. it's a grinding wheel. everything here is a rut. it's a circle. it's a death trap. >> feels like a tomb, a concrete tomb. >> it's fun to break the law and dance with the devil, but see, when you have to pay the fiddler, it ain't nothing nice. >> msnbc takes you behind the wall of america's most notorious prisons, into a world of chaos and danger. now the worlds you have never seen. lockup: raw. ♪

>> in prison, the term hard time can mean many different things. it can be an inmate who will never see freedom again. or an inmate who's doing solitary confinement for years at a time. our crews have seen numerous examples of what it's like to do hard time. but there's one story in particular that seems like it came straight out of a movie. >> every weekday morning just after sunrise, a group of inmates at the elaine hunt correctional center in louisiana prepares for a grueling day of farming the fields adjacent to the prison. >> 63 acres of vegetable gardens, anything from squash, tomatoes, mustard greens, collard greens. >> supervised by armed officers on horse back, and earning 2 cents an hour for their labor,

the inmates harvest more than a million pounds of crops a year. all of it used at the prison. but this particular work detail forces staff to be especially vigilant. >> knowing that they have tools, that they could easily use as weapons, and they have done it before. it makes you watch your back. keeps you on your toes. because you never know what could happen. you could take one of the -- one of the best guys and he decides that he doesn't like you and he wants to take you out. >> see, when you get it like this, like that razor blade there. i learned that sharpening the knives on the floor. >> joel baker has three life sentences and a nickname. it's white trash. >> the judge gave me my name, it was kind of ironic. with sentencing, three murders, drug deal gone bad, shootout, they shot me, i shot them.

the judge says in the final summation in the final verdict, you are nothing, mr. baker, but a pebble in the pond. you are nothing but poor white trash. all my life i was a bad boy. i look back and i see all the stupid mistakes that i made, and i see the young people that are here at this prison, and i hear all the stories because i listen, and i think to myself, you do not know how fortunate you are. you're going out there with another chance. five years, ten years or what. you're getting another chance. i'll never get that chance. i would give my leg, my arm, for that chance. i'm never going get it. i'm going to die right here. >> clean the front, all that grass out in front. >> it's fun to break the law and dance with the devil, but, see, when you have to pay the fiddler, it ain't nothing nice. trust me. i'm living it. i'm living it. >> when it comes to serving hard time, white trash baker is

hardly alone. >> myself, i got 35 to life, on a three strikes case in the mid '80s, burglary and attempted burgla burglary, four years, and did four years. 1996, a methamphetamine charge. and fell under california's three strikes and you're out law. i ended up getting a sentence of 35 years to life. >> aaron yost was 11 years into the latest sentence when we met him in california. he says his problems stem from a near lifelong abuse of drugs. >> i grew up with drugs. my parents were quote, unquote, hippies. both my parents dropped acid. my mom's dead now from a dug overdose. when i was 9 years old, i was rolling joints for mom and dad. >> yost's life is now largely confined to this cell, he shares

with another inmate. >> i'm not comfortable like this. i don't like men. i like women. and to me it's disgusting. i'm irritated. if i wake up in the morning, i'm agitated because i have to live with another man. >> now the closest yost comes to female companionship is his tattoos, some of which too graphic to show on television. >> that's all i dream about. that's all i got. >> i remember when we met aaron, the man was absolutely tattooed. just incredibly inked. if one word describes him, it's intense. just full of energy. i remember when my producer asked him, what's the daily routine. he started right in on telling us what it was all about. >> one person gets down, the bunk down, come over, do your business. wipe the sink out. this has to be pristine. see how i'm playing in the

toilet, this is clean. i could wash my face in it, we keep it clean. we're not animals. that's why everything's so shiny. there's etiquette, you don't do this, you know what i mean? see, i have to pass gas, i don't farther in the cell, i'll sit on this and hit the button. you're so contained, every little smell is offensive. it's hell. it's constant pressure every day. it's like an animal in a cage. you get poked, prodded, not just by staff, but by everybody. everything's -- everything's a challenge. this is a place where evil lives, you know? >> though he seemed eager to express himself, yost later told our producer that giving this interview put him at risk with other inmates. >> because there's repercussi s repercussions. because i'm talking, i'm giving an interview. because i could be considered a rat, you follow what i'm saying? for giving up information, game,

for explaining what it is in here. >> we saw what aaron meant like that. to a more common area of the prison, one of his neighbors began questioning him about what he was talking about. i kept rolling. >> what it was like in the cell. what it's like to live in here. some of the laws. the seals, this is a new prison. how it's a smash army. too much, i spend probably half an hour in there. the agony, the torture, the poke, the prod. the constant, you know what i mean, the frustration. feel like you can't release. how do people release frustration? drive, work out, sling, eat. >> if you kept it like that the whole time, i'll support you. >> prison is predatory, prison is evil. everyone runs on base emotions. very few people think with a higher intellect how to do stuff, how to be.

>> yourself included? is that how you operate? how do you operate in here? >> well, there's people that would tell you how i operate in here. i'm sure lots of people would tell you that they don't approve of how i operate. >> those people include the correctional staff who not only believe yost is a dangerous inmate, but that he's the leader of a white supremacist gang. >> here, yost. seen him out there? in the yard? watch for him. watch out for that dude. watch his movement. we found information, we received a kite saying that if yost gets three feet next to this guy, he's going to hit him. he's going to hit him. >> what's my role here? i'm an [ bleep ]. and in my mind they're a [ bleep ]. you know. i'm constantly agitating them, and they me, and i won't quit. >> ultimately, yost may not have

a choice. >> time's ticking, i'm sick from hepatitis c virus from shooting dope for 20 years. the treatment isn't working, liver at stage 2. i'm tired. i can't get any expression. all my family's died, one by one. >> what is your future? >> death. what's yours? death. >> next, on "lockup: raw." ♪ it's been 18 long years in the soc orko prison ♪ >> one inmate's way of dealing. >> every year i change the number of years i've been in prison. every...three...seconds. so you have to ask yourself, am i next? one weak password could be all it takes. or trusting someone you shouldn't. over 100 million consumers

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>> narrator: at the brushy mountain correctional complex in tennessee, we met an inmate who knows something about serving hard time. brian lautensclager is serving a 90-year sentence for murder and attempted robbery. >> i've been here so long. >> how long have you been here? >> in prison, altogether, 18 years. come in when i was 18, come out when i was 24, back when i was 25, now back, i'm 36, going on 37. >> narrator: along with working out, there's one way he copes. ♪ i was 18 years old when they sent me to prison ♪ ♪ all away from my home in east tennessee ♪

♪ still see the tears s my dar was crying as she whispered i love you said she'd wait for me ♪ >> when i first come to prison, you know, i had a girlfriend, and she was telling me how she's going to wait on me and all this. and things change. and -- i -- i'm still in here, and she's gone. ♪ it's been 18 long years in the so-co prison ♪ ♪ sometimes i feel so all alone ♪ ♪ i lost a girl that i loved to the arms of a stranger ♪ ♪ the only home i know is surrounded by stone ♪

it's a sense of freedom, you know? it frees my mind. i'm not thinking about brushy mountain or prison, you know? ♪ i'm blue, that's all i can say ♪ ♪ i'm lonesome and blue, that's all i can say ♪ it's no cover fines, it's been a while since i had written it. every year i change the amount of years that i have been in prison. >> narrator: next, a lockup: raw. >> it's like a tomb, a concrete tomb. >> narrator: they're considered the worst of the worst. >> the sky, the residues and sunlight, but it's fading away like butter on corn bread. >> narrator: but these inmates have found an icon to relate to. >> that's -- that's almost like something shakespeare himself would write.

>> narrator: in many of america's maximum security prisons, there are three letters that strike fear in the hearts of inmates. s.h.u. the shu. it stands for secured housing unit. and like a prison within a prison, these units house the worst of the worst. >> mostly assault, intimidations, threatenings. whether it be on staff or inmates that land them in here. so these are -- these are not the good guys. >> narrator: when we visited the shu at indiana's wabash correctional facility, the staff made it clear, absolute control is the top priority. >> your quietest day in the shu can be your worst day in the shu in two seconds. some of the challenges we face are the threat of being gunned down, as we say in here, fee

sees or urine thrown on you. spit, blood, see men, anything you can think of happened in this building. >> narrator: but for the inmate in the shu, it breeds a horror of its own. they told us how it's like to spend 23 hours a day in a windowless room. sometimes for years at a time. >> you're always trying to find a way to come up for air. the place suffocates you. you know what i'm saying? >> it's a tone, for me, you know? it's like the tomb. it's like a tomb, a concrete tomb. >> what if they sent these punk ass dudes against and he would have succeeded in killing them -- >> narrator: during our first day in the shu, we walked into a heated conversation about murder. >> the killer -- >> narrator: but it wasn't about

prison violence, it was about shakespeare. >> it was really bizarre, because the inmates are not allowed out of their cells. so they're having this lively conversation through the pie flaps through their doors. other than that, it was like being in a college classroom listening to a debate. >> he has strategies, he might have been prepared for that, when he came, he might have been like, my guy, how are you doing? >> he made sure to tell murderers. >> narrator: through a program called shakespeare in the shu, inmates here have a brief escape from the relentless boredom of being locked down. indiana professor laura bates started the program. >> i went door-to-door, cell to cell, and had experiences like walking up at one cell, completely unannounced, mentioned shakespeare, and the offender started quoting from

shakespeare. had no idea that this was coming and that's how shakespeare in the shu was born. >> against -- >> still did not answer the question about the third murder. >> i guess you can look at him as being like -- >> narrator: the program has inmates rewrite shakespeare in a way that reflects their own experiences. during the shoot, they were working on macbeth, a play about assassination, and a war lord's attempt for power. >> he went to the hoods, the housing project, guys that don't got none, and used nobodies's. nobody, no. >> narrator: leon benson, serving 60 years for murder, read one of his pages to the group. >> i was pressed for time because my special preparations for tonight's special feast. >> i like the metaphor, you read

the eyes like parables. that's something that shakespeare would write. >> i'm from the hood, not to separate the hood from anything else. the hood commercial now, right? shakespeare is not something i thought i would experience in my life. since i came into contact with shakespeare, i see a lot of those parallels that correlate with urban life. >> essentially macbeth and the rest of the characters are committing immoral, unethical, or criminal acts. we would say criminal acts. that's what we're in here for, committing criminal acts. it's made me more introspective. >> man, a sky has the residues of sunlight, but faded away like butter on cornbread. it should be approaching in a moment. >> macbeth is getting rid of them, that's how he keeps his hands clean. he's going to have the lower ranking ones do the job for him

so he doesn't have to. >> narrator: just days before the shoot, iris white had done a three and a half year shu term and went back to the regular population. he was allowed to return to the shu to finish work on the script. and now he's joining the general population inmates who will bring the script to life. >> it was really funny, because some of the inmates were playing witches in macbeth, kind of dancing around, these big old guys, big, dangerous, scary-looking guys going whhoo! [ laughter ] >> an all-male cast is something we need to get accustomed to. we're not used to it. the population isn't used to seeing them playing women, and yet that's the way shakespeare's

plays originally were done. >> it is i, with the awesome sight, bow down and acknowledge my might. it has by magical words i shall give the illusions of spirits with much nerve -- >> as the actors were performing, i looked over my shoulder, and cyrus was silently reciting every world of the play. i focused on him, it was cool he was getting to see his words come to life and enjoying it so much. >> i shall bury it. i tell you hags that this -- >> hey! [ applause ] >> this is the first time i have seen him when he was speaking, i knew everything. i knew the words as he was saying it, right? it's crazy to hear it, to see the words come to life. make you want to continue to do it. it's like art immates life.

oh, man, it looked good, i like it. they did good. i want to see some more of it, though. >> for iris white, the playwrig playwright, it was the first time he had seen a performance of it, and he was really happy. so it was, you know, like the greatest day of his life. >> but white's elation was not to last. the day ended in bitter disappointment. >> and then an hour later he got into a fight in the yard and got busted and sent back to the shu. so it shows how fast things can fall apart, even when things are going good, prison can take it all away from you. >> it's the law, for every action there's a reaction. i can relate to macbeth by the choices he made predicted his punishment. some of us made mistakes, our choices were mistakes.

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this pluming and heating company got into a rut, find out how the owners changed their company culture by emulating big name businesses. and the owners of a company that makes new york's iconic water tanks thrive by finding other revenue streams. that's all coming up next on "your business." ♪