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due to mature and graphic subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. there are 2 million people behind bars in america. for the next hour we open the gates. "lockup."

new york tops the list, but los angeles is one of the safest major cities in america. still, the los angeles county jail system is enormous. it's run by more than 13,000 employees and is the largest sheriff's department in the world. it houses more than 20,000 inmates in eight different facilities, all waiting for trials, transfers, or release. let's go inside l.a. county jail's supermax facility that holds the city's most violent inmates. we'll show you how the jail detectives solve crimes committed behind bars and how violent inmates are learning to rehabilitate themselves. but first we travel 40 miles north of downtown los angeles as we continue our look behind the walls of l.a. county jail. nestled in the high desert mountains and a 40-mile bus ride north of downtown los angeles is the peter j. pitchess detention center. named after a former sheriff, the pitchess detention center is comprised of four jails set on 2,500 acres. south facility is an outdoor dormitory jail for low-to-medium security inmates. north facility is a

modern-looking maximum security jail. east facility, or old max, is the oldest jail in los angeles. and lastly, the crown jewel of the l.a. county jail system is the north county correctional facility, or nccf, which houses murderers, rapists, and drug offenders. >> we find that the linear style jail really doesn't work for us anymore, and what we have here is we have more of a podular design with the staff stations in the middle and then the inmates around the outside. >> a single facility comprised of five jails housing 3,800 inmates, nccf was designed in 1983. nccf first made headlines in march of 1990, when the first president bush helped dedicate the jail's opening. >> one of this nation's founding fathers said, "if men were angels, no government would be necessary." well, i'm sure that no one here would suggest that men were angels. and that's why there's government, to write the laws we

live by. and correctional facilities, like this one, for the people who break them. >> for ten years this facility had no major incidents. then, on april 24th, 2000, violence erupted. >> everybody get out! >> it was 1:00 in the afternoon when a racially based riot broke out between 50 to 60 black and hispanic inmates. the surveillance video from this incident is still being withheld by prison officials for legal reasons. but the fighting within nccf lasted for approximately 30 to 40 minutes in one of the largest riots that l.a. county jail has ever seen. the fighting finally ended when the sheriff's emergency response teams were brought in. using verbal commands, stingball grenades, and pepper spray, sheriff deputies were able to prevent the inmates from killing

each other, except for one inmate whose injuries left him in a coma, most of the men involved in the riots suffered minor injuries. >> jail is completely different than what it was 30 years ago. for one thing, we have much more violence-prone inmates in our system. in the past that was never a problem. we did not have the major riots and the disturbances. >> 30-year veteran of the sheriff's department and commander of nccf john vanderhoerk blames the growing trend of violence in jail on the state prison gangs. >> we have inmates who are trying to establish their reputation, knowing that they are going to the state prison system. so they want to establish their reputation in the jail system as

a major player. >> because riots inside jail are a fact of life, deputies at l.a. county jail are equipped with state-of-the-art less than lethal weapons to assist them in stopping the violence. >> when i first came on the job 25 years ago, the only special weapon we had was a flashlight. that was it. if there was a riot and the deputy had to go in with literally physically contact to put it down, and over the years we've been very much movers and shakers in terms of trying new weaponry, less lethal weapons. >> lieutenant mike pippen trains deputies every day in the use of less than lethal weaponry. >> this is a, we call it, a stingball. a number 15 stinger. this is a sensory overload device in which we will deploy, in a grenade fashion, pull the pin and throw the grenade. and in two seconds this will ignite and explode.

the shock wave will literally stun the individuals in the immediate area. in addition to that, it also deploys a number of small rubber balls that will sting you. >> manufactured in england, the arwin gun shoots rubber projectile bullets and has been used by the sheriff's department for over ten years. >> and i've used it quite a bit when i was a sergeant and working patrol, where we would have suspects, as an example, armed with a knife where sometimes we were, you know, in the old days we were faced with nothing -- no other options but deadly force. utilizing the arwin, it's a very effective round. it will take you right down to your knees. it's like an 80-mile-per-hour hardball being delivered to your chest or your diaphragm or your legs. >> just recently added to the sheriff's arsenal of less than

lethal weapons is the stun gun or taser. >> these have just been issued to us as of a couple of weeks ago, and which they are a new taser gun. it delivers a very powerful jolt of electricity. >> the effect of the taser momentarily paralyzes potentially violent inmates long enough for deputies to control them, as seen in this surveillance video. as part of the training to use the new gun, all supervising officers had to be stunned with the taser. >> a five-second burst. and i've got to tell you, this is -- i was a bald skinhead at one time. now i'm growing hair from all the electricity that came through. >> the sheriff's department relies heavily on their highly trained emergency response teams, or ert, to stop the violence quickly. >> we have inmate disturbances here on a routine basis. so it's not uncommon for an emergency response team to be deployed once or twice a week. >> with new deputies coming from the academy and others heading

out to patrol the streets, training for the emergency response team is constant. >> we train several days a week probably on a routine basis, all different shifts, all three shifts, around the clock. >> i won't make any announcement to that fact, that hey, we're going to have a drill tonight. i believe that you train the way you deploy and that -- i have an old saying, that when you fail to train, you train to fail. >> as demonstrated in this drill, when a riot breaks out inside a dormitory or out on the exercise yard the entire jail is put on lockdown status. >> lockdown. lockdown. lockdown. >> 40 seconds. >> go. moving out. >> once the jail is completely locked down, emergency response team deputies quickly suit up for battle. >> 40 seconds. >> usually, our response time for an ert deployment would

be -- which consists of deputies responding to a location, getting all their gear on and responding to the disturbance location would be about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes probably. >> even for the experienced ert team members like deputy david godfrey, walking into a riot like this one that happened in the early '90s could be a frightening experience. >> even in the smallest scenario we're outnumbered probably four to one. we come out in the yard in a disturbance like this, there can be 200, 300 inmates in the yard. and you're trying to put down a riot with 10 to 12 deputies. that's probably the scariest aspect of it, just the sheer numbers. >> okay. good job, guys. excellent. had a lockdown in about a minute and 30 seconds. that's a record. >> after each training exercise deputies are critiqued and evaluated on their performance during the drill. >> do it like we train you, bring it up and snap, bring it up and snap it. when you get out there and

things get real tight and people are throwing things at you, you know, that's the last thing you think about. you think about snapping it, don't. because if it breaks on you, all you've got is a big club. and that's not going to do you guys or your team or anybody else any good. next, "lockup" takes you inside 900 max, nccf's 24-hour lockdown jail. 

all inmates coming from downtown los angeles to north county correctional facility enter through the inmate processing area, or ipa. >> typically we get anywhere from three to four fish lines per day. each fish line consists of approximately anywhere from 45 to 55 inmates. these are newly assigned inmates, first time here at nccf. >> in the inmate processing area the prisoners are searched again for any drugs and weapons. >> basically, what they're doing

is -- >> one, two, three. >> we have them squat and cough. and if they did secrete anything in their rectal area by coughing, it helps bring it down to dislodge it. >> once the inmates are searched, they are given new clothes and assigned to a building depending on their security level. if they're high security or also known as k-10 status, they are housed in 900 max. >> everything. drugs, murder. just everything. you name it, they're in here for it. >> all inmates in 900 max are housed in separate cells and can be locked down for up to 24 hours a day. when the inmates are moved, they're put in handcuffs and are escorted by at least two deputies. deputy sal romero says dealing with the dangerous elite in 900 max is all about respect. >> you respect them, they'll respect you back. you've kind of got to earn their respect. you can't just go in there and try to, you know, push your will upon them.

because they're men, they're grown up, and there are some big boys here. so you've just got to respect them. they give you -- you know, they'll give you respect if you show them respect, pretty much. >> inmate gabriel perez is housed in 900 max for his own protection. >> being in max is like hell to anybody who's not used it. >> he's a member of the notorious mata villa gang, said to be at war with the mexican mafia gang. >> you serve the first time you learn your lesson good. and if you don't learn your lesson you just get used to it. and after the tears go away it just doesn't matter no more. it's just part of life for you. >> 28-year-old inmate joseph williams was just sentenced to 20 years for a double manslaughter. >> just take it one day at a time. you know. i'm fortunate because some

people in my situation they get life, life without -- you know, the death penalty. i'm fortunate to have a date to look forward to. it's going to be really hard for me because i have a 3-year-old daughter, and from my calculations she would graduate high school and i won't be there to see her graduate high school. >> i'm fighting five counts of attempted murder of los angeles police s.w.a.t. >> 44-year-old inmate vangelis dominick garofalo first came to jail at the age of 17. after doing ten years of hard time at pelican bay state prison for manslaughter, he returned to l.a. county jail. while awaiting trial for the very crime he claims to condemn, garofalo offers his unique perspective on the new breed of street criminal. >> jails are too full. but look at the new generation. carjacking. these kids will go out, stick a gun in someone's face to go joyriding in a car and turn a misdemeanor crime into a death penalty case because seven out of ten times they carjack, they

kill the person they steal the car from. now, you've got to tell me, there is not something wrong with that? and somewhere in that confusion these kids don't know how to act like proper gangsters anymore. when my dad was a small-time mafioso back east, he used to say there's two kinds of gangsters -- there are thugs, and there are gangsters. thugs come and go. gangsters are about making money and respect. and if you're going to be a gangster in this life, there's two things you've got to know -- you don't kill cops and you don't kill innocent women and children. >> 900 max is also the home to nccf's discipline module, otherwise known as the hole. inmates land here for a variety of reasons. >> anywhere from fighting to cussing at a deputy or other personnel, not getting along in the dorm.

they may have problems in the dorm with somebody. they can be wrote up for being what they call a shot collar. hoarding medication. possession of a shank, which is a jail-made weapon. >> some inmates can spend up to 60 days in complete isolation. >> every 30 minutes we have to come down the rows and we have to look inside each window to make sure everybody's okay. because there is such a high rate of suicide in this area we want to make sure that there's no fights, there's nobody doing anything that they shouldn't be doing. >> inmate richard hernandez is looking forward to getting out of the hole after not seeing the sun for 19 days. >> yeah, it will hurt my eyes for a little while. i'll see it. you know, it will focus in. probably play some handball in the yard. >> the inmates who are defending themselves in court are also located in 900 max. >> i'm here in los angeles county, this particular

facility, because i'm in pro per and i'm fighting my case and i'm being held to answer for a 422 pc, which is alleged terrorist threat. terrorist threat is that, you know, a statement made that is verbal. and from what i understand, it must be received from the victim as a threat. >> with the odds against them, pro per inmates thomas gleason and ronnie senegal still feel that they can represent themselves better than a public defender. >> so it's just simply being out there on the streets. the odds are against me. when police officers come through like slave catchers, you know, and literally give you cases that you have not committed and they know you haven't committed. but to gain the conviction and the actions from some of the courts are atrocious. >> well, the representation that i had, i felt he was incompetent. you know, i'm facing 42 years to life, and i just took it into my

own hands. i felt i could represent me better because i was at the incident. you know what i mean? can't nobody represent me from just paper drawn up. and the representation that the people gave me was nothing. he just was coming in there doing his thing, and i felt like no, i didn't feel comfortable with him. >> these inmates could spend up to two years in 900 max waiting to present their defense in a court of law. next -- "lockup" takes you inside the jail investigations unit, where crime fighting happens behind the walls of l.a. county jail. for my retirement. transamerica made it easy. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. transform tomorrow. transamerica. come from all walks of life. if you have high blood sugar,

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located in a small bungalow at the detention center of l.a. county is the jail investigations unit. deputies assigned to this group try to solve the thousands of crimes that happen within the walls of the jail each year. >> we read police reports, and we scrutinize the reports to make certain that all the elements of the crime are there and to see if it's -- if there's sufficient evidence to prosecute someone for a violent crime. >> assaults like this one on surveillance video break out daily in the jail. sometimes these cases even escalate to murder. it's the detectives' job to investigate the crimes and find witnesses to build a case for prosecution.

>> being tenacious and getting as much incriminating evidence as you can against a suspect, being able to remain cool when you have a very belligerent suspect or witness, and being able to put together a good case that's going to stick. >> although rare but very dangerous for the inmate, convincing witnesses to step forward is the quickest way the jail investigators can solve a crime like this inmate slashing case. >> actually, the victim was sleeping on his bunk, and he was suddenly attacked by another inmate. and other inmates stepped forward and testified, were willing to testify against the suspect. as a matter of fact, they testified in a preliminary hearing against that inmate, which is very, very rare. >> another method the detectives use in gathering criminal information is by talking to inmate informants, also known as snitches. >> you don't put yourself in a

situation where the person that you're -- that you're telling on can know that it's you. >> for his own protection this inmate informant cannot be identified. labeled in jail as a canine, or a snitch, this inmate has been an informant both in jail and on the streets for 20 years. he recalls the arrest that started his career as a snitch. >> i had robbed somebody, and it was in hollywood. i was only like 18 years old. and i hid from the police under a car, and i thought they were gone, and they wasn't. so the arresting officer told me, hey, look, we can work this out. you know what i'm saying? you seem like you're a cool guy and you were just caught in a bad position. so he asked me to make some buys for him and forget about this and i did. and ever since then i've had the label. >> even though he's safely segregated from the general population, this snitch will always give up information when he feels his life is in jeopardy.

>> he could be not just trying to stick me but stick everybody in the dorm and we'd lose all our program. >> deputies regularly search inmates' living quarters for drugs and weapons, using information from informants. >> everybody stop where you're at. don't move. somebody turn off the tvs, please. listen up. we're going to be doing a search. everybody's going to go in the day room just as you are. hurry up in the shower. don't put any shoes on. just how you are. let's go. line it up. >> before the dormitory can be searched all the inmates are removed from the area and stripped down. >> all right, listen up, everybody. strip down, put all your property behind you. >> what i feel is if they're checking your stuff, it shouldn't -- say, for example, a certain inmate in some problem or riot or something like that. >> 36-year-old inmate kendrick dwayne wyatt, who's in county

jail for burglary, feels the dorm search is unwarranted. >> sometimes that brings tension when there is no tension there. that brings tension to the inmates. and i'm hoping there's no tension that will be involved as to this matter. >> for almost two hours deputies armed with latex gloves search the inmates' bunks and belongings for razor blades, drugs, and other contraband. >> i have noticed recently the welds on the bottom of the legs, those bust off sometimes when they lift them up and do things with them. so they'll stick things in there, drugs and cigarettes, lighters, things like that. >> they take the razors out of the razors we give to them and they wrap one end to protect themselves. they'll take them out of here. >> they'll take apple juice and other juices, stockpile them. there's one here, so that's not a big deal. but if they get a bunch of them, they'll use them to try to turn them into kind of a jail-made alcoholic beverage called pruno. >> they're not allowed to have articles like this.

>> they'll use books. one time when i first got here they used the back of a bible to slip a hacksaw blade in. and then they used those hacksaw blades to effect an escape out of one of the buildings. >> this was folded up in what would appear to be a book marker, so that we would go, oh, well, that's a book marker, leave it. if we weren't looking for things, we wouldn't find it. >> like a game of chess, inmates try to outwit the deputies by finding new and different ways to break the rules. >> yeah, they pulled the caps off the lights to expose the wiring. what they do is they basically hotwire it, get a little spark, and light stuff on fire. they can either get -- they basically smuggle tobacco in here or drugs. they can light it off of that. >> disciplinary action is given to the inmates that are caught with illegal items. >> what we'll do is like these

guys that have razor blades on their bunk, ask somebody, yeah, it was mine. okay. we write an incident form out and we send them to our adjustment center down in the 900 building. >> for 37-year-old inmate terry scranton the dorm search is just part of being a prisoner. >> well, actually, it don't feel too well because nobody likes people going through their personal property. but it's stuff that has to be done. it's their job. you know, they've got to make sure that everything is right. >> after the search inmates return to their cells to clean up the mess. next -- "lockup" takes you inside old max, l.a. county's 50-year-old maximum security facility. and we'll see how two new inmates are dealing with their first week of being behind bars. to come together, even when we're apart in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and more,

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five people are dead after a fire swept through an apartment

building near the campus of the university of southern maine. it's unclear if any of the victims are students. new york city hospital officials say the condition of the doctor infected with ebola has been upgraded from serious to stable condition. he treated patients in africa before returning to manhattan. now, back to "lockup." over the last decade many states around the country have spent more money building jails and prisons than colleges. in the l.a. county jail system the average stay for an inmate is 45 days. but some inmates can be locked up for more than two years. finding room for those prisoners is a constant challenge. it requires not only the building of new jails but also keeping the old ones running. east facility is the oldest operating jail in los angeles. otherwise known as old max, it was built in 1951 to handle

overcrowding. the 15 dormitories inside the jail can house approximately 2,000 inmates. with the nation's jail population becoming more middle-aged, facilities like l.a. county's east jail are trying to accommodate older inmates and keep them away from more violent younger ones. >> well, this is the old man's dorm. which is a privileged dorm. you have to be 45 and older to be in this dorm. and if you mess up in this dorm, you go back to regular population. >> for almost 40 years, 51-year-old inmate will williamson has been committing crimes that land him in jail. >> yeah. it's sickening. it's something, you know, you just have to put up with that. you know, i did it to myself again. i said i wasn't coming back. here i am. same people, same everything. just like i've seen people come

in and out, there's people that come in and see me come and go. a headache all the way around. >> will williamson's outlook on being in jail is much different now than it was when he was first locked up at age 14. >> i'm more accepting now. before when i did something it wasn't my fault. but i've learned to know and to realize that i did wrong because it's something i wanted to do. and instead of coming in here and blaming the officers for it, i hold myself responsible for what i've done. >> just down the road from east is north facility. north was built in 1987 at a cost of $41 million and is a maximum security jail primarily for younger inmates. from the outside the jail looks like a military bunker with not a single window for inmates to see the outside. >> well, i guess my lifestyle in

the streets, running with a gang. and this -- none of the stuff like that. you get caught up on the streets, do a couple moves wrong, you end up in this place, you know. >> for 30-year-old inmate and active gang member jeremy blake being in jail is much harder on his family than it is on him. >> my mother is sick right now. she's on insulin. she's got diabetes. things like that. and she's sick, and me being in here, you know, causing more stress doesn't help her any much either. that's why it's hard to come back here. >> three days ago. where are we today? what's today's date? >> already losing track of time in his first week in jail, convicted wife batterer miguel castillo has been transported from a small cell in downtown men's central jail to a large dormitory with exercise yard at north facility.

this is where he will spend the rest of his 180-day sentence. >> well, i've been here, you know, since wednesday. you come out here for two hours. i think it's about two hours every day except saturday and sunday. so it's -- it's pretty cool, man. you know, you get to see the sun and the warm heat, you know. you don't get to see any green, but -- the only green you see is the deputy's suits. they're a little stricter. you know, they're a lot stricter. but you know, you've got -- it's a lot better over here. >> trying to survive and make the best of his situation, inmate castillo searches for ways to cope with the problems that landed him in jail. >> i've already gave a few requests for parenting classes. that way i can see my son and my wife can come over. i heard it's about two hours every visit. i'm able to play with my son at the playground. so i'm looking forward for that. >> we last saw inmate daniel johns seven days ago, when he

first entered jail. in that short time he's been housed in three different facilities. now at north facility, inmate johns has come to realize he's tired of coming to jail. >> i've got a record. it's embarrassing. i come to jail, they tell me, oh, you've been here 17 times, you know. yeah. i've spent like the past two years of my life in county jail. i'm just tired of it. >> having just heard that his 30-day sentence has been reduced to 15, inmate johns is nervous about his release, knowing that he has an outstanding warrant for $10,000. >> i've got a warrant. i was supposed to get out on the 4th of july. right? this holiday. and i've just been in my cell, my dorm, thinking about my warrant. i don't know if they're going to let me go or not. i'm kind of paranoid. i'm hoping that i can just kind of like squeeze through here,

you know, without the probation officer seeing that. if they're going to see that they're going to keep me here for a long time. next on "lockup" -- the l.a. county jail uses star power to reach out to violent inmates. for your needs. so don't wait. call now. whatever your health coverage needs, unitedhealthcare can help you find the right plan. open enrollment to choose your medicare coverage begins october 15th and ends december 7th. so now is the best time to review your options and enroll in a plan. medicare has two main parts, parts a and b, to help cover a lot of your expenses, like hospital care and doctor visits. but they still won't cover all of your costs. now's the time to learn about unitedhealthcare plans that may be right for you. are you looking for something nice and easy? like a single plan that combines medicare parts a and b with prescription drug coverage?

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often when inmates leave l.a. county jail they encounter problems getting a job due to lack of occupational skills. without a job most inmates quickly fall back into a life of crime, which is why the vocational programs available at l.a. county jail are always filled with inmates. >> the inmates that work in the vocational print shop consider this to be more a job and not actually working at jail. >> regardless of their crime, all inmates are offered the chance to work while in jail. >> we don't assign them to work with anyone. we don't assign them what machines they're going to be on. we let them make all their decisions. they made decisions for their life. this is part of their life. and they have to pick up the tools that we offer them. and if they can improve themselves -- and it's, again, a

decision that they made. >> getting a job outside of jail is only half the battle against recidivism, which is why new programs for inmates are encouraged at l.a. county. elected sheriff lee baca and nfl hall of famer jim brown have started an intensive self-improvement training course for inmates inside the l.a. county jail. the course was originally designed to help reduce the racially motivated violence that was occurring daily within the walls of the jail. >> we needed to take that environment and make it a productive one where people could actually reflect on their problems, get involved in our programs, and leave this jail better than they were when they came in. >> the program is called amer-i-can and it's a 60-hour program that takes 42 days to complete. amer-i-can accepts any inmate

regardless of their arrest charge and past criminal history. >> it teaches an individual to take control of their own lives. it gives them life skills ab fundamentals that allows them to take control of their own life. you need an investment in education. a real investment in it. you'll need strong, fair, just law enforcement. what i'm saying here is you need a balance. you must put it into the education but you also must deal with the situations. that's a fair way of putting it. >> the rate of racially based disturbances like this one, captured on surveillance video, used to be about one per month. but jail officials claim that the amer-i-can program has drastically reduced the number of incidents throughout the jail. >> there's a certain rule that blacks stay with blacks, hispanics stay with hispanics, the whites stay with whites and you can't intermingle. i mean, you can hi and bye but there's a certain tension that

you've got to experience. it's like at any given moment you can get into a fight, all-out brawl. >> inmates like jeffrey glade say the program helps break down the racial barriers that lead to violence. >> now i've got some hope, and that's real. i don't want to sound cheesy or nothing, but this program really turned my whole thinking around. and i have to help myself. it ain't all about what they can do for me. >> i mean, they cram it down you. it's 15 chapters and they make sure you know it. they do a real good job. and it's taught by fellow prisoners, that most of them have been locked up or have came from the streets or ex-gang members or what have you. >> having spent 17 years of his life behind bars, 32-year-old inmate michael graham is looking forward to his job as a scaffolding worker. >> i got a real good job from here, got a reply yesterday they're willing to hire me.

things are looking pretty good. >> upon successful completion of the course inmates are given a graduation ceremony. for this year's graduation they were treated with the appearance of a special guest speaker. >> somebody says what motivates you? i said, injustice. i wake up every day motivated because every day i wake up there's a new thing to deal with in the way injustice goes down. injustice is everywhere. so i've got a job everywhere i go. >> singer, actor, and activist harry belafonte travels to the most violent places in the world. his goal is to speak to people who are the creators of and the resisters to the violence. >> with his inspirational words belafonte gives each inmate a personal challenge. >> your failure is my failure.

your success is my success. somewhere where you go, you carry a responsibility and the destiny of my children and my children's children and their friends and their community. and they can either look at you as someone as a group to be shunned or they can look at you as an example of how to take the worst cards dealt in life and turn the deck around and make it your game and play a winning hand every time out. [ applause ] >> get the community's focus on something it can have faith in, and for that institution to then move to the outside world and says you must look in a very different way at how the prison

population is being treated. i think it's a great opportunity. next on "lockup" -- inmates in the l.a. county jail get back their freedom. will you help us find a new house for you and your brother? ♪ ♪ ♪

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i hope to reacclimate myself in society and become a positive role model for somebody in society or at least be able to stand up like i'm doing right now except without the county blues on and tell them you don't want to go there because they're going to treat you like you're not human. >> back to the neighborhood and kick it. >> try to find a job, take care of my life. >> smoke a cigarette and buy a pepsi. >> i feel that i will be available to come back and try to help others with the same problem that i have because i tried to help my fellow inmates in here with some of the problems that they have. >> going to have some fun. i don't know.

take a shower and go to denny's. >> if my wife was here, i would like to go out and probably help kids and probably get a good job. >> cut the alcohol, the beers and all that stuff, and i'll be all right. >> i want to change. that's the difference now. got to be something more. usually i accepted the fact that this is the world. i want to change. i don't know how i'm going to do that, but i just know i'm going to change. >> see my kids, pick up my new little girl. >> this time i'll try the program. for one. i never got out and tried the program. also i'm trying god in my life. which i haven't tried god in my life. >> hopefully, i won't need to seek help. if law enforcement leaves me alone i'll be just fine. >> go see my kids. call my dad. start over. >> i'll go back out there, try

to go back to work. i was working for l.a.x. shipping and receiving. i got a pretty good job. it was a break for me. >> the first thing i'm going to do is make a phone call and go find my husband. >> if i get another felony, i'll get life. yeah. three strikes. so, you know. i just don't want to come back, you know. >> i can't predict my own future, you know. but i don't know, maybe i might stay out for a while. might come back. before this place had a sign saying "welcome back." >> the l.a. county jail releases 800 inmates a day on weekdays and 250 per day on weekends. >> they're housed at different areas throughout the county. we'll send a pass for them. if they're out of valencia, the buses will bring them in, around the night, around midnight to 3:00. people that get 1201 releases are what we call them, they're scheduled to be released on the next business day, which is, you know, midnight.

>> probably about midnight, 1:00, closer to 1:30. >> you know what date it is? >> yeah. it's the fourth of july. independence day. yep. yep. remember the fourth of july. >> before any inmate can be released from jail they are fingerprinted one more time to verify identification and check to see if they have any outstanding warrants. >> they get their property, and if they have any property here or any money, and then once that's done they can leave. >> for some inmates leaving l.a. county jail and dealing with the outside world is a lot more frightening than being locked up. >> there are people who will be like homeless people who, you know, enjoy having the free meal, is bed, and they don't want to go yet. and they'll start screaming. we've had inmates put feces on the doors, you know, scream, throw off all their clothing to make it look like they're not ready to leave.

but for the most part it's all an act and they'll still get released. >> because the streets of l.a. offer no support for inmates trying to get back on their feet, the sheriff's department created a community transition unit to help former inmates with the basic necessities. >> well, part of the process is to begin changing a system that was primarily focused on incarcerating people. and although we've for decades had thousands of inmates involved in educational vocational programs, what we were not doing was linking them with community resources. >> lieutenant mike parker supervises the community transition unit, which assists inmates in getting jobs and finding a place to live after jail. >> in the first few minutes when somebody gets out of jail i hear from inmates, social workers, homeless shelter people, you name it. the first few minutes when they leave the jail is the most

pivotal. >> we are here to try to assist you in some housing, whatever you need, transportation, california i.d., job developer. are there any special needs right now? >> yes. >> like what? >> i need housing, and i need employment. >> okay, then. >> for curtis calloway, the community transition program couldn't have come at a better time. >> because i need help. that's basically it. no matter how i may speak or sound, i need help. that's what it is. you know, because i'm not a bad guy, you know. i'm a good guy. but it's just a simple fact. one time i used drugs at one time. right? and then out of straight stress, and i didn't know which way to turn. >> cut it off? freedom.

>> i don't want to come back. but you know, how l.a. county is, you never know what might happen at any given moment. if you get caught up in any situation out here to cause you to actually do some more time in here, whether it's a traffic ticket, small misdemeanor or getting confused with someone else out here because sometimes people can walk like you and look like you from a distance and then you get caught up in that same situation. >> what's going on? >> it's midnight on the 4th of july and former inmate daniel johns is hopeful about his future after spending 15 days of his life inside l.a. county jail. >> my property, man. it's wonderful, man. i've got a bunch of responsibilities to go take care of. i'm just never coming back to this place. you know? i'll do what i've got to do, get going, get my life back on my feet.

take care of my responsibilities, don't break the law. >> with only the clothes on his back and a couple of bus tokens in his pocket, daniel johns walks out of jail once again a free man. in 2006, increased violence, much of it between black and hispanic inmates, resulted in injuries and even death in the los angeles county jail system. sheriff lee baca blames the violence on a lack of staff, saying that his decision to close some facilities in order to deal with a budget shortfall has forced far fewer deputies to watch over a growing inmate population. that's our report.

thanks for watching. i'm john seigenthaler. due to mature and graphic subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. there are 2 million people behind bars in america. for the next hour, we open the gates. "lockup." >> i pray to god that somebody recognizes what's going on here. you know, we in here just rotting away, you know. >> today we have about 756 inmates serving a life sentence here at folsom. >> i was state raised, federally funded. >> we're dealing with murderers and rapists, and that's always in the back of my mind. >> they treat us like slaves up in here, man.