due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is . prison staff suspected inmate is covering up his own brutal beating. >> i don't like using the same everyone else is using. >> two cell mates share charges. >> when i was younger, i was a very bad person.

something was broken. i ended up buying a chainsaw and cutting her corporation into 15 pieces. >> one victim's mother still relives her daughter's murder. >> i go by the dumpster and wonder if that's one of my daughter's resting places. >> another inmate tries to make a difference. >> amazing grace -- >> at the end of the day, life is about choices. all of this stuff is an illusio

illusion. indiana's correctional facility how has 2200 inmates. one-third are doing time for serious violent crimes. less isolated and sol dare confinement, the vas majority live in two man cells. avoiding a volatile mix of cell mates is a constant challenge. >> we tried to not put people doing life with people that go home next year or blacks with whites or white su premise with someone that might be a child molestation case. >> conflicts can still a rise among cell mates. >> there's an assault. a guy has received injuries to facial and head area. at this point he's saying he's

had a seizurseizurizurseizure. we're going to talk to him and see what he can find out from him and if he's willing to talk at all. >> the victim is serving a 29 year sentence for burglary. >> what's up with you man? stay laying down if you want to. what happened to you, man? >> i fell. >> where? >> in my cell. >> did you get dizzy? >> yeah. >> did you have a seizure? >> i don't remember. >> have you fell like this before since you've been here? >> no. >> first time? >> yeah. >> have my medical conditions that would make you fall? >> no. >> did you trip over something? >> i don't remember. >> somebody help you fall? >> no. >> is it safe to assume probably something more than you falling happened that you don't want to talk about? >> no. >> who do you live with?

>> woods. >> what's his first name? >> i don't know. >> how long have you lived together? >> probably eight months. >> eight months? you think you're safe going back to the same cell you was in? >> yeah. >> you don't think you'll fall again? >> no. >> you think for whatever reason you fell this time it's over with and you won't fall again? >> should be, yeah. >> you understand where i'm coming from? >> yeah. >> we've got to protect you. >> i fell. want to leave it at that. >> trying to get medical attention, man. >> i'm going to get you fixed up. they've done x-rays, all right? all right. he reported he had fallen in a cell which is typical in prison i instead of these guys wanting to snitch. they'll say they fell, had a see which you are, it their head. he's got injuries. looks like his jaw is broken.

staff think something was done with a hot pot. there was a hot pot broken in the cell that's found. the cell mate is in cuffs. we'll talk to him and see what he has to say. the cell mate is woods, serving 70 years and in confinement. >> a man fell? >> pretty substantial injuries for falling. >> i'm sure the man had seizures. they've found the man before on the floor. >> there's a lot of blood in the cell. >> he had a good gash. >> how did the hot pot get broke? >> the hot pot? >> yeah, the one in your cell. >> it was broke before. >> i've been here 15 years. ain't nobody ever had a fall that looked like that. >> he had to tell you he fell on

the bed. >> i'm not going to tell me what he told me like i wouldn't tell you. i've been here 15 years. he might have told me he fell. he might have told me you beat the [ bleep ] out of him. you're running around assaulting people. i'm convinced you're going to do. this is not a simple fall. you're not going to man up and tell me how and why it happened. >> the man sprayed blood all over the place. >> that's not the truth at all. we both know it. i'll make different housing arrangements if you don't want to tell me what was going on. he's maintaining the story that nothing happened that he didn't do anything. the guy fell. so at this point you know, we'll go in. i'm going to look at cell and see what it looks like.

>> while violence between cell mates is always a possibility in prison, for these two, living together has had the opposite effect. >> why don't you put the cookie on the peanut butter? >> no. >> that's not a snack. >> i don't want no more snacks. got to get rid of this. dear heavenly father, lord, we thank you for this meal. >> oh curt. curt is a good brother, man. he's a gentle giant. he brought a lot of balance into my life. we've been celly two years. he never imagined he'd have a cell mate. >> he used to be housed on death row a waiting execution. >> i'm in prison for three counts of murder, three counts of robbery, two counts of dealing cocaine.

i spent three years on death row. half a million dollars scored. it was a residence, a safe. three innocent people ended up losing their life when they didn't have to. they didn't deserve to. >> stroud's victims were contractors working at home that he and his accomplices robbed. they tied them up and shot each in the head with a pistol. >> when i first walked on death row the thing that it me first

was the absolute silence. walking in there was like the type of silence that takes you in. the type of silence that's listening to you watching your every move seeing how you're going to respond to it. i came on the unit 23 years old trying to project courage, confidence, strength. on the inside i was upset, confused and i was afraid. the thing i remember the most was the cold concrete floor underneath my bare feet. just sitting on the edge of that bunk man. i just broke down and started crying, crying for the people i hurt, crying for justice, crying for my mother. you know what i mean? during those three year, seven men were executed and lost their lives. >> a change in indiana's capital

punishment laws saved stroud from joining them. his sentence was changed to three life terms without the possibility of parole. this did not make him immediately a better inmate. >> i was the thug of them all. like paul said, i was the chief among all sinner, bully's bully. i could make things move how i wanted to make them move. you know what i mean? that was a gift i had. >> that all changed when he found himself sharing a cell with curtis serving 40 years. >> when i first came over here, he was real rough around the edges. me being mellow, low key. god came through my to save him. >> bald headed brothers are in.

>> he's changed a whole lot. i'm proud of myself that god used know work with him after his reputation around the prison and on the street. >> i'm just thankful i can be used and i've got a brother like this that brought so much balance to my life. >> just as he credits him with becoming a better man, stroud says he's determined to pay it better. he spends free time tutoring other inmates like this man trying to earn his ged. >> what's the answer? obviously the left. don't get -- >> we're offering critical thinking skills, ways to settle disputes without violence. use the platform and credibility

from our past lives to give positive change to these lives in here and on the streets. >> you catch on quick for real for real. coming up, two cell mates with two unthinkable crimes. and later prison surveillance footage provides a new view as investigators try to figure out what happened to curtis and whether his cell mate should bear the blame. @ñ

at indiana's valley correctional facility, most share two omen cells. cleanliness is vital. >> why are you sweeping with

your hands? >> i don't like using the cell everybody else uses because i'm bringing their funk in my cell. >> when doing we're going to do spring cleaning? not today. i'm cleaning the floors. >> i was just asking. i'll probably make time over the weekend. >> let's do it sunday. >> cell mates for about a year, joshua and justin might have different priorities. they share the stigma of separately have committed unthinkable crimes. >> from day one i've known that the things that i've done even among criminals was way, way off you know, into the deep end. when i was younger, i was a

very, very bad person. something was broken, and i just didn't think like other kids my age did. >> he was 14 years old the day he committed the heinous crimes that brought him to are prison. his victim, a 16-year-old neighbor working in the yard of her home. >> i saw her door was open. me being the person i was, that clicked. okay, go get some money. that was my intent when i went up in there. she came in. she actually scared me when she came in. i didn't know she came in. i attacked her. i sexually assaulted her, and i

killed her. i robbed her. then i left. the poor woman didn't stand a chance. >> prosecutors determined he not only strangled his victim but sexually assaulted her after her death. >> he was sentenced to 77 years of robbery, murder, abuse of a corpse. he's already served a 15 and with good behavior could be out of prison by age 50. he currently lives in wo bash's protective custody unit who how has inmates who's lives could be at risk in general population due to the nature of their crimes. his cell mate joshua shares the same unusual pairing of

convictions, murder and abuse of a corpse. he's serving 68 years. the victim was his ex girlfriend heather norris. >> it was a toxic relationship. it was love/hate. i still very much love her. >> throughout the couple's three year relationship, heather told her family bean was physically abusive. though bean phased a pending trial of abuse charges at the time of heather's murder, he says he wasn't after abusive. >> the whole thing was predicated on a lie. the lie is we had a violent relationship. i'm not saying i'm without fault, but as far as what happened with her death, worst case, voluntary manslaughter. best case self-defense.

bean insisted heather came at him with a knife. >> i was able to get a hold of her and pry the knife out of her hand. even still after i had the knife she continued to come for it. that kind of caught me off guard. in the heat of the moment, i reacted. i stabbed her in the side right here. >> according to court records bean confessed to a friend he stabbed heather several times and slit her throat. no one knows for sure. her body was never recovered. >> i decided to try and do something with the body. i thought well cremation. at the time i didn't know the specifics behind it. i made the attempt to burn her body, a botched attempt. i ended up buying a chainsaw.

that's what people can't get past is what happened after. >> coming up, the mother of josh bean's victim speaks out. >> i go by the dumpster and i i wonder if that's one of my daughter's last resting places. >> first -- >> looks like he tried to clean the blood up before the staff arrived. there's blood on the bedding, some of the back window. >> investigator little john tries to determine if one cell is an accident scene or crime scene. and saved from death row, phillip stroud leads the choir.

at indiana's wobash valley correctional facility the cell is put on lock down limiting

movement of all inmates until investigators determine the cause of curtis's severe facial injuries. cash and his cell mate dana woods claim cash simply fell. internal affairs investigator frank littlejoin suspects a cover up. >> the suspect probably told the victim you better not tell on me. nobody falls and receives that many injuries. littlejohn assumes he might have used the hot pot to assault the inmate. >> this was retrieved from the cell? >> this was down in the trash. >> littlejohn's next step is investigate the cell itself. >> obviously you can see a little blood here. he probably tried to clean the blood up before the staff arrived. there's blood on the bedding, some of the back window. it was probably a little struggle. looks like he's already packed his property. he knew.

that's pretty typical when something happens. they pack up so the officers don't get things mixed up or whatever. he's ready to go to segregation. he knew he would be going. >> littleonchecks jailhouse surveillance. while there's no footage inside the share, he wants to rule out another situation. >> nobody comes in or out. >> nobody has been in or out between breakfast and lunch? >> you're going to see officers at the cell. this is cash, the offend her wi o offend her with the injuries. >> it does show nobody entered the cell besides the two. whatever happened obviously happened within the cell. >> woods was taken to the high

security cell block where he'll be locked in a single cell 23 hours a day in the final results of the investigation. >> strip out. >> toss everything. everything. put that on. >> they put us in a room. they don't give us no manual and tell us how to live in a box. it's really hard. really hard. especially if they have seizures and hurt themselves any time, you get blamed for it. >> coming up, joshua bean faces new troubles following a shake down. >> i got you showing positive for methamphetamine. >> later, his victim's mother talks about the brutality of her

daughter's murder. >> i have nightmares that heather's last moments were calling out for me to help her.

i'm richard lieu. here's your top stories. attorney general eric holder made the announcement saturday night. the new benefits apply to legally married couples if they live in states that do not recognize same sex unions. customers are still without power in pennsylvania after last week's ice storms. crews are working through the weekend hopefully to have power to everyone by monday. now back to "lockup." msnbc is where it be,

lockup, yeah. ♪ you don't want to follow because life without parole is a hard pill to follow. tomorrow isn't promised because today isn't finished. i can feel the tension because there's drama in the building ♪ ♪ there's nowhere to hide. there's two ways out, parole or suicide ♪ ♪ i suggest you stay away from here and follow god ♪ ♪ this isn't the place you want to be because prison is hard ♪ ♪ lockup, lockup, everybody is locked up ♪ ♪ this isn't the place you want to be because prison is hard ♪ ♪ everybody is locked up, locked up ♪ ♪ this is the place you want to be because this place is hard ♪ ♪ keep it real. peace ♪ . >> phillip stroud will never live beyond the fences of wabash

correctional facilitfacility, h found another means of interaction. >> music to me is more important than food, water, more important than anything. it makes me free. it just makes me free. >> stroud leads the prison choir. they perform during sunday church services and special events. his cell mate curtis mc grown has been a constant source of help and inspiration. >> you should have made a change. there's nowhere for you left to run or hide. i almost met this fate. i suggest you stay away from here and follow god. i note it's hard on the streets, but prison life is harder. >> that's one of the best i've

heard him sing there. >> he raps a lot, sings a lot. it can be 3:00 in the morning, i'm sleeping. he'll be writing a rap. i wake up and help him. i look at myself as a mentor. >> what position you going to be in the choir? ♪ do, do, do, >> i'm just stereo typing you based on your stomach. >> that's all right. i'll be gone player ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ ♪ that saved a wretch like me >> once a waiting execution on death row, stroud is serving three life sentences without the possibility of parole for murder.

i've been using street credibility to power testimony, music, to influence them in a different direction. i'm mindful there's a lot of people that do look towards me. ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound ♪ ♪ that saved a wretch like me >> it's been 11 years since the cold blooded triple murder that brought stroud to prison. for the past several years he's had a clean conduct record and says he's committed to becoming a different man, one very different than the one that used to wreak havoc on the street. >> if you had something i wanted. your car, girlfriend, territory, whatever. if i want had the i was coming to get that. if you tried to come get it from me, i was coming to get you. if i'm coming to see you, it was over with. you know, usually i would be

last person you would see. i was the nuclear option. ♪ there's wonder working power in the blood of the lamb ♪ >> at the end of the day life is about choices. all of this stuff is an illusi n illusion. life on the street, drugs, gang banging, getting high. if you want to get real, you've got to make better choices than the one i led. it's prison or empty existence on the streets. >> that wasn't that bad for our first go round. >> while stroud uses music to escape the restraints of prison, many others turn to drugs. despite the efforts of staff,

drugs are smuggled into the prison. trafficking and abuse pose security problems. correction officers conduct surprise shake downs to find and confiscate drugs. inmates are required to give urine samples. >> bring them out and set them down. >> 504. >> these guys are in protective custody. put a little space between. >> among those to be searched and tested with two of the more high profile inmates, joshua bean and dustin trobridge.

>> open 504. shortly after being bean and trobridge are allowed back in their cells. parole officers perform drug testing. >> cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana. the containers are designed with the drug detection patch that provides immediate results. >> bean, right? right now i've got you showing positive for methamphetamine. >> you want to send to the lab? >> there's no way. >> if an inmate requests positive, he can request a

second test at an outside lab. bean is positive his test is because of a prescription drug he's allowed to take. >> getting narcotics or anything like that back here is next to imp possible. so you know, i don't have a doubt when it goes to lab i'll be all right. >> for bean, a positive drug test could result in a transfer out of the protective custody unit where the high profile nature of his crime, murder of his ex girlfriend and destroying her corporation would make him a target among other inmates. i haven't been anywhere in the county, even in prison that doesn't know who i was and had seen the news about my case. it follows you everywhere. i tested positive for pot a year or two ago. they took me to disciplinary

unit. i was there half an hour and everybody said look, if you don't get out of here, we're going to straight stab you. >> coming up, investigators reach conclusions about curtis cash and joshua bean. @ñ

it's been nearly a week since wabash valley inmate dana woods has been accused of brutally beating his celle mate. curtis cash suffered a broken jaw and bloody face. since then, woods has been on a 23 hour lock down in the custody

unit as the internal affairs completed the investigation. >> it appeared upon the scene when we arrived, cash has been assault by woods with a hot pot and sustained lacerations to his face, multiple bruising to his neck and all over his body where it appeared to us he had been kicked. >> both cell mates are sticking today same story, that cash's injuries were the result of falling down in the cell. >> because of the lack of cooperation from the alleged assail ent and victim, we did not file external or internal charges or woods or cash. >> both of these guys have a lot of years left in prison. it's normal for the victim not to want the to talk. he's not wanting to be labeled a snitch. he's maintaining the story he

fell. you can't make him talk. >> woods was released from the custody controlled unit and returned to general population. he's given another assignment in another unit. >> you've got to get along in here. you've got to. >> we get along good. >> have you seen cash since the altercation? >> no. he's on the other side of the prison. >> did you guys leave on good terms? >> of course. >> over in the protective custody unit, joshua bean has received word on his ongoing investigation. after testing positive for methamphetamine during a shake down, he asked that an outside lab conduct their own tests. the results came back negative backing up bean's claim. >> i take wellbutrin. everybody in here that takes it

tested positive for methamphetamine. i figured it would be from the beginning. i knew i hadn't been doing anything. >> open your mouth. thank you. >> al though the prescription drug often creates problems when ever he's tested, according to bean, it's become his lifeline. he says he needs the medication to cope with anxiety and stress for being incarcerated for the death of his girlfriend. >> when i thing i have it, these scars and wounds open back up again. sometimes i'm partially in tears. sometimes i just want to it the off switch when i don't have one. there's no on and off to this kind of stuff. it happens when it happens. i've got to deal with it. >> on the eve of his 30th

birthday, dean's cell mate dustin spent half of his year in prison for murdering and assaulting a 69-year-old woman. he too attempts to make peace with the past. >> didn't use to like myself. i had a lot of hatred towards myself for a long time. on the back of my arm this says freak of nature. this means freak. this is nature. i started seeing things completely different. i started understanding things different too. i changed. i don't want to say it's because i found god or anything like that. truthfully that all came afterwards. i didn't get religious or anything until years after i figured out what a peace of crap i used to be. >> coming up, dustin and justin

reach out to the women they not only murdered but who's bodies. >> the mother of bean's victim has a different account. >> i know heather was beaten by him at least four times.

more than 2,000 inmates are housed behind the walls of the wabash valley correctional facility. but housing assignments are temporary as cell mates philip stroud and curtis mcgrown just found out. they were moved from their larger corner cell to a smaller one on the other side of the unit. >> why did they move you out of the big old corner area? >> did you see the dude in that cell now? he about this big.

>> he's a little bit bigger. i think he needed that cell a little bit more than we did. >> you think they moved you out of that cell because there was a bigger guy moving in? >> yeah, i think it was a handicapped cell. and we're both kind of small. well i'm a little bit bigger than him, but you know the guy that's bigger than me, he needed that cell more than me. because they looked like they was in a matchbox in here when we moved in here. >> but for stroud the only thing that changed is the view. >> to me it's all prison. you know, that's how i look at it. whether the cell was ten times this size or was half of this size, you know, i have been in worse situations. and i just look at it like, we still in prison, we still can't go home. the only environment that really matters is this -- the environment right here. you know what i mean? so i got a nice view. i got a view that i look at now and it just really -- >> step over here so you can see.

>> to any young person, to anybody that think coming to prison is cool or whatever, come here. that's what i got the look at for the rest of my life. those wires. that might be the closest that i ever get to freedom. it's close but it's far away. that's what lock up is. that is what my extended stay is like. you know what i mean? that's how it is for real. that's real life. it ain't -- it ain't high look in the movies. it ain't none of that, man. that's -- this is my bed. when i look out the window that's what i see. >> dustin trowbridge keeps a unique record of the many cells he's occupied over the last 15 years. >> i wrote down where i was every birthday that i've had since i've been in here. 15th was in the drunk tank in the county jail. 16th was in the cell right above

me. 17th was on the right side. 18th was on the right side. >> trowbridge has decided to mark his 30th birthday by writing a letter to the elderly woman he robbed, murdered and sexually assaulted. >> i can never ask you to forgive me for the horrible things i did to you. i can't yet find it in me to forgive myself. i am sorry. i'm story i stole your sense of security when i snuck into your home, i'm sorry i stole your accomplishments, and endeavors when i took your belongings. i'm sorry i stole your dignity when i assaulted you in the despicable ways that i did. i'm sorry i stole you from your loved ones when i very cowardly took the very life god gave you. there's really no words that can ever express how sorry i am. to those who knew and loved [ bleep ] i'm sorry and will not ask for your forgiveness, either. i know that i've hurt you in ways i have only just begun to understand. you have every right to hate me for what i've done. i hated myself for a long time.

every day for over half my life, not a moment has gone by when i didn't hang my head in guilt and shame. that's it. >> why did you feel the need to write that? >> well, i think it was -- this was as much for myself as it was for anybody else's sake. i this is going to sound kind of silly but i really didn't -- couldn't comprehend death until someone i knew -- until i had experienced that loss. and it -- it kind of put things in a completely different perspective when my grandma died. >> trowbridge's cell mate wrote a letter to his victim heather,

his former girlfriend whom he stabbed to death. >> i can't push these thoughts and emotions to the darkest most solitary place in my mind anymore. i've suppressed so much. now your parents think i abused and beat you on multiple occasions. now your friends think i controlled and forced you to be with me. i'm so far from abusive sometimes i find it beyond belief how i wound up where i am. i never wanted anything other than your love, babe. i never would have hurt you. yet you are dead, and i might as well be. >> but debby norris, heather's mother, says bean is a liar. >> i know that heather was beaten by him at least four times, four times that were pretty bad. one time she ended up going to the hospital after a beating. two of those beatings she

pressed charges and he was arrested on one charge and the other charge was pending when he killed her. >> debby norris did not allow her daughter to die in vain. after heather's death she led the effort that resulted in the passing of heather's law which made domestic violence education a requirement in indiana high schools. >> i'm trying to educate the young people on what a healthy relationship is and the signs they need to look for and what to do and that there are people out there that care and there are resources for them to turn to. when you're in abusive relationship and you decide to go back, you are going the hear the words, i'm sorry. i've changed. i'll never do it again. i love you. and you want to believe it. so you end up going back and i believe that's what heather did. >> i mean she loved me. i know she did.

when she -- when she was -- after she got off me i had stabbed her right here she lay down. i held her in my arms, and before she died she said, i love you. and those were her last words. >> during his sentencing one of the things that he did say was heather's last words were that, i love you, josh. i will never believe that. i have nightmares that heather's last moments was calling out for me to help her because she had done that so many times before. i don't see where this would have been any different. >> one fact that is indisputable is that bean attempted to get away with murdering heather by dismembering her body with a

chain saw and placing the parts in trash dumpsters throughout indianapolis. heather's body was never recovered. >> i go by a dumpster and i wonder if that's one of my daughter's last resting places. i see black trash bags and it makes me sick. i hear a chain saw and i have to get away. so much is different, obviously. he took heather's life. but he took mine. he took her dad's. he took her family's. he took her friends'. nobody is the same. nobody has ever stopped missing heather.

a suburban chicago bank held up at gunpoint. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> bank has been robbed. >> by a pair of robbers dressed as if they stepped out of a hollywood movie. >> had a mask on, the scream mask on. >> i wanted to make sure i heard what she was saying, so i had to ask her to verify, scream-type mask? >> but it turns out these robbers, one of them an x-rated actress, are mimicking a different movie called "the town." can these thieves dressed as nuns on the run get away with the cash? or will their habit for stealing get the better of them?