all aboard. ♪ wrath. >> they are robbing the pharmacies. >> oh! >> slide out, slide out. >> an alleged gang member poses a threat. >> a lot of people don't know this, murder is one of the easiest crimes that you can get away with. easy. >> and another inmate makes the most shocking confession ever heard on lockup. >> they say you are a psychopath

murder after three people. i have done blown that one out of the water quite a few times. [ music playing ] >>. >> orange county, california is well known for its sun-kissed beaches and family friendly tourist attractions. but sometimes fantasy gives way to reality and when crime is submitted here, suspects will

usually find themselves backed into the orange county jail. >> what are you in for? have you been in jail before? >> yes, sir. >> look here at the camera for me. >> the orange county jail is comprised of five separate jails. the largest of these is the theo lacy jail with an average daily population of 2,800 male inmates. theo lacy, alum to many of our state prisons. . >> i have an assistant sheriff at theo lacy. he always likes to say we don't have andy of mayberry. we don't have otis coming into the jail tank. that's not the county jail we have. we have 400 people in custody for murder. we don't have people in jail for simple possession of marijuana like some might think. we have very serious felony inmates in our custody

>> narrator: unlike prison inmates, all convicted of crimes, most jail inmates are being accused and awaiting trial or resolution of their charges. still, violence can suddenly break out if jail just as it does in prison. >> when you are dealing with a jail full of predators. there will be prey. inmates cause disturbances to cause big situations to occur. what happens is the deputies on scene will try to control it. they do a great job. once they start to lose a little bit of control. what they'll do is they'll give us a call. >> narrator: sergeant hernandez is in control of the ert emergency response team. >> gooed go ahead, take it outside. >> ert is used for the major disturbance, we are used to quell a riotous situation and we

are used to gather entell. >> narrator: inside theo lacy the emergency response team confronts an inmate considered to be a dangerous threat. >> this is not a drill. this is an inmay. we all know what that mean, he has assaulted not only two other inmates. he has assaulted possibly to staff. >> that kind of amps it up a little bit. >> narrator: the inmate has been transferred to orange county from a maximum security state prison. in order to appeal his current sentence of more than 150 years on multimillion counts of gang-related armed robbery. >> he is a gang member from hard times. it's a street gang out of the city of garden grove. he was mainly brought up into the gang life through his family, through his mom and surrounding family members. he was basically born into the

gangs. >> i just grew up like angry, so it wasn't cool showing your emotions. so i channelled all that hurt into anger. so i started gang bank, you know, i said, if i'm going to cry, i'm going to let their blood be my tears, you know. >> what did you do? >> we were blasting fools. >> did you kill anybody? >> not me, you know, i have been, it has been alleged, you know. >> through his years of coming in and out of custody, he hasselbeck rate issed his status within both the inmate population and the gang population to be considered a very violent inmate. >> all of the things i have been through, i have been walking through hell, wearing gasoline

shoes. >> i'm telling you right now. you got the green light for doing what ert is known best for. >> nice and steady. nice and steady >> narrator: the team is on its way to his cell to launch a surprise shakedown for contraband and they're taking for the chances. >> get on the ground. get on the ground. get on the ground. or we will use deadly weapons against you. slide out, slide out. on your stomach. weep coming out, just like that is fine. start heading off to your left. >> that way. >> we do cell searches all the time. you don't always use this level of security. >> put your hand behind your back. >> we are doing this because these guys have information that either they're willing to fight to protect or because, you know, in his case, he is such a high

level threat that we take these precautions just to protect ourselves >> narrator: with the inmate safely restrained, deputies descend on his cell searching for contraband likewell weapons or drug, equally important, gang intelligence. >> sometimes they'll hide kites in between the paper, if it's legal mail or paperwork, we can't search it. we can search it. we can't read it. >> does this happen a lot? >> with this? >> yeah. >> how come? >> just procedure, their jobs, you know >> narrator: within minutes the deputies make a hit and discover gang-related documents. >> i'm not at liberty to say exactly how it could help us, it's sensitive material. it's probably going to help investigations down the road. this was a good one. any time we get decent intelligence, it's a good

search. >> narrator: while authorities consider him to be a powerful gang member, his time at orange county has been spent trying to disassociate himself with that past. >> i was young. i left all that behind. it's childish. you know, it's the reason why i'm here. >> narrator: but he might have a motive for distancing himself from gang life. his current armed robbery sentences come with gang enhancements that could keep him in prison for the rest of his life. he will soon be going to court in hopes of convincing a judge to drop them. >> robberies mean another individual. that was it. i got arrested. you know, both of us being gang members, that's when they hit us with the gang enhancements. >> narrator: while his most serious conviction has been for armed robbery, he later implied he might have gotten away with murder. >> you know, a lot of people don't know this, but murder is one of the easiest crimes that you can get away with.

easy. yes, it is. what gets people in trouble is their mouth. they tell one person, one person, that person in turn tells two, other people, next thing you know. i left quite a few. i don't want to keep track. i don't see it like put notches on my belt. i know my fingers on one hand, possibly almost completing the next. but, hey, you know, that's a part of that thing that you did >> narrator: coming up. >> he is the ultimate cameleon. he is capable of doing anything, including killing people.    

>> the theo lacy jail is the largest of the five facilities that make up the orange county

california jail system. but the system is three piles away from the central complex. central is three facilities in one. there is the entake center where new arrivals are pros sesd t. county's women's facility is located here as well. but the largest section of central is reserved for high security inmates. jeremy bowles has been here for the past two years facing an array of serious charges. >> when it comes to crimes, i don't have boundries. not hurting pregnant women or kids, i'm up for all. >> have you seen a lot of people die? >> yes, na i can, yeah. >> that comes with the gang. >> narrator: bowles has a long

criminal and gang history and has served sentences in the state prison and orange county jail. two years ago, he was a free man for 16 days. an eventful 16 days. >> i went to the beach for the first time in my lie. that was about the only thing positive out there. >> narrator: bowles spent the rest of the time on a crime spree that resulted in his latest arrest t. latest is multiple counts of home invasion robbery and the attempted shooting of an officer during a high speed chase. >> it's over 60 counts. >> narrator: bowles has pled not guilty to all of the charges. sorting it out can take years. >> i think one charge carries 20 to life. this is in other states. other counties. i got myself in a world of

querks for long time. >> jeremy bowles poses a huge threat. he is completely unpredictable. one minute you could be talking to him. he could be laughing. the next moment, he could literally by a tacking you and me. he's from this particular gang in l.a. sirzana. >> it means it causes as much mayhem and damage as you can. >> we will present him through other incarceration, he's made connection with the mexican mafia. >> them people to me are the same people as me in a mexican mafia. a lot of people live in fear with them. me personally i never did. they're something i kind of grew up with. >> jeremy bowles is basically the ultimate chameleon. he truly is capable of doing just about anything, including killing people

>> narrator: bowles has never been charged with murder. he says gang violence has been a significant part of his past. >> how many people have you killed? >> oh, man, i'd like to keep that to myself. enough that maybe i shouldn't be saying this on camera, but a lot. i don't believe in drive byes. i believe on knocking on people's door, anybody can pull a gun. you can look the other way, you wake up the next day, you never seen nothing. to actually get up in somebody's face to do something with them, once you do it once, you can do it for the rest of your life. >> jeremy bowles is a very sophisticated, very experienced, very dangerous individual. jeremy bowles is ever evolving. >> narrator: and a short time

later, bowles would see an evolution in his charges as well. along with the dozens he is already facing. two new charges have just been filed, both for premeditated murder. >> i have never been charged with murder. it's kind of funny, i have been charged with everything else but. the co-defendant is severe study from me, so he can testify against me. i don't understand why he's doing it to save his self. would i do it? i don't think so. but for each his own. what i no longer understand is this is the life you sign up for. you want to get in trouble. all of a sudden you can't take the heat. you turn around and have to tell on everybody. we take an oath for this to happen is very upsetting. >> narrator: though his laurenne terred a not guilty plea. bowles seemed resigned, a murder conviction in at least one of the cases. he also made it clear he had no feelings about the victim. >> you know, so many years of

getting away with it, not getting caught with it. i already feel it. to me, honestly, i want to be dead honest. the dirt bag, to me it felt like he had it coming. it's as real as it gets >> narrator: coming up. >> the mind is not right. i still got game. my dope puts yours to same. >> narrator: the oc's senior rapper. later, the most shocking confession ever heard in lockup. >> everything is batched, all kind of zip ties are dev young, once you put it around somebody's next, they can't get off. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list.

. >> every year nearly 70,000 people make their way through one of the five facilities that compriseorange county jail. on any given day, up to 3,000 of them can be found at orange county's largest facility, theo lacy. one way to measure the challenge

of managing such a large inmate population can be found in the theo lacy kitchen. where inmate workers prepare 9,000 meals per day. >> i have actually heard that if an inmate has to be incarcerated, they prefer to come to orange county jail. they are fed well. they are fed more color frlly, our nutritional guidelines and standards are interesting in the rest of the dait state. you put a lot of care and energy into what we do >> narrator: a lower security level inmates eat in the chow hall t. majority of inmates are confined to their cells. they are delivered by inmate workers. >> it helps i used to work at denny's. >> it make misethafrgful where i'm a. we get to come outly the times a day. it passes the time quicker. these guys are locked down. time goes by real slow up there. that's why we're kind of like the only contact. so you can do little things for them. they act like they have known

you a long time. >> how is your court case going? >> even though he's well past the hip-hop generation, mason likes giving is customers something extra, a version of rap. >> i'll give you a short one a. short one. the mind's not right. i still got game. i betpy dope puts yours to shame. have it all wrong. are you far too late to try the bum. you fools are cool, they're living in sin, they're robbing pharmacies for vicodins. >> narrator: when their shift ends, inmate workers make their way back to their housing unit. better known as the workers barracks, it is still jammed, but life allows for more freedom of move him. it is one of the housing units where daylight streams through the windows. >> we are coming into the projects here and we'll get further down this section here. we come in the high revent

district. >> narrator: mason is serving then months at theo lacy, convicted of an unusual shop lifting charge. >> wearing a flea collar and a pair of workout pants. yes, and i do have a dog. >> that day, i was actually out of my mind on methamphetamine. i had been up four days straight without sleep. i have no idea why i was in that store. if there is anything you can say is a devil's drug, methamphetamine fits the bit. it's a blessing i got caught steal tag. >> student: i was preying to god to stop. i couldn't. i guess this is his way of helping me stop. >> narrator: inside jail, mason is an ad advocate for healthy living my friend call my pop

eye. i work out a lot. i'm pretty cut up for being 56-years-old, pretty as they say ripped. we set chairs up to do dips. we don't have a dip bar t. chairs work good. we get to work out and make due with it for what we have. it's probably one of the best exercises to do. dips are probably the best thing you can do. >> i try to stay in shape all the time. these guys come in here the youngsters, they ask pe for advice on how to work out. >> that's a good difficult. going all the way down, coming up. see him working his chest, his shoulder. his lats. >> most of them, if you look around, they're not in that much shape. they're sitting around on their butts watching video games. they need to get busy, they're in sad shape. >> do a few pushups. >> it's like this. >> but not all inmates find

camaraderie in jail. due to his classification by the state prison system as a gang member with a violent past, albert is locked in a single cell 22 hours a day. >> her we have albert brivino for eight counts of robbery. >> he's the one trying to get gang enhancements dropped. >> my guess is the gang enhancement is probably going to stick, fwaufs found true during a injury trial. >> a lot of new tattoos. >> he had them in the lineup. >> he didn't have the horns, the star, any of his neck ripped up. wow, almost looks like a different guy. >> you look at the two pictures, it's definitely a difference, then again, when you get

accustomed to the lifestyle, it's only a national progression. >> down for the cause. >> both his mom and dad no longer are alive and his son is in juve right now. >> we are looking at potentially a third generation. >> very close, depending on which path the son ends up going. >> narrator: though his 15-year-old son is only a doesn't away in the juvenile facility, he can only communicate with him through letters. they write to each other frequently. >> he's saying, what's up, dad, hey, working out. they teach me exercises. they're helping me. he requested some leg, some arms. i think these weights, probably gives him a workout. >> narrator: he says he hopes jesse will follow his workout

routine, not his life as a gang banger. >> everyone wants their children to be success. you want to succeed in life. you want to be somebody, but, you know, he's young, he's a teenager. sometimes you don't make the best decisions. you can bring the horse to the water. you can't make it drink you know, ultimately, they're going to make their own decision. >> narrator: they he has never been charged for murder, he made it clear when he was jesse's age, some of his decision ended in violence. >> it was treacherous. you know. i was just, you know, a gunner, when fools hear my name, they revere to the depths of their soul, you know. but like as far as when i was going on hits, your intention are going and spread as you can and bring, you know, bring and bring bring the rain, the met

cal rain storm, you know. >> narrator: coming up, jeremy bowles receives devastating news. >> my uncle, he's everything. >> narrator: he then confesses to the shocking magnitude of his murderous past.

>> good afternoon, i'm brian schactman. two swearing in ceremonies for bill debhasio. the second moments ago at city hall with former president bill clintoned a machinestering the oath of officer. meanwhile in minneapolis, six people, at least a dozen injured are in critical condition after an explosion this morning in a three story building. the cause of the explosion remains undetermined at this hour.

. >> we don't have money. >> it's just chips. >> i play poker like crap. >> this is for scrubbing the toimts tomorrow. >> all that and a bag of scholarships. i got you numbered. >> narrator: inmates in the theo lacy jail are ready to bunk down. >> three of a kind are there. >> let me mortgage my house. i want to play again. >> narrator: they're in for a surprise. >> what will happen. we will have 100 inmates move from this location to another location. >> narrator: to make room for a new group of inmates the workers will be transferred to a new barracks. >> they will grab their blankets and personal belonging, roll it up in a bundle. we will watch them closely to make sure they're not hiding anything. >> narrator: any potential move causes a security breach. to give deputies an edge, it is

planned for 9:00 p.m. when other guys are locked up. >> listen up, we will make this move real smooth. get your sheets, all your stuff up. i want two lines on each side. one right here, one right here >> narrator: one of the inmates involved in the move is the worker's father figure personal trainer and resident rapper, robert "pop eye" mason. it looks like we're moving out of here to another barracks. so we got a few minutes to lock up. we were kept in the dark. we few something was coming. we didn't know when. it looks like now is the time to get business and pack. >> i didn't think we were moving this soon. they made it fast. >> do you want your mop eye stickers? >> i'm leaving min mark here. >> let's go. left side.

[ music playing [ music playing ] >> we basically moved about 200 yard from their previous location to our half barracks. which is another barracks we have. >> it's built into the mattress. >> that is style right there. >> that is style. >> i was debating on the aqua manner. i think i'll go with the convict grey. >> we can watch the sun go down. we can go outside to get fresh air once in a while. >> this is all. i got no choice in the matter anyway. it's got to work. >> you are in jail. it's not like you can expect the builtmore. no big deal. >> practice have a q pierce. >> narrator: inmate moves are not uncommon in most jails. as thousands of men and women

check in and out of jail, classification officers are constantly analyzing the population in order to house them in a manner that will help avoid conflict. >> the next grooich group is popkens. >> narrator: albert bricno has been transferred 3 miles away. >> most inmates in the county jail are continuously on the move. we have to screen and rescreen these inmates all the time. bake amy, how i look at it is who can play with who? . >> narrator: shortly after moving into his new cell, he discovered his neighbor was an old childhood friend, jeremy bowles. >> i recognized the tattoos and then when he got up. i said, man, what's up? he looked at me the recognition set in. the tattoos that i got.

while, he got all excited. >> me and albert have been around each other like the last 22 years. we were neighbors in juvenile hall. >> narrator: they are not only old friends, they share long criminal histories. they are considered among the most dangerous and violent inmates in the entire jail. because of that, they will never have physical contact. they are housed in a unit where only one inmate at a time is allowed into the common area. >> we laugh at it now. we look at each other fro door-to-door, we are 34-years-old. it's still like we are ten-years-old in the heart >> narrator: inside their cells the sinks present the best sound transmission an serve as low tech intercoms. >> it's good to see you again. >> hey, getting old.

>> dude. >> hey, we need to change when we were kids. that's the scary part. >> stuck like chuck. >> stuck like chuck. >> he has a big old smile on his face. he gets happy every time he sees me. like one of the dongs you leave home. he's all excited, paying all over the place. that's my buddy. >> what's up? >> hey, you want to play some chess? >> they're both very happy, they have seen each office. they can interact, reminisce just like we were to see an old friend. >> 6 to 34 check. go ahead and move that way. >> they have a very good relationship. a good rapport with each other. >> queen takes knight. let's see where you go with this. >> they are relatively happy an comfortable with each other. >> that's it! ha, ha, ha. >> narrator: facing more than 60 charges along with two new

charge for premeditated murder, bowles has found some comfort in being united with his old friend. >> good game. >> all right. >> narrator: and that friendship is about to grow even more important. those bowles has implied he brought death to others. two days later, death would pay him a visit. coming up, from behind the walls of the orange county jail, the stunning confession of a mass murderer. . you you

>>. >> so this is every day. i do this two times a daych one time in the morning, one time when i workout.

it keeps the piend going. anything to keep the mind busy, you keep it occupied. >> narrator: after receiving tragic news from his family, jeremy bowles' live inside the orange county jail has been focused on cleansing. >> i found out for the first time my mom died of a brain aneurysm on mon. i also found out my uncle died of heart failure yesterday. my uncle was my best friend, always trying to help me to get me to go down a good path. my uncle is like everything to me. normally, i'm here for you. you foe that. if you want to talk, i don't want to hear, i imagine a part of his credit the life he's going through. it's messed up, you know. the thought goes through my

head, i wish i could just take his place. he's a good guy. you know, from doing all the crap in life, you go out there. are you hurting people. are you doing things in life, you don't think about people's family, nothing, because it's not in your face. you are sitting here, it happens to you, you are like, now i know what it feels like. >> that hurts. it's hard for me to sleep. it's like sometimes i sit here and i think about the stuff i've done. maybe there is a lot of things i've never told anybody. it's like now it's just haunting. it sits here. you know, every day you try to

push things out of your mind, you try to push them into a corner and it's like, i don't have any more corners to push anything away anymore >> narrator: not only has bowles run out of corners, he has alluded earlier to committing murder. he decided to reveal to us the stunning magnitude of his homicidal past. >> i remember 29 murders in detail from time, date, place, from caliber of weapons, methods used. i remember the sounds of people begging for their lives and people saying, no, i remember the smell of blood and then they say you are a psychopath murderer after three people and a serial killer, i have done blown that one out of the water quite a few times. >> narrator: he says his first murder occurred at age 13 and he used a variety of methods to

kill. >> i used everything from bats to all kind of zip ties is pretty devious. once you put it around somebody's neck, they can't get it off. >> narrator: he not only spoke to us about the 29 murders. he spoke to jail officials as well. >> after spending some sometime with jeremy bowles. he basically confessed to my partner and i he has committed numerous murders in numerous ways. one was using some form of a liquid from the an ar consist's cookbook and he was able to basically burn somebody so bad that they died. >> narrator: bowles says the victim was a childhood friend whose gang accused of being an informant. >> we went to the funeral. i'm sitting in there. i felt like the grim reaper, sitting there, looking at a person i just killed sitting in as can ket. >> he also described to us most

recently he has swung victims bodies and/or parts to a lake and he's disposed of them that way. >> most people, as long as there ain't no air in them, they'll sink. get them out there whatever is at the bottom feeds. >> he also told us he has disposed of weapons that way. he would go for a little midnight swim and come back without the parcel or the weapons. jeremy bowles described a different way he disposed of some of his victims was in a time he worked in mort wear, he was able to cremate some victims. >> i think the snarly thing is having to cut somebody up, that's not. now that i look at its, i think it works me up in the head, now i have as to relive that and understand why i did or what i

did it for. >> 29. >> that number keeps popping in my head. we know all these guys that come through, i'm iceman this or iceman that. this guy should be the true iceman at that point. >> by what he's admitted to, i would definitely have to say so. >> definitely. iceman bowles. hey, bowles. is now a good time to talk about what we were talking about earlier? okay. step back for me. >> at this point in time i don't know what the motivation is for jeremy to confess all this. i don't know if his conscious has finally weighed on him, if the loss of his family members, is weighing on him. or if the fact that his kids are out there running around without a good father figure. i'm not sure what his motivation is to confess at this time. >> do you feel that part of this and part of the reason why you may be talking about these things that haven't been talked about or discussed or even known by law enforcement is a part of

a sense for you to bring some closure to some things? >> yeah. i just, dealing with all this and just everything period is taking its toll on me. i think it's just better off that i do this. get this done with and get it out of my system. because it's something that has been eating at me for a long time. like other people's families. they have kids, they have moms. they have dads. i don't think a lot of them people have closure on a lot of things that happened. >> right. >> i just feel by clearing the air with certain things, it mustings me at ease and helps me deal with my demons in my head, gives me a chance to have closure. >> keen of like you are experiencing the closure with your losses? >> yeah. >> okay. >> some things i wish some people would have said sorry to me or said bye before they left and they never got a chance to. >> all right. we'll talk a little bit more a little later.

if at any time something doesn't feel right, are you not able to deal with it. please, please, i encourage to you follow through with that. all right? >> thank you. >> we'll talk more. >> up -- two fathers with uncertain futures reach out to their sons --

see, a letter, sends -- if you send a picture of you and also want to show it off. i miss you a lot. >> one of the few things albert has to look forward to from his segregation cell at the orange county jail are letters from his 15-year-old son jesse, currently housed in the county's juvenile

facility. >> my son writes and send him drawings and little workout list because he's asking me. i send it to him and he writes back and tells me the workout list was whacked. man -- i figure he's young, try to give him a light one. he wrote back talking all kinds of smack. haven't heard from him yet. but he's always telling me write me back, fast, i keep constant contact with him, you now, they don't know -- still support him from in here. >> his days at the orange county jail could be coming to an end. judge will decide whether to drop his appeal with the gang charges, could be the difference between ever seeing freedom again or not. >> i was childish back then. i could have found the

consequences and threw my whole life away, you know. if i knew i was going to go through this when i was getting sentenced, i would have rather just -- if i could have i would have called a firing squad and end it because in reality, dying a slow painful death, you know. >> shot four times face and chest area. >> his friend, jeremy bowles, will likely never see freedom again either. >> one more time hit. >> after confessing to 29 murders, bowles has been asked by jail officials to detail the killings in writing. >> as the details come forward, our chain will be to gather as much information as possible and document it on paper and we'll

start contacting law enforcement agencies that it concerns. from there those agencies will probably get a hold of the district attorney's office and probably have a sit down and discuss each individual crime as related to jurisdiction. and prosecution will start from there. >> what i'm asking in return is death penalty. i just gave it all away. >> i think jeremy bowles actually wants to go to death row because he has a higher chance of dying natural causes on death row rather than being executed by a california department of corrections. it's also a very comfortable place to live. i have talked to several inmates that have come from death row back here to orange county and have no qualms being there. they are treated very well. >> i won't die here. i'll die of falling off a bottom

step before this place executes me. i don't see that really, you know, i already know i can live out a long life there and exhaust appeals and do everything else and die of natural causes. >> regardless of whether bowles receives life in prison or death penalty, he will leave six children behind. one of his sons just turned 16. the same age bowles was when he began his life of crime. >> i don't write very often because we don't have very good communication. and it's his birthday and at 13 years old you give a kid advice and see if he runs with it. hi, son, how's it going? how is life treating you? i want you to know i'm very proud of you and you're growing up so fast. the time passes so quick and i hope your birthday is the best.

keep school and sports, number one. it might not seem like it but keep out of trouble and stay focused on life. i think of you and your brother all the time. i have a picture of you and him on wall next to where i sleep. life is rough and gets even more rough but you've got to stay open-minded and understand life is a test. you're the student. i love you, don't ever think different. i know i have a fun any way of showing it and -- but i know growing up and you need your space to see life for what it is. if you ever want to talk or see me, let mom know. i know there will be a time when -- and i just stopped.

but like i was explaining to the neighbor earlier, you know, i love my kids. but i'm not a good dad. all because i didn't take the chance to actually step in and be somebody in their life. it's too late. too late to change. too late.

due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> man, oh, man. my [ bleep ] bill is too damn high. it feels like i can't afford it, man. >> jail takes a dark turn for a light hearted teenager. >> it's a little more dangerous in here because people are fighting life so people snap easily. >> it provides a new beginning for an old bank robber. >> i've been writing "bank robber blues, the tales of the mummy bandit."