or what? >> no, i was just telling him he shouldn't be doing that. actually. >> all right. so you can understand my concern, right? >> yes. >> later morgan explained to us that the convict code demand he process his innocence even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

>> this is a prison. i don't care if it's level one, two or three. or four, five, six. i don't care what it is. it's just the ethics, you know. you see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. i'm going to turn around and walk away. even if i seen it and i was standing right next to it, you know what i'm saying? i'm going to turn around because i didn't see it. >> morgan was due to be held in segregation until an official hearing would determine his role in the fight and what, if any, sanctions would be handed down. but after two days, prison officials determined they needed his segregation cell for a more problematic inmate and morgan was sent back to his housing unit. >> for a minute there we were absolutely peachless. now we're all peachy again. a real peach with lots of fuzz. look at that. hi, guys. but in the two days he was away, someone new had moved into the unit. >> mr. peach, you've got competition. >> i see. >> and you don't have a beard. >> the new arrival was gabriel

mcginnis, another openly gay inmate who preferred to be called diamond. >> so word in the housing unit was, ooh, there's going to be a big competition now because diamond was now center stage. so we were all anticipating the tv crew, as well as the other inmates, peaches' reaction to possibly being usurped. >> hi, how are you? >> good. >> just got down from lockdown. >> yeah? what did you do? >> they said i was in a fight. >> did you? >> no. >> what ended up happening between peaches and diamond was this very interesting friendship. a bond occurred almost instantly. >> i have a tattoo. i have a big one right here. >> which i think almost disappointed the other inmates, because they were expecting some kind of cat fight. >> i'm going to put the 12 right here. forget it. we're not making balls.

>> well, you two have become fast friends. >> yeah, we kind of click. we hit it off pretty good right away. it usually happens like that. i'm going to keep peaches out of trouble. >> but the inmates made it clear, they were just friends. >> you're both gay. >> mm-hmm. >> yes. >> so why would you not be interested in each other? gay people stay with gay people, no? >> that's a negative. >> no. >> that's a negative. >> can you explain to me? >> because we want the same in a relationship. there's like a role play i guess you'd say sort of. well, not really, vice versa. we're more of the feminine side than the butch side. >> he look too much like -- too fem for me. >> yeah. >> not only had morgan developed a friendship with the one other inmate most like himself, he received some good news from the disciplinary ward. they decided to suspend his sanctions. as a result, his transfer request to the lower security

prison was still under consideration. but near the end of our shoot in new mexico, morgan had stumbled again. >> peaches got locked up again. poor thing. >> why? >> smoking on suspended sanctions. >> how does it affect you? >> my friend is not here that i get to talk to a lot. he should be back by after 60 days. i don't really talk to nobody now that peaches is gone. >> i woke up. i needed a cigarette. me and a few other people, we were smoking and the lieutenant walks through and says can i have a drag and i said, sure, and turned around and handed it to him. boom, it's the lieutenant. lo and behold, there's the lieutenant. so, i got in trouble. one cigarette [ bleep ] and i'm here. >> with a second violation coming on the heels of his

first, morgan would pay a more serious price. he was given 60 days in segregation and a transfer to a new prison. but not to the lower security prison he had wanted to go to. >> i think you've worn out your welcome, and i've given you several chances, and i think a change of environment would do you good. >> watch your step there. >> peaches was very disappointed to find out his transfer was going to be to another penitentiary and not the one he had hoped for. but in prison you have so little control of your own lives, that most of these guys become very accepting of their fate. they know they only have so much leeway and once a decision is made, they have to go with it. >> i knew it was coming. i knew it was coming. how do i feel? sad. there's not much i can say. i'm still in prison. but everybody up and moves. everybody up and moves. it's probably better off for me. >> coming up -- >> i really wasn't thinking obviously.

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taking care of our customers. taking care of her. and the next thing on our list is bungee jumping. [ male announcer ] helping you -- now that's what's important to us. from his famous tent city housing unit to the striped uniforms and pink underwear for inmates, the maricopa county jail in phoenix, arizona, strives hard to be america's toughest jail. it's a reputation promoted by the man who runs it all, sheriff joe arpaio. >> i'm not a social worker. i'm not a psychologist. i'm a law enforcement guy. so if they don't like the way i operate the jails, i got one answer to everybody -- either get out of town, or if you're here, don't violate the law,

because you're not going into a hilton hotel in this county. >> get on the ground now! get on the ground now! drop down. 23, get down. >> with his wild west reputation, we didn't expect to meet two young people at maricopa who not much earlier were considered role models as opposed to felons. >> no matter where we are you need to be serving god. right now we're all sitting in jail. i'm a very devout christian. i've gotten back to my walk with god. i was working in my church and everything before coming here. it's not jailhouse conversion or whatever. i just followed a friend and shouldn't have done that and helped him do something that i shouldn't have done. and it's going to cost me several years of my life. >> during our extended stay series at maricopa we told the story of 20-year-old john antonucci, awaiting sentencing for manslaughter and arson. prior to his arrest, he was a popular black belt karate instructor for a company that taught sports to children.

one of his co-instructors is now his co-defendant. moniza murillo. >> i met john a couple years ago when he first got hired. we just started talking. he's overall a good guy. as a friend, we've always been close. we're like a team. >> one of the challenges in getting the inmates to reveal sometimes very personal stories is creating this connection with them. and with moniza, one of the things that we shared in common was a real affection for martial arts. i had studied martial arts and i was very interested in the martial arts that she had studied so we talked about that. i asked her to put me through some moves. and just going through a few forms and her showing me a few of her moves. that was the opening of that dialogue between us. >> murillo learned karate from

the same company that would later employ both antonucci and herself. >> i started karate when i was 10. i saw this flyer sa said, you know, karate lessons, cheerleading lessons. i showed my mom, i want to do karate. i want to do karate. she was like, okay, we'll take you. i kept going, kept going. i went to the advanced class, when i was a green belt. and i was able to lead the class. they listened to me there. i became the instructor. i became one of the instructors there. >> these young adults had a lot going for them. they were role models in the community. they had children who looked up to them. they were studying to go to school. they had achieved a black belt, which is an extraordinary significant achievement at a very young age. and it all went away on one stupid night. >> antonucci and another instructor, josh robinson, had allegedly been stealing from the company, and decided to burn down the building to cover their tracks. they recruited murillo to help. during the blaze, robinson was

killed and toy were charged with murder and arson. murillo immediately confessed to her role in the fire. >> i really wasn't thinking obviously. even the best of us get caught up sometimes. for the first time in my life my conscience didn't kick in and just say, don't do it. it was just five minutes, whatever, in time that just kind of ruined everything. >> and you've never been in jail? >> no. i've never been in trouble before at all. been a good citizen. i was going to college full time and on scholarship. and i was working. >> thank you. >> we were there during one of murillo's visits with her mother. >> hi mommy. >> i love you. >> i love you, too. >> i'm the baby in the family. i've always done good. i've always done my best to make her proud of me. when she came to visit me, she told me you're still the best daughter in the world. this doesn't change anything. >> how is everything here? >> it's all right.

it's boring. you guys get all my letters, right? she comes and visits me three days a week. if she could more, she definitely would. she gets really frustrated when they're like, okay, time's up. and she's like, no it's not. this is my daughter. you know what i mean? you can't tell me time's up. >> it's okay. i'll be out soon enough. we'll have pizza and everything. >> you don't realize how special a hug from your mom is until you can't do it no more. >> love you. >> love you. >> that's hands down one of the things that just ripped me apart. she's right there and i can't hug her. >> besides your family, what are the top things that you miss? >> i miss working out. being able to work out. having the room. having the energy. having the space. in here, as soon as you walk in through these doors, all your energy is good afternoon. >> both murillo and antonucci reached plea bargains with the district attorney to reduce their murder charges to manslaughter. antonucci was first to receive

his sentence. and because they were co-defendants, murillo was in court to observe. >> being there was just crazy. i tried to stay a little upbeat around john, even though it was such a bad time for him, but it was just -- it was hard. he got 14 years. being john's friend, i don't want to see him do 14 years. does he deserve it? i don't know. what am i going to get? it was just that much more scarier. i don't know to what degree they're holding me accountable. i don't know what the judge is thinking. since prosecutors found antonucci to be the ringleader, murillo would face a lighter sentence. prosecutor is asking for a year here and probation. so they're asking for the minimum, which is good. i'm praying really hard for it. if i get it, you know, then i'm going to be happy. because i'll already have more than halfway done. if i don't, then i honestly believe that god has a reason

for me going to doc, something i haven't learned yet. >> but things did not go as well for murillo as she had hoped. shortly after our shoot at maricopa she was sentenced to four years in prison and was transferred from the maricopa county jail to the arizona state prison system. coming up -- >> my dad's an emotional subject. he done what was right. >> a young inmate goes home to the father who turned him in. but on the way, one of our producers has her hands full. >> any time dogs and kids are around on a normal day shooting "lockup" it's kind of a good day. ask about the air optix® contacts so breathable they're approved for up to 30 nights of continuous wear. serious eye problems may occur. ask your doctor and visit airoptix.com for safety information and a free one-month trial. see, i knew testosterone could affect sex drive, but not energy or even my mood. that's when i talked with my doctor. he gave me some blood tests... showed it was low t.

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when we took our cameras to the rural farmlands of southwestern indiana for our "lockup: extended stay" series at the wabash valley correctional facility, we got a

unique look into lives of men who grew up in the small towns that dot america's heartland. few, however, came from the towns any smaller than the one in which wabash is located. >> we're actually driving into carlisle, indiana. we have the town store. but it's actually a really cool little town. it's -- i think it's very typical, small midwest town. this is our lunch spot. >> there's really good baked spaghetti and pizza. that's pretty much all that's on the menu. >> but it's good. >> during our shoot at wabash, we met a young man who appeared typical of many of the inmates. william jones jr. grew up in the small central indiana town of shelbyville, far away from the negative influences of big cities. >> it ain't very big. i like it. a lot of people don't like it. i like it. there's not a whole lot to do but, you know, just hang out with friends. wrong ones at that, i guess. >> hey, good morning.

>> jones' first run-in with the law came at age 9, when he was found guilty of stealing mail and committing arson. he had set fire to an abandoned semi truck in his neighborhood. >> friends were just talking me into it. i was like, all right. took lighter fluid and threw it in the back and set it on fire. that was the first one. it just kept going from there. i got criminal mischief for taking my dad's heart pills and putting them in little apples and throwing them over the fence to animals and stuff. i was just -- i was bad. >> jones says he began using drugs at age 11 and was soon selling them and stealing to support his habit. at 15 he was put on probation after assaulting the manager of the fast food restaurant where he worked. then at age 18, three years before we met him, jones was convicted of the burglary that would bring him to wabash. >> i was hanging out with the wrong people. and i was strung out on drugs and broke into a house.

>> jones stole several items including a tv and sold them for drugs. the house he robbed was his father's, and this time his father turned him in to the police. >> my dad is an emotional subject. he done what was right. i don't despise him in any way. i still love him like i did. >> having clearly lived a troubled life on the outside, we were curious to see how his life would continue to develop on the inside. but shortly after we met jones, his time at wabash was up. >> the day william jones jr. got released i was responsible for meeting the family at the front of the prison and driving with them to the back of the prison where william would be released. >> middle arm will go up. that will make it easier. >> thanks, guys. >> i was riding in the car with casey, who was william's brother and casey's girlfriend, and then their kids. they were really excited.

i mean, the energy level was really high. >> me and my brother are pretty close. i'm just glad i get to pick him up and not have to leave him here. i've been up here like eight different times and had to leave him here. it was hard. >> what do you have there? >> toothpaste. >> meanwhile, "lockup" director of photography, brian kelly, is covering jones as he processed out of the prison. >> there you go. take your i.d. with you. have a good one. >> appreciate it. >> good luck. stay out of here. >> it was very typical of what we do on a release. the paperwork, the processing, making sure they get their money, changing out the clothes. and very interesting stuff. but one of the more enjoyable elements of "lockup" for me is when i see the second-camera footage. to me it's always great to see that other side that i wasn't able to see when we were

actually filming. >> what's the first thing you're going to do when you see him? >> as releases inevitably move slowly, the segment producer tracy powell found herself outside the prison with a new responsibility. >> i was entertaining the children by sort of running around the car with alexi and having her chase me around. >> but powell soon got some unexpected help. >> two dogs kind of appeared out of nowhere. they came up to the vehicle where we were standing by. they let us pet them and got really comfortable around us and the kids. >> looks hike someone else wants to come home with you guys, too. >> the kids liked the dog so they kind of stuck around and jumped in the car. >> that doggie -- >> i don't know if they're going to leave. >> it was really unusual to see dogs. any time dogs and kids are around on a normal day shooting "lockup" it's kind of a good day. >> it turned out the dogs lived nearby and were frequent visitors to the prison grounds.

>> who are you looking for? >> junior! >> staff releasing gate three and gate two at this time. master control clear. 0917. >> when jones finally exited the prison's main gate, our camera teams met up and we said good-bye to jones and his family. >> see you later! >> but it wouldn't be the last we saw of him. we asked jones if we could follow up with him after he was settled back home. five days after his release, he was appreciating even the smallest perks of freedom. >> you don't have to sit there and ask to get your door rolled. you can walk in and out any time you want. you don't have to ask to go get something. i'm finally free, and it's amazing. >> we also met his father, william jones sr., who had turned him in to authorities after he burglarized his home. >> we had a lot of problems with him as a child. and i had just had enough.

i mean literally had had enough. >> i know me going to prison messed him up a lot. because he feels like it's his fault. and it's not. if i wasn't doing the things i was doing i would have never went. >> i lived for two years blaming myself for it, because of the amount of time that he got for stealing stuff that he did. and then i realized one day that if i wouldn't have stopped him it could have escalated into maybe breaking into somebody's house that had a gun. and maybe not having him at all. i still feel bad about it to this day. but i think i made the right choice for him and for me. >> we also met jones' mother, angie spurlock. >> this has been the best week of my life. as soon as he got out of the van, i stood there for a minute, afraid to walk toward him, then i just walked up to him and grabbed a hold of him and couldn't let go. it was like my life had just begun. like the day he was born all

over again. i mean, it was that excellence. >> i'm a mama's boy. >> yes. he that most definitely is. >> william and i had a heart-to-heart talk yesterday, and william kept apologizing to me for what he had done. and i kept apologizing to him for what i had to do. and, you know, we hugged afterwards. >> i love you. >> i love you. i told him, i was like, dad, just stop. i was like, you did what was right. i'm not mad at you. i still love you. i'm just glad to be home. and i'm glad to be here with you.

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." >> inside prison or jail, regrets are never in short supply. >> actually killed an innocent kid. that