due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. how do i describe myself? i'm a mother [ bleep ]. >> inmate tries to leave jail the hard way. >> shoots him with a taser, and he goes down. 50,000 volts. >> went ahead and ordered a second drink. i don't remember that. >> convicted of her fifth drunk driving charge, a female inmate could lose everything. >> i wanted to tell you that you

were a good wife are and a good mom. >> and -- >> i can tell everybody that i had sex with hiv positive. sometimes it doesn't happen. okay. i'm sorry. >> an outcast inmate make as comment that leads to violence and panic. >> i am so uptight right now that i can't eat. i've been throwing up my food. grand rapids, michigan, is consistently ranked one of the nation's best places to live. it might not seem that way, however, behind these circular walls just outside downtown. this is the kent county jail. while some are convicted, most of the thousand men and women here, are only charged with crimes and waiting trial for the

resolution of their cases. >> do the crime, pay the time. you know? >> it's not the ideal setting in which to make friends. some do. jeremy feels like an outcast. >> jeremy is the model inmate. very quiet. never gets into trouble. he's generally in his cell and if he does come out of the cell, he comes and sits quietly. >> i don't consider anybody here friends. i'd rather be in here than out there with some of those people sometimes, because there's a lot of negative energy out there. there's not very much people that talk to me in here, because i'm gay. >> merithew says he encounters too many attitudes. >> you want to be gay, that's your business.

god don't like homosexuals. if want to do it, go ahead, but it's not right. >> the inmates in his unit are not always welcoming of homosexuals, and he has another strike against him. he is hiv positive. not only that, his condition is what led to his high-profile arrest. >> do most people know what you're in for? >> yes. because it was on the news. but actually they don't really understand what i'm in here because they think i'm here for transmitting hiv are, but that's not what i'm in here for. it's for nondisclosure. >> he contracted hiv after a sexual encounter seeking unprotected sex and soon found a willing partner. >> basically, he approached me on my -- saw my profile and sent an obscene remark. basically he came over, we had sex, and then he left. >> merithew's partner, a married man living a straight life later told police he assured him he did not have hiv. following his encounter, he contacted him again under a different screen name.

this time, merithew admitted to being hiv positive. a couple days later the cops showed up at my door asking me questions about. that's one thing i don't -- i mean, why would someone want to invite big brother and uncle sam into your sex life? >> the judge allowed his mother to bond him out under the condition he did not place more personal ads. six months later, he was back in jail. >> i had a full frontal nudity of myself as a profile picture and went on a gay website to hook up, and they caught me. my bond was upped $300,000. >> though his victim was tested negative, he was convicted of having sex with an uninformed partner while being hiv positive, and is now awaiting sentencing. >> what did you think you did wrong? >> i don't think i did anything wrong. >> maybe, can you seriously say that? >> yes. i don't think i'm guilty of anything that harmed anybody.

that's for sure. this law isn't about really harming people. i mean, the dude's a married man. he's out having unprotected sex with complete strangers online. if he hasn't encountered something before he's very lucky. >> he could face up to 15 years in prison, and this isn't his first offense. two years earlier he was convicted of the same crime with a different man but only had to pay a fine. >> that guy, i don't know what his deal was, but he was hard-of-hearing, and we were drinking the night when we met. i made sure he was aware the next morning. >> ironically, he says he contracted the virus from a man who did not disclose his own hiv positive status. >> do you feel like the person that gave you hiv, that they should have told you? >> i take 100% accountability for me being infected. i knew about aids since, like, eighth grade. so i knew i was having unprotected sex, even though i was high at the time, that's no excuse. so i take full responsibility. >> but he feels differently

about his current case. >> i'm taking half the responsibility, but i'm not taking responsibility for anything that happens to his wife or anything that happens to his children, because of the fact that he's out having unprotected sex. >> sounds a little like you're not taking responsibility. that's what it sounds like. >> okay. i take responsibility. i should tell everybody that i have sex with that i'm hiv positive. sometimes it doesn't happen. okay. i'm sorry. >> i used to talk to him as a friend. why? because i wanted to bring him the gospel. not because i want to mingle with him because i don't condone his activities. >> ruben was the first to seek me out basically because my case is high profile, it's on the news. everybody knows my business. maybe i was attracted to him. as i learned his personality, and stuff, oh, my god -- this guy is kind of childish. really not attractive. >> i talked to him out of the kindness of my heart. when i saw that he was, like,

liking me -- i mean, i'm like, dude, i talk to you but i'm not gay. you know, i'm not going -- especially being gay in jail is not a good thing to be called. >> florez himself is in jail for failure to register as a sex offender after he was found guilty of trying to have sex with a minor when he was 18. >> you better pray because you're going to go to hell. i told him, i have a reserved building in hell, and you're going to have to visit me. and he got pitched off at that. >> coming up, jeremy sets off a health crisis and ruben florez finds himself in the middle of it. >> he was a menace to the world. that's why they convicted him and found him guilty. now, he's still a menace to other people. >> then -- >> right now i'm ready to get out of here. >> another inmate makes a run for it. hi boys! i've made you campbell's chunky new england clam chowder. wow! this is incredible! i know. and now it has more clams!

[ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. what? [ male announcer ] it fills you up right.

inside grand rapids kent county jail, it's a small room usually manned by a couple of deputies and a cadet and central control, the nerve center of the jail. from here, staff can survey and control movement through the entire facility. >> i always say that we're kind of like 911 dispatchers crossed with air traffic controllers. >> where you going? >> central control staff can open and close every door in the jail, and the choreograph the movements of hundreds of inmates in a manner that is organized and safe. >> guys, to the left. >> just to be sure, deputies also take low-tech precautions as well. >> so usually when doing the perimeters we go around. we do these three times a day on day shift. just check the handles. make sure everything is locked up. i always check this back gate and that's all secured back through there, because there's doors that lead to our building there.

security, escaping from the kent county jail requires either a good deal of plenty or a lot of luck. dustin paul has had neither but that hasn't stopped him from trying. >> how far did you get? >> not very far. not even out the door most of the time. >> right now i'm ready to get outta here. >> oh. there's probably anywhere from seven to ten attempts where he attempted to, i guess, exit his cell or his room area. >> paul is awaiting trial on charges of receiving and concealing a stolen motor vehicle to which he pled not guilty. >> i wasn't happy about being here. really, i shouldn't be here. i didn't know that car was stolen. >> many of paul's escape attempts were captured on surveillance cameras.

>> officer's currently doing what we call a black check. he's checking on the inmates. in order for him to do this he needs to come into a sub d room and words the individual's cell. mr. paul happens to be out in his day room time in the sub day room time and seizes that opportunity and runs out through the sub day room to the larger day room. >> where were you trying to go when you were running? >> trying to get as far as i could get and trying to set a record. see how far i could get here. [ laughter ] >> how far did you get? >> not very far. >> even though he'd gotten out into this general area, he still would have gone through at least four more doors and through several areas where other officers are working. >> and i tried to keep going for the next one. and then i couldn't find one that was open, and then they rushed me. i just kind of said, ah -- >> from that time of this episode, when he actually got out of the d room area, he attempted at least two or three

other times to exit his cell while the officers were there. he tried to, like, push through the officers. >> one of those attempts began with paul faking an illness. >> while the nurse attempts to take his blood pressure, he becomes combative, and jumps up off the bunk and you see the officers are trying to restrain him and get him down. most likely, giving him direction to stay on the ground as they exit the cell. >> with paul not being compliant, paul decides to take another run for it before one of the officers stops him cold. >> she shoots him with a taser, and he goes down. 50,000 volts. >> it was a rush. it just locks you up pretty good is what it does. it just -- locks all your muscles up. can't really move. >> most of the time you have no control over their ability to move or use their muscles for about five seconds. >> due to his frequent escape attempts, paul spent most of his time in segregation, locked in

his cell 23 hours a day with little to do. >> turn into a five month stay. supposed to be ten days. >> was it worth it? >> no. no. no, not at all. >> most inmates prefer doing their time in general population. they can spend more time out of their cells socializing or watching tv, but in housing unit d-3a, graphic and disturbing developments might make some feel they're better off living by themselves. naval hiv-positive inmate jeremy merithew. the self-proclaimed outcast of d-3a, just moved out of the unit into a segregation cell. >> some of the inmates in d3-a accused me of putting semen on

bologna sandwiches that i was giving to them, and claims sent me down here to the hole because of my own safety. he said they wanted to kill me. >> an individual came up to me and told me that jeremy had said that he was going to give everybody in the pod hiv. he had told people he put a special sauce on his sandwiches. >> extra mayonnaise. that's what i said. that was like four weeks ago. >> you're saying you did not do that? >> no, i did not do that. >> bologna sandwiches are not part of the jail's normal meal plan. they're usually given to inmates who require an additional meal for medication. due to his hiv status, he was one of those but he gave his sandwiches away. >> sandwiches are popular because a lot of inmates of indigent and he was giving them out for free, i guess. if you can get anything in jail free, sandwiches or anything like that, you're going to take them.

so they're going to be extremely popular. >> morning snack for you. there you go. >> there's so much, almost, hatred for him right now in him. i think i had 16 people eat sandwiches from him. >> ruben florez received several sandwiches from him in recent weeks. he ate some and traded the rest with inmates. >> i don't have nobody here. i had somebody offer me a bag of cookies or offered me soup, i'm going to grab it. i don't think nothing that somebody got a sick mind and going to try to infect me with some kind of disease. >> robert bailey also ate some of merithew's sandwiches. >> we're not talking about somebody getting a cold. we're talking about hiv, which is a life threatening and life debilitating disease potentially. so -- it's pretty scary. i mean -- anxious to say the least. >> all right, fellas. here you go. >> taken extremely seriously. i had medical come up and talk to the individuals that wanted to be talked to. we got some of the sandwiches

that he had handed out, and they'll be tested. >> some of merithew's sandwiches were recovered from the trash. those would be sent to an outside lab for testing. while the jail's medical staff conducts blood tests on the inmates who ate the other sandwiches. >> gonorrhea, syphilis. the hiv virus seems to be the one they're least worried about because outside the body it doesn't live long. if they come up positive, then that's up to the administration on what to do. >> here on a misdemeanor charge, i don't want to go home with a life sentence. >> whether he said it joking or not, i don't believe it was a joke. he was a menace to the world. that's why they convicted him and found him guilty. now, he's still a menace to other people. whether he took the sandwich -- it's irrelevant, you know. he should have not have been with us. he's bad.

coming up, the hiv scare leads to a fight that ends in pepper spray, and accusations. >> call me snitches, call me bitch-ass all because of that gay guy. the guy with hiv. and -- >> my husband is devastated. he's taking it harder than anybody. >> the fifth drunk driving conviction tears a family apart. [ woman 1 ] why do i cook? to share with family. [ woman 2 ] to carry on traditions. [ woman 3 ] to come together even when we're apart. [ male announcer ] in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and more, swanson makes holiday dishes delicious.

still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories.

the kent county jail in grand rapids might house its 1,000 inmates under the same sprawling room, but inside, two very different worlds. >> 87% of the people that are in jail here are male, 13% female. that holds pretty true from year to year to year. males clearly, they could care less what everybody else's problems are. the women care very deeply what everybody else's problems are. and they want to mother everybody else in the housing unit. >> this is arts and crafts today. >> can't count on -- >> i missed yesterday. >> arguments and fights do break

out among female inmates, pamala would agree with the captain's description. when it comes to her own. >> it's like one big family in there. we all talk to each other, eat together. we help each other out when one's in need. we support each other. somebody's upset, we're all right there. >> thank you. >> trace these on paper, and then i tear them out so that they have that ridged look, and then i color the outside on whatever colors i want. and then i put them on the back of an envelope, use deodorant, and you color it off -- and it makes it smell pretty, and it's going to look pretty when it's done. >> she's taking on the role of teacher today's showing other inmates how to make decorative jailhouse stationery. >> don't do that on your envelope. >> okay. >> look what you're doing -- >> okay. >> the role of a nurturer is one she's more than familiar with. >> i like having a home. i like my husband. i love my husband. i love my kids. i love going to work.

i love -- i love having that. >> it could be a while before she sees that life again. >> i have a drinking problem. so i got another charge on drinking and driving. my fifth drunk driving which is bad. my husband was devastated. he's taken it harder than anybody. very mad. he was very mad at me. he is still very mad at me. he has every right to be. >> a good mother doesn't come to jail. >> i'm not drunk. i'm not sitting at home drinking every day. i don't drink in my house. i drink probably -- three or four times -- in, you know, three years. >> but that changed one night, and speckin who fought addictions in the past, said she was having marital problems.

at the time, she was on her fourth dui probation. >> i was working and decided to have a screwdriver. i deserved it. i went ahead and ordered a second drink. i don't remember anything after that. i don't remember driving. i don't remember going into the ditch. i don't remember walking up to these people's houses that they said i walked up to and asked for help. i was arrested right there, handcuffed and brought to the kent county jail. and this is where i've been ever since that night. >> she's been in jail three months. drinking that night led to her fifth dui conviction in the past ten years, and she is now awaiting sentencing. she once served 120 days in jail but knows this time it could be worse. >> my biggest concern right now is staying in county, not going to prison. i don't want to be far away. if i go prison, i won't see my family -- not very much. to where now at least i can, you know, they're 45 minutes away. i'm scared.

i'm very scared. >> what do you miss most about home? >> holding my little girl in the rocking chair. getting up every morning and holding her in that chair. and billion able to kiss her and tell her i love her. she asked me the other day when i was coming home and i told her i didn't know, and she started crying, and it was hard. that's very hard. coming up -- >> this is one of the worst parts. getting in a cage, in a van. it's not normal. >> pamala heads to court to hear her sentence. >> two sandwiches and both sandwiches tested. >> and inspectors provide inmates with life and death answers about the allegedly tainted bologna sandwiches. @ñ

hey, there, i'm veronica de la cruz. "fast and furious" star paul walker died in a cash crash in california.

his publicist revealed few details. he starred along with vin d.iesl in one of the highest grossing films in history. and healthcare.gov will have an update on whether it will meet the self-imposed deadline to get it working properly. i'm veronica de la cruz, let's get you back to "lockup." due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. behind the walls of grand rapids kent county jail, tensions inside housing unit d-3a have been running high since hiv positive inmate jeremy merithew implied he contaminated sandwiches with body fluids and gave them away to other inmates. officers have just been called

to another emergency one floor below. the fight is broken out between two inmates. the officer on duty calls for backup and employs pepper spray in an attempt to break it up. but the fight continues. seconds later, backup arrives and the two men are separated. deputies then secure the unit, ordering all inmates back to their cells. >> told you -- >> inmates involved are byron tolbert and wilfredo vasquez. with their eyes still stinging from the pepper spray, the inmates are taken to the segregation unit. they're placed in separate cells and allowed to wash their eyes out. >> you need water? >> yes. >> right there.

>> man, it stings. it burns. oh, man. it feels like my face is swelling up. >> what happened in there? >> he disrespected me. call immediate snitch, called me bitch-ass [ bleep ] all because of that gay guy, that guy with hiv. >> uh-huh. >> oh, man. ah -- said i was wrong for, ah, telling that people ate nut sandwiches. that wasn't wrong. that was not wrong at all. >> tolbert had been housed in the same unit as jeremy merithew. he was the first to report merithew's comments about the sandwiches to officers. >> extra mayonnaise, that's what i said. >> but in the eyes of some, that made tolbert a snitch. >> so he was moved down to here to get away from that pod, because he had informed up there, and when he came down here he kind of was bragging

about that incident and how he came forward and gave us the information, and vazquez said, well, you're a snitch. started from there. and escalated. >> vasquez says he was honoring the long-standing convict code which says snitches should be punished. >> you don't tell something about someone else. technically it is snitching. he kept calling me a bitch. we start, you know, had lunch and i was like, you a bitch, man. [ bleep ], the detectives. >> that was the right thing for me to do, was to tell them. if anybody -- if anybody do anything to anybody, they deserve to be told on. >> it wasn't a real thing. it was a joke. i mean, if anybody else would have said that in that pod, if they were giving sandwiches away and said, oh, how's the extra mayonnaise on your sandwich, everyone would be laughing. >> but merithew is not just

anybody else. he's been twice convicted of having sexual intercourse with other men and not disclosing his hiv status. deputy flynn is assigned to merithew's unit. >> his comment of what he did to the sandwiches caused immense problems in the pod. puts me in jeopardy, my partners in jeopardy and everybody in the pod is in jeopardy. it didn't just contain the d-3. it went to d-2. i've heard m-2, m-3 all over the jail, and i just hope i never get a report like that again. >> merithew was awaiting sentencing on his latest conviction, failure to disclose. he's been placed in segregation for his own protection. the inmates that ate the sandwiches were informed it's unlikely they would have contracted hiv in this manner, even if he did contaminate them, but that hasn't lessened their anxieties. >> if was a bluff or it was -- i don't know. you have to wait to find out whether there's a possibility or

there's not. >> mentally, i'm lost. i am so uptight right now that i can't eat. i've been throwing up my food. i've been so sick to the point where it's just -- i don't know if my life is changed yet or not. >> and come in to here for driving with suspended license, and now, somebody gave me a bologna sandwiches which maybe got aids. >> i mean, either way, to even think that somebody would do something so gruesome to people. >> as the controversy spreads throughout the jail, other inmates have plenty to say as well. >> my thing is, the dude, if you knew the guy had hiv, what the [ bleep ] you doing eating sandwiches from him, for? you know what i'm saying? like, i don't even want to shake somebody's hand with hiv, let alone eat something out of their hand or their cell. >> he was in prison, he would have got butchered. they would have stabbed him. >> talk to you each individually. okay? and then get your story together.

figure it out. >> the detectives take the inmates' statements and fill them in on the investigation. >> pictures were taken of him. it's in the report. >> then they delivered the news everyone has been waiting for. >> two sandwiches in the bag. both sandwiches tested and they were both negative. >> in fact, none of the tested sandwiches came back positive, but that didn't mean merithew is off the hook. >> it will be presented to the prosecutor and given to the circuit court judge. >> later, lieutenant newman received the inmates' blood test results. >> those results also came back negative. no inmates were in danger, no diseases as a result of that incident. >> with the sentencing only days away, jail officials continue to keep merithew isolated. >> i shouldn't have said it, but

-- to be honest, good in the sense it got me down here by myself and i've been just chilling and relaxing. i feel better being by myself sometimes because i'm introverted and i don't like being around a bunch of guys. especially uneducated guys pouncing at you and, obviously, bigotteded and homophobic and all kinds of other things. so it's just -- >> so in a way it was a good thing? >> yes, it was a good thing, for my mental health. as merithew awaits his sentencing, the time arrived for another inmate. three months earlier, pamala speckin was convicted of dui for the fifth time in ten years. today she goes to court to hear her sentence. >> my guidelines are still 7 to 23 months. i'm expecting that the judge will go in the middle and give me 15 months. the worst that can happen is he can max me out to five years, if he wants. he's the judge. >> this is one of the worst

parts. getting in a cage in a van. it's not normal. >> and it smells in there. filth. >> bye, guys. coming up -- >> it blew my mind away. i hyperventilated. i had to sit down. i couldn't breathe. >> pamala speckin's judge delivered her sentence. >> i can't believe how long i've been here. >> and after multiple escapes, dustin paul tries something new.

pamala speckin, a married mother of three children, has just gotten back from court where a judge handed down his sentence on her most recent drunk driving conviction. >> i was going in there thinking i might get most 15 months. it's my fifth drunk driving. the judge pretty much lectured me, you know, and he was right. i could kill somebody or kill myself, and that's what i really got to think about. you know, i'm a threat to the community. if i'm on the roads, and he gave me three to five years, in prison. >> the sentence is final. and speckin must now wait for her transfer to the state's only female prison, about 2.5 hours from grand rapids. >> it blew my mind away. i hyperventilated. i had to sit down. i couldn't breathe. i felt like the whole world was

just ending. my 4-year-old, i'm going to miss her first day at school. i'm going to miss her fifth birthday. her sixth birthday. i missed her fourth birthday. i'm going to miss christmases. my husband lost his wife. and he's doing it all by himself now. and that's not the way it should be. >> her family lives in another part of kent county. with her husband working full time and raising their two youngest children, it's difficult to visit. the jail has taken steps to help. they allow families to visit from home via the internet. >> hi! oh, the kids are there. >> today, speckin's husband nick and their 4-year-old daughter bailey will visit from their living room. >> what's that? ooh -- what's that? >> tweety bird. >> that's tweety bird. that's nice because you can see something other than jail. like, i just see my living room. it's home. how are you? >> ah -- it's rough. >> yeah. >> because her transfer to

prison could come any day, this might be the last time speckin sees her family for a long time. >> yeah. >> possibly years. >> all right. well -- i wanted to tell you that you were a good wife and a good mom. and i wanted to tell you that. before whatever happens. you know? that's something that i wanted to say to you. okay? >> and i love you very much. >> i love you, too, and i needed to hear that. thank you. and i'm still very sorry for all this. i know this is -- i don't even know. i can't -- i can't make up any, you know -- it is what it is. i'm sorry. >> i can't believe it went from laying in bed next to each other to this, you know?

this is the last time we're going to talk for a while. >> i'm not going to call home. you don't want me to call home ever? >> i can't take the calls. i don't know how you're going to call here. we can't take collect calls. >> i don't want to do three years away from my family. i don't -- i don't even know how to do it. >> all right, honey. i love you. i'm going to hang up. >> tell her you love her. >> i love you. >> i love you, baby. >> i love you, too. >> okay. >> i guess i should be grateful after just -- they're just saying good-bye for three years and not forever. and i hope my husband and i are still together. he's paying for my mistakes. >> speckin will soon leave the

jail on a state prison transport bus to begin her sentence. but dustin paul will still be here for a while. >> how do i describe myself? i'm a mother [ bleep ]. that's the only way to describe myself. >> over the past five months, paul has been trying to leave the jail through his own ill-fated escape attempts. >> i know there's no way to get out of here. that's not going to happen. i'm really just upset i was in jail. you know? i just wanted to say [ bleep ] you pretty much. >> escape can carry up to a ten year prison sentence. since the farthest paul ever got was the day room of the housing unit, officials have not filed criminal charges. instead, they've kept him locked up in segregation. >> my beard represents how long i've been here. the beard, is how long i've been here. >> lately, paul ceased escape attempt and given himself a new look. because of his good behavior, jail officials moved him to a less restrictive housing unit.

>> everybody thought, there's no way we're going to change his behavior. to see him today, he's a totally different person. even to communicate and speak with, he's not the same person that we initially had when he first came in. i think one of the real breaking points was getting him to communicate with staff and his family members. for a long time he wasn't communicating with anybody, and we ended up, when he was in administrative seg, getting it to where he was able to have visits with his family and that seemed to be the turning point, when he started changing attempting the negative behaviors we were seeing earlier. >> i'm getting ready to do a visit. that's the highlight of the week. so to speak. >> 2:00 for dustin paul. >> the person who visits paul the most is the woman who helped raise him. his grandmother sheila. >> i'm sure that he hear this from every grandmother, but he is a real good-hearted kind person and never was in trouble

his whole life. never even got in a fight in school. but i think basically there was a substance abuse, periodically, through the years. that's what caused his behavior. >> me and my grandmother are really close. she's like a second mom to me, basically. my grandmother. >> we've always been very close. very close. >> though his grandmother arrived in person to visit. >> hey, dusty. >> even at the jail, visitation is conducted through a video link between the housing unit and a visitor center. >> here's the news of the week. right after i left you, a few hours i started choking really hard, like -- couldn't breathe. so i went to emergency, and i was there for four days. >> hmm. >> so they diagnosed me with pneumonia, copd, congestive heart failure. >> really? >> yeah. they're going to monitor me real closely. >> that is not good.

>> no, it's not good. it sounds horrible. >> i'll say a prayer for you. >> thank you. but it's good that they caught it. you know? >> right. >> and that i went to emergency. i had to stay positive so he can be positive, too. he said, i don't know what i would ever do, grandma, if you weren't in my life. you know? that's how he feels. >> i love you very much. >> okay. i love you, too. >> i just -- move forward. on the right track. >> yeah. all can you do. >> yep. that's right. okay. we'll see you next week. >> okay. >> all right. have a good day, grandma. >> you, too. love you. >> all right. all right. love you, too. >> bye. >> it's not very -- it's not very good, you know, i worry about her dying while i'm in here, now, because, then, that wouldn't be a good thing at all. so -- it makes me worry about my grandma.

i'm in here, there's nothing i can do to help her, unfortunately. coming up -- >> all's i ask is that you wear a condom. don't do it in our home and don't catch anything. >> pamala speckin takes an unconventional step to hold her family together. and -- >> because people are saying you put seminal fluids in foods you were sharing with other inmates. >> jeremy merithew faces an angry judge on the day of his sentencing. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

good-bye, everybody! bye! >> i love you. >> love you. write me. >> pamala speckin spent her last

night at the kent county jail. her transfer to state prison has come through and she will now leave to serve a three to five-year sentence for her fifth drunk driving conviction. >> you were a good wife and a good mom. i just can't believe it went from laying in bed next to each other to this. >> speckin recently said good-bye to her husband. afterwards she wrote him a letter with a proposal she hopes will keep them together. >> i know that i'm going to be gone for a long time, and he goes to work every day. takes care of our home, our children. he's got to have something outside of that. this is a letter to my husband. it says, nick, i want you to know that i don't expect you to stay faithful. all i ask is that you wear a condom. don't do it in our home, and don't catch anything.

be safe. don't fall in love. put my face on whoever you're -- doing that with. just get it done, do the deed and walk away. i love you. give the kids love from me. i don't think he'll do this in a million year, just because i know him. but i want him to feel okay. i don't want him to leave -- i don't want him to leave -- leave me for somebody else. you know? because of that. i wish i wouldn't have picked up a drink. i had choices, and i made the bad ones. now i have to suffer the consequences. i don't like it, but it is what it is. >> there's no way to ever know if i'll pick up a drink again and get behind the wheel. i've got to pray that i won't and i can say that i won't, but i've said that before and here i

sit. and it's a disease. it's called addiction. and as much as we want to say no, sometimes we just can't. we just can't. it won't be long before jeremy merithew might also find himself inside a transfer van to state prison. he's due to be sentenced today for not disclosing to a man he had sex with he had hiv over the internet. saying he contaminated sandwiches with hiv is also at issue. >> i'm worried about the sandwich incident as far as what the judge is going to say about. i don't know how he thinks. i'm not inside his mind, so i don't know how he's going to do that. it might have to do with how he makes his decision. >> the court therefore sustains the -- the defense's objection. >> it doesn't take long for the judge to affirm merithew's fear

-- >> removed from the cell he's in. put in an isolation ward, for his own safety. people are saying you've putput seminal fluids in the foods you are sharing with other inmates, that you have the ability to have in your cell, only because of your medical condition. if it's not true, why doesn't mr. merithew then have the absolute -- ability to say it's not true. i'm just kidding around, ha, ha, or words to that effect and at least takes whatever affirmative steps he is capable of taking to stop this problem? really, it be most analogized to it's lake shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. >> merithew will be sentenced op three charges. two charges of hiv for having oral and anal sex and use of a computer to commit a crime. >> and count three, use of a computer for not less than 56

month, not more than seven years, credit for 113 days served previously. on counts one and two, the defendant will serve not less than 24 months, no more than four years. these counts will all run concurrently. >> merithew is sentenced to a total of 4 1/2 to 7 years but will face a lifelong sanction as well. >> in addition, the defendant shall be required to comply with the sex offenders registry act. i am convinced after having had the responsibility of presiding over this case the entire time in circuit court, the defendant is either unwilling or incapable of following the requirements of the law, and there is simply not any evidence to suggest that he will change that behavior in the future. >> as a sex offender, merithew's name and address will be displayed on a public list for the rest of his life. >> and transfer to the department of corrections. thank you.

>> registering as a sex offender over this case, i don't know how i feel about it right at the moment. i mean, i don't agree with it. registering as a sex offender is a big deal to me, because usually people associate that with pedophiles and rapists. i did not rape anybody and i don't molest small children. >> now facing several years in prison, merithew could find himself in more trouble, if his urges get the better of him. >> can i remain celibate for four years? that's a good question. i don't know. i'll do my best. i suppose. i think i probably could. it's just about controlling yourself, i suppose.

there was no crime scene. he just vanished. >> my husband and i feel we must hume lin do what we can as his parents. >> there was a lot of fear, they didn't catch the perpetrator, something like this is going to happen again. >> every time we found a clue, we ran into a brick wall.