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tv   Lockup Raw  MSNBC  May 26, 2014 9:00am-10:01am PDT

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ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. taking you behind the walls of the most nor tore yus prisons, now the scenes you've never seen. lockup raw. every jail or prison we visit. >> this is the north american sewer salamander, it will be a nice trophy for the wall. >> there are people and things that make lasting impressions. from trans gender inmates. >> myself and my cellie, the
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rest of them are dressed as guys. >> win this city with an iron fist. >> for those with dreams of stardom. >> i don't do it for the shine. damn, i forgot a part. >> our production team reveals what it's like to be up close and personal. >> i don't want to be on tv. >> life for most inmates in jail or prison consists of long monotonnous days broken up with moments of sheer terror. when our product teams shows up, there's a lot of buzz. at first the inmates are very cautious and play it close to the vest. as interviews come on, they become more comfortable and start to reveal things about themselves and some even become
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showmen. ♪ ♪ i see the clock on the wall >> i'm through thinking ginn, juice and tangeruay. >> head back to the strip, being legit. >> many inmates are eager to share stories or talents with us, delshon took things to another level. >> i'm getting ready for my video shoot [ bleep ], my biceps, my abs and [ bleep ]. about to be real wavy. >> he caught our attention right away. he had a really big personality. >> he saw our presence as an opportunity to show case himself and constantly concerned how he was coming across to our
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viewers. >> i look good? >> you do. you look fine. >> my hair look good? >> see all of my -- i did it with a razor. >> i want to be famous, i want to be someone that everyone remembers. i want to be not just a locally famous. i want to be internationally famous across the world. i want -- >> for what? >> for rapping. ♪ i'll run this city with an iron fist ♪ ♪ going against it i'll have to break your wrist ♪ ♪ i've been a rebel since before my teens ♪ ♪ teachers told me sit down -- police said freeze i was like -- ♪ i'm always in that rebel state of mind. i ain't that hard to find ♪ ♪ watch out easily and chewing up this time ♪ ♪ i'll be moving on these kids, i don't do it for the shine ♪
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damn, i forgot a part. >> that was good. >> he didn't just rap about a life of crime. he came to jail on armed robbery and assault and battery. >> they say after we took the guy's money, allegedly that i punched him in his face. i'm thinking i was going to beat my charge. i was wrong. and i'm still in jail ever since. >> bloodworth's stay at suffolk county was also marked by violence. his he and his cell mate were in the segregation unit after they attacked another inmate. >> feeling like a real criminal here, man. >> on the first day we met bloodworth, he decided to put on another display of violence, though cuffed and shackled for his one hour of recreation time per day, bloodworth attacked another inmate as we followed
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behind. >> usually when you're filming an inmate, they are a little more cautious about what they are doing because they know they are on camera. this was blatant. this was right in front of yus. he knew he was being filmed at the time he started this fight. >> central control, we have two restrained. >> you thought it was over, huh? >> we later learned that this fight was the result of a dispute that followed bloodworth from the streets into the jail. >> he has a distinction of allegedly trying to switch gang affiliations worked from one to another. constant battle with different feuds and now fighting his old friends from the old neighborhood. that's what his problem is right now. >> if you're jumping in the game and don't know these things are a part of the gangster package, then you shouldn't be in it,
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simple as that. >> so basically, if i'm getting this straight, you made a decision to live your life in a perpetual war that has no end in sight. and that's okay. >> i never said it was okay. you know what i mean? i don't feel it's okay. but while i sit back and allow them to always be on offense common all the time, no, i'm going to put them on defense. which means i'll be running through your hood and i will be letting that thing go. they want to white flag it, we can do that. as far as on this side, we never white flag it. >> bloodworth was put in a single man cell following his latest attack. and for all of his bravado, our next visit revealed some of his fears and not just any ordinary fears. >> hopefully the world don't blow up, i don't want to die in
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here. 2012, the world might end. the world might end. you don't believe that? >> you're going to actually now reference the mayan calendar. >> the myan calendar, yes, socarites said it himself. all flophilosophers point to 20 blowing up. that's it. it's over. i want to smoke a blunt before i die and smoke a cigarette. i want to be with a bunch of dudes. >> it would be another month before our next check-in with bloodworth and it was clear he had missed the attention. >> tracy. what's up? you just going to swerve -- wasn't going to say nothing. >> i was going to say bye. >> okay, okay. >> the most unusual thing the way he would interact with us. he was really interested in us coming up to his door. >> you be on some funny
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[ bleep ] i want to say hi and walk away. we used to have deep conversations and used to go in, tracy, what happened? like, y' all be getting tired of me, that's what it is. >> we have someplace scheduled to be. >> you see. i thought i was the main ka hone na. i thought i was the main person -- me, right there. everybody else is just -- >> like block of delshon. >> that's what i was thinking that. no bull, i was really thinking that. it's crazy. >> coming up -- >> that don't look good. >> makes me look like a sucker. >> caught in a lie -- and -- experiencing lockup with our field team. >> if you lacks days cal about it, something can happen.
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during our extended stay at the suffolk county jail, bloodworth quickly warmed up to the cameras. >> that's all i got. >> seemed determined to make a lasting impression on us. we were also with bloodworth with his life reached a major turning point. he accepted a plea deal on the armed robbery and battery charges and sentenced to two and a half years. >> all right. >> we followed him from the suffolk county jail facility for pretrial detainees to the nearby house of correction where he would serve his sentence. >> school these young boys. >> our next interview with bloodworth was more serious. he had told us earlier that the victim of this crime was a man but later we discovered that wasn't true.
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>> the police said you robbed a woman. what was the deal? >> that don't look good. makes me look like a sucker. when you hear someone rob a female, they say, really? you're that much of a could ywa you have to rob a woman? >> after the robbery they were quickly apprehended but for bloodworth, the arresting officer added ultimate insult. >> stepped on my new white adidas, i was mad, it was fresh. >> you were mad because a policeman stepped on your new tennis -- >> you right, but i like to give punishment, i don't like to receive it. >> our final interview with bloodworth ended with one last revealing exchange. >> do you think you deserve to be in here? >> no, no, i don't think i deserve to be in here.
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>> what do you think you would be doing if you were out on the street right now? >> the same thing. >> you don't think you should be in here. i don't think i should, the law abiding citizens do who don't want to get robbed. it's a cold world. it's a cold world. i need money, you have it. the way i get it is by robbing you. i'm saying, i know it's wrong and what's right, you know what i mean? i'm not dumb. >> no, you're not, that's why i'm giving you such a hard time. you're very far from dumb. >> you know, i just, it's plenty of ways to make money, you know. but that's the way i just chose how to make it. >> you don't have to do it by making the world a cold place. that's all i'm saying. >> you know, i think if i was, for example, if i was to go out
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to to let's say one of the supermarket -- not the supermarket, one of the retail stores or something like that, as soon as i get out, i don't think they are going to hire me. >> you could work somewhere where they don't have cash registers. >> what would your suggestion be? >> take responsibility for your actions, that's what i would suggest. you've got to own what you do. >> i do own what i do. i own a gun and own robbing people. >> have i given you enough grief for the day? >> no, but if you all want to leave, bye. >> you look like you're tired me of. you're getting tired of me. i can tell. >> we're not tired of you. >> why? because we haven't been around for a while? >> that too. we have 20 other people we're following. you're taking it a little personally. >> bloodworth's interview where a serious moment suddenly turns
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humorous. >> look at that stance. get a shot of that. >> is not uncommon. >> that is steady. >> one of the things i love about watching the raw footage come in from the field or kind of twists and turns these interviews take, our producers are talking to these inmates about usually some pretty serious topics, sensitive topics and inhe have itably there will come a time when the producer and inmate are laughing. some humorous topic came up and i think it's a testment to our field teams they are able to get these intimate interviews in an extreme environment like prison. >> no, don't, i want to be on tv. >> i'll have to get signatures from all of you guys. we'll do this in an orderly fashion and you might make it on there. >> i love your show. >> not only are there rules at the prison, there's rules i've grown accustomed to live about.
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one is just never become too comfortable. you are in a prison or jail. >> are you nervous at all, sir? >> i do this all the time. >> you all get a chance, don't worry. >> can we throw a gang sign? >> no, no, that's good. >> taking a picture? >> yeah, that's different. this is for the big camera right here. that's what this is for. >> you can't forget it, if you get all lackcy days cal about it then stuff can happen. >> i've been wearing the exact same baseball hat and figure you've gotten this far safely, why change up the program now. so i'm going to wear the same baseball hat until the shoot is over with. >> people often ask me and other members of the lockup crew if we've ever been attacked or assaulted or if we're scared or intimidated. >> i've never really been scared.
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i've never felt in danger because of the bond that i feel like we have with these inmates and understanding of why we're there and what we're there to achieve. having said that though, i'm not naive. there is always the possibility that something could happen. >> we're told we have to prepare for that. but we always have staff around us and the case of doing a one on one interview, i tend to get fairly close to the person i'm interviewing because it's how i can engage and have communication. and i've always talked to my camera crew that god forbid something happens, i have faith that they as well would step in because they are usually right around me. they might actually be able to help me quicker than a staff member. >> ultimately, the crew safety can come down to the inmate's own code, known as the convict code. >> there are certain prisons where even when you've established a certain rappaport
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with inmates, they made it clear, if another inmate attacks me, they will not come to my aid. that's against the convict code. other prisons inmates told me they will protect me. i've even been told they are watching me to make sure nobody hurts me. >> in certain high security housing units, lockup field teams are required by the prison to wear stab proof vests before entering. >> the first time i put on a stab vest was in indiana at wabash valley and it was an uneasy feeling knowing i needed to wear this to walk onto the next unit i was going to, that the potential to be stabbed was higher here. it definitely makes you a little moit on your toes and a lot more alert of your environment. >> we noticed that these vests lockup, we'll change every one of them. >> if i'm required to wear a
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stab vest, i usually make light of it. when i'm interest tacting, i jow it adds ten pounds and doesn't go with my outfit. >> a sense of humor goes a long way in breaking the ice with many of the inmates featured on lockup. >> coming up -- the one lockup crew member inmates love to rib. >> sometimes i'll hear people say stuff through your their cell, hey, fat boy. i've got to look at myself, really? and previously unseen clips from one of the more memorable inmates we've ever made. >> grandpa wears them nowadays.
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lockup extended stay field teams cover stories that range from horrifying to heartbreaking. and sometimes the only way to
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get through it all doct-- >> hey, think fast. >> especially for director of photography, brian kelly. >> this was my former life before i was an expert camera operator. and shooting at the same time. >> one of things that makes the shoot enjoyable, under some pretty difficult circumstances is the humor. >> take it one day at a time. >> and i'll be the first one to admit, i get made fun of a lot. and it's okay. i laugh with them. it's almost like a bonding situation. [ laughter ] >> say that part again one more time. look -- >> i like the voice coming out of you. it's good. it's a good -- hey, fellows. >> brian is definitely a target for the teasing we get on the
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inside. >> one more thing -- >> i've got to ask. >> is that how i sound? >> absolutely. >> yeah, yeah. >> i've been asked the most embarrassing question i could think of, look at susan. remember how yesterday when you rub your face and you were just deep in thought, can you do that deep in thought face again? can you cry on cue? can you make a teardrop come out -- >> that's not really what happens, just for the record, but sometimes i see a creative angle that i like and i will do them do the exact same action again. come on, could you do that one more time? do i really sound like that? maybe i do. but it's okay. like i said, i take it. it's no big deal. >> chili cheese fritos. >> they like him and like being around him and like to tease
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back and forth and get a rise out of him or something. >> sometimes i'll hear people say stuff through their cell, hey, fat boy. >> i don't want a picture. >> and you know, i got to look at myself, really? >> sometimes there are opportunities for the production team to try their hand at some of the more creative methods inmates use to pass time in prison. through a technique known as fishing, inmates pass everything from notes to books and snacks by tieing them to a string they call a fishing line. they then skillfully drag the item from one cell to another. the more advanced can even fish from one floor to another. >> it's a big fish. >> it is a skill that requires a lot of practice. >> while the crew is filming, i came across i think it was a
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mouthwash with a fishing line wrapped up around it. i had only heard about fishing at this point. when i saw the fishing line, i immediately wanted to try it. and i asked the co if it was okay for me to try to fish. they said sure. >> tracy, what are you doing? >> fishing. >> we looked inside one of the units and there was a note on the floor. i meeldly started to try to fish for that note through the door. i wish i could get it. i had no idea what i was doing. i was not even throwing the line right and had no clue. they started giving us little pointers on holding it tighter or try to go to the left. >> let's see what they said. this way? okay, so we come this way. >> oh -- >> none of us actually ever got it. ♪ >> the great thing about field producing lockup, we witnessed
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firsthand how these diverse groups of people under very adverse and extreme circumstances form societies. they have laws. they have rules and corporal punishment and often times have their own language. they form their own clicks. to me that's fascinating and watching human nature at its very basic level and seeing how we all are. >> no two days are alike. >> if you can give me 30 more seconds we'll be done with you. >> we'll set out to have a plan on what we're going to shoot. and we'll arrive another 8:00 in the morning. by 8:10 a.m., everything has changed. so it creates its own issues, but i wouldn't trade it. i love dealing with the inmates and talking to them. i love learning about people. >> it's a way to also look at yourself, because there but for certain fates could be any of us. it's an amazing observation of human nature and amazing chance to experience ourselves.
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>> coming up, the judge is out there listening to this right now, mr. judge, may i say you look marvelous today. >> more from the inmate lockup viewers know as the indiana cat man. >> see you later.
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after a surprise visit to afghanistan, president obama marked memorial day in arlington this morning. he latd a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns and delivered remarks paying tribute to america's troops. pope francis wrapped up his three-day visits to the holyland. he was in jerusalem where he visited the western wall and domestic of t dome of the rock. now back to lockup.
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>> during a lockup extended stay shoot, our production team spends months inside a single prison or jail. they interview close to 100 inmates and staff in that period. everybody has a story and some of the inmates we meet in prison are truly unforgettable. it was really surprising to run into one of those inmates a few years later in another facility. >> hello, everybody, it's me. you've probably seen me once before in michigan city, now i'm down here at wabash. >> few inmates made more of a lasting impression than james stone. we met him in michigan city, indiana, during our shoot at indiana state prison. >> say hi to the public. >> probably best known for constant companion, the cat he was allowed to adopt through a special prison program. >> try to make a swimming pool in here. >> also known for his off beat
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sense of humor. >> it's a bird, it's a plane, now, it's the biobucket man. >> to the bat cave. >> three years later, when we returned to indiana to shoot our extended stay series at the wabash valley correction alpal facility, we were surprised to see stone again. >> i talked to guys coming from all other prisons that recognized me, you're the cat man, ain't you? best thing i can do, say, yeah, i'm in. see you later. >> stone is serving 101 years for attempted murder and criminal defend yant conduct. after 26 years in prison, he says he's a changed man. >> see you jinxster. >> he credits that to his relationship with jinxsister, an identical cat he had in prison years earlier named jinx. >> he was a large cat and wasn't
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fed either, he was muscle bound. >> because wabash doesn't have a cat program, jinxster lives with stone's family. but while he lost his cat, stone hadn't lost his sense of humor. >> try to keep me happy go lucky attitude and stay in stoney land for a while there. you know. >> tell me about stoney land. >> just so i don't have to think about stuff. i take things how i like them. >> my grandpa wears them nowadays. >> don't care what other people think. it's a home run! i stay in stoney land. you know, i don't need no psych co-therapist or medication. >> nothing if i had an s right there, that means stone. >> being in stoney land is how he got through being in prison. and just he did keep us laughing. >> can you show me your tattoo.
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>> i'll show you mine, you show me yours. just got to take a shot sometime. it's a nickname i picked in tijuana, they called me tijuana tom down there because nobody beat me arm wrestling. >> you're going to stoney land. >> he's hilarious, he's constantly messing with our gear, once there's a boom mike over you, he'll start playing with it like it's a cat toy. >> like drilling -- >> he's constantly kind of laughing and making jokes of a situation. >> this is the north american sewer salamander, nice trophy for the wall. >> he a bunch of great one liners. hello grandma, you still working as a stripper? >> according to marcus murray also transferred to wabash, stone's cat and sense of humor aren't all he's known for. >> yes, i know stoney. all of this tallness and big
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hair. that is awesome '70s hair. it's an icon. it's him and conan o brian. >> getting hair cuts in there. they ain't got a regular barber shop. whoever wants a job, sit there and cut everyone's hair. not me, i got hair, i'm keeping my hair. you ain't taking my hair off. don't cut me bald, you know. it makes it sort of rough getting hair cuts around here. >> the lack of a good hair cut wasn't stone's only complaint about wabash. >> this is probably one of the best meals we've got out of the whole menu and still ain't figured out what the meet is, we narrowed it down to alpacas or guinea. >> what you get down here seven days a week and you can count on it like clock work, rice and
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dehydrat dehydrated potato flakes. that means tonight we'll have rice. >> they add water and poof, it's like sea monkeys and you know. >> stone says he had a better diet back at indiana state prison because the inmates were allowed to tend gardens and grew their own food. >> this place here has so much wide open area that's not being used. they could do the same thing down here if they allowed gardening, this place could self-feed itself. >> it has so much potential but yet they don't use it. they don't have no gardens down here. they don't allow no hobby crafts down here. you're pretty much not even allowed responsibilities down here. it's not a place where you have a way of life. you know, instead it's just you're here. that's it, you're just here. >> rehabilitation is sense of responsibility, sense of duties
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and stuff like that. if you're not given those, or not given opportunity to accept those, then the word rehabilitation just don't exist in the first place. >> we were locked up for rehabilitation. that's what the judge said. which i don't see how 101 years has anything to do with rehabilitation unless i'm going to be a mummy. >> after 26 years of incarceration, stone says he deserves a second chance on the outside. >> i mean, really, i went through all of these different courses, na, aa, ba, whatever hell has an a on the end of it, i went through them. the cat program, landscaping program, i've done so much different programs. i've been reprogrammed more or less. >> i would think i've earned my freedom, doing over 26 years already. all i'm trying to do is just get my charges ran together from
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consecutive to concurrent and walk out of here and leave, go home. >> stone hopes a judge will some day accept his request for concurrent sentences. >> open the door. >> that would reduce his term from 101 to 51 years. and since inmates in indiana are eligible for release after serving half of their time, he would finally be able to go home. >> the judge is out there listening to this right now, mr. judge, may i say you look marvelous today? >> when you were last out, it was 1985, things have changed pretty radically -- >> i figure probably would be like being 8 years old and going to disney land. going to be pretty amazed at everything, you know. >> why? >> for one, cars talking to you. guys saying stone, you need to know how to work computers. you can't survive without a
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computer. forget about it, i can survive, i don't need something to do my own thinking. >> what would you do? >> what will i do? i just want to dance. no, really, i want to open me up an animal shelter. open me up an animal shelter/wood workshop. >> it was good to see him and good to hear updates on what he had gone through. you kind of cheer for james stone. >> i'll be back. >> coming up -- >> i think it's amazing stuff we can do. we can curl our hair with toilet paper. >> improvised fashion tips from behind bars. >> if we get caught with this in our hair, we'll get in trouble. get a write-up for contraband. . making new york state number two in the nation in new private sector job creation... with 10 regional development strategies to fit your business needs. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york...
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any inmate confined to prison or jail is well aware of the freedoms they are forced to sacrifice. >> into the green door. >> the loss of individual style is an ir refutable reality of incarceration. it all starts when a new arrival must give up his street clothes for an inmate uniform. >> one thing people don't often realize, when you're doing time, you will be in basically the same outfit every day for years. you might have a few of them so you can keep it clean, but essentially you'll be in the same jump suit or stripes or khakis, almost every day. >> the philosophy behind most uniforms is to clearly identify inmates from staff or civilians who might be visiting the facility including our production teams who must adhere to dress koetd codes themselves.
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>> dress codes vary. in california, the film crew can't wear blue jeans. the inmates wear blue jeans. if something breaks out in the yard and an officer in the tower needs to shoot a bean bag, they have to quickly discern who's an inmate and who's a noninmate. >> different colored uniforms are often used to identify the security levels of various inmates. >> but at the maricopa jail in phoenix, arizona, joe arpaio wants to send a message with the pink uniforms. >> this is joe arpaio's way to express how we're paying back to see siociety. the pink is a way of keeping us humbled, separating us from regular society. >> put them in pink underwear, they were smuggling white
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underwear out of the jail. the unofficial reason, they hate pink. you never give them a color they like. why would you give them things they like. >> inmates sometimes alter uniforms to fit their own fashion sense. at the orange county jail in southern california, we met transgender inmate alejandro cortez, prefers to be called alexis. >> myself and my cellie we're dressed as girls rest are dressed as guys. >> despite his physical appearance, cortez was in fact a male inmate housed in a men's unit. >> if you are in the process of having a sex change, let's say, if you still have your male genital parts, you're considered a male and you will be housed there, whether or not you have breasts or -- it's what's below the belt that counts. >> at first it was startling
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watching the tapes when we came in from the field. we thought we were seeing inmates wearing women's gowns or mini skirts and thinking to ourselves, it seems odd that jail officials allow this. but it turned out they were actually just standard jail issued t shirts and bed sheets that these inmates converted into women's clothing. and they actually did a pretty convincing job of it. >> ya! yeah! >> i'm trying to do the best of it. we have our own personal revlon, mac, loreal. we wet them and it goes into the eyes and all we do is just about ready to go. i don't know where she's going to but she's ready to go. >> we've seen female inmates
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come up with all sorts of substitutes for eyeliner, which like most other cosmetics is banned from the majority of prisons and jails we've been to. we found one who dug deeper than most to find a substitute. >> there it is. >> got it. >> it's the black stuff from the window and you put hair grease on it and it makes eyeliner. >> nobody can make it as black as me though. they can't do it like that. >> kurlers are also on list of banned items. but that didn't stop orange county jail cell mates from making their own. >> we don't have things that people on the outs have. we make do with what we have and it's amazing the stuff we can do. we can curl our hair with toilet paper. >> twist it like this. >> this gets folded in half. >> you fold down and this goes
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around the curl er lick it and close it. there's your curler. >> yeah, if we get caught with this in our hair, we'll get in trouble. >> yes. >> get a write-up for contraband. >> it's just toilet paper. >> i know, tell them that. >> it's altering what it's supposed to be used for -- >> altering, what they tell us. >> we could use this as a weapon and like, hurt somebody really bad with toilet paper. >> see. >> hold on, you have to do the whole pantene commercial thing. >> some orange county inmates concern themselves with appearances, michael charles was all about function over fashion. >> when we first michael charles, we could see something was immediately going on with his glasses. when we got closer to talk with him, we could see the arms were
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either broken or lost or destroyed an he replaced them with plastic spoons. >> my glasses broke so i have to make another one. and can you get me another spoon? >> thank you. >> so i'm going to have to bend this and bite it, we bite it and make a hole and put the hole into here. there we go. now we got them fixed. slip them on. they should be tighter there we go. we got them set. we have to make out with what we've got in here and this is what we have so we're making out. >> coming up -- >> they are lonely. they make what is called a fifi. >> the inmate made devoice known as the fifi. >> ever make a fifi?
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. >> no matter where we travel, we find inmates are resourcele for replacing small luxuries they took for granted on the outside. for example, inmates can have tvs, they are just not allowed to have remote controls for their tvs. because they can be taken apart and turned into weapons. still, there are plenty of ways to change the channel without getting up. prison toilets don't come with lids. >> when you flush at night, it makes a loud noise. >> james stone made his own and deck rated it too. >> it muffles the sound almost
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all the way out. >> inmate daniel merman take liked to wash his towels in the sink and showed us his clothes line. >> you put the back and soap and mix it and when you stick it to the wall and put a little card board and have your string already, it nice and strong, very strong. >> while these items meet a few minor needs, there's a more personal need that inmates long to have met as well. >> with the exception of the very few facilities that actually allowed for conjugal visits, usually in a private area someplace, sex in prison or jail is considered a rule violation. but like so many other things, inmates are going to find ways to get around it. >> listen to this [ bleep ] they done wrote me up. >> a sexual toy. >> a sexual toy?
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>> what kind of sexual toy? >> oh, mary beth -- they found a glove and ace bandage and two trash bags and tampon. >> what were you making? >> trying to say a dill do. >> this is the first time i had to deal with contraband of this nature being something other than it was supposed to be. sometimes we have to deal with preponderance of evidence. we learned the elicit sexual aid industry in prison is not limited to female inmates, male inmates have an artificial substitute as well and we were surprised to know it's known as the same slang word nationwide. >> universal meaning that arrive
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each location we film at. one was fifi. >> we used the term in indiana. >> these men are lonely, they make what is called a fifi, which is -- it's a glove and other items and they call it their lady. that's the nicest way to put it without getting beeped off msnbc. >> we kept hearing this word fifi and kept coming up in conversations but no one was willing to admit to having one. >> we heard the term again in tampa, florida. >> i can't make a fifi in here, can't get my hands to make a fifi. >> they got two or three or four life sentences, they have to find something to keep them busy in the spare time. >> ever make a fifi? >> yeah. >> but at the famous tent city housing unit, the inmates volunteered to make one for us. >> we were shooting some night time shots at tent city.
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and there's quite a contrast between tent city during the day when people are working and going about their business and tent city at night. what happens when the tent flaps go down, one of those things they do is the male inmates make home made sexual pleasure devices. >> today you asked me what a fifi is. since there's others that don't want to demonstrate, i personally don't use them because i don't have that much time in here. >> we thought about it and figured it might really be in bad taste to show you how one of these devices is actually made, but suffice it to say, it only takes a few items and they are all legally accessible by any inmate. >> i don't touch it. i usually find a new guy to touch it for me. >> with a stick. >> i've been here a while, i can designate that to someone else.
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due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons into a world of chaos of danger. now, the scenes you've never seen. lockup raw. >> if you were to describe prison life in a three letter text, it definitely would not be lol. it could be wtf but that doesn't mean what you think it does. >> sorry mom. >> it stands for

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