msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons into a world of chaos and danger. now, the scenes you've never seen, "lockup: raw." >> i don't know what else you want. this is it. this is life, okay? you know, you've got your cell, you've got this, and the yard. that's all there is. prison consists of nothing else. inside the cell, a couple hours, maybe, in a day room. a couple hours, maybe, on the yard, and that's it. day after day after day after day after day, it's the same thing. nothing changes. >> 90% of prison life is

actually boredom. and it's what the inmates do with this downtime, this lack of stimuli, that has led to some of the most interesting parts about lockup. >> the monotonous grind of the life in prison can push some inmates to the limit. in trying to understand how they deal with the specter of never being free again, we've made some of our most memorable characters and recorded some of our most dramatic footage. >> i'm serving a life left sentence, two life sentences, two 99-year sentences, a 40-year sentence, a 20-year sentence, and a 10-year sentence, all together. >> at the time of our visit, bobby gilbert had been at alabama's holman correctional facility for only four years, but he first landed in prison at the age of 18. he told us how a minor dispute over money led him to murder an

acquaintance from his town. >> basically told me only i'd get my money over his dead body. and i was hotheaded too, then, so that's how i got it. >> how much money did he owe you? >> he owed me $36. and i paid $37 for the gun i killed him with. so, you know. >> reporter: on >> once behind bars, gilbert's violent temper led to numerous other crimes, including stabbing another inmate to death, this time over much less than $36. but gilbert made it clear to us. in prison, things aren't always as they seem. >> everybody wants to talk about, you know, i killed somebody with a carton of cigarettes. well, you know, it's not a carton of cigarettes. that may be the catalyst that leads to something, but, you know, if somebody owes me a soda pop or i owe them a soda pop and they come to me and say, hey, man, i need to get that soda pop

you owe me, and i spit in their face and talk to them like a bitch or something, who's fault is it? it's not about a soda pop anymore. if you're on the street, you call the police or something. but in here, you go get a knife and stab that son of a bitch and that's the end of it. here's what happens when you come to take something from me. >> gilbert's life behind bars is often punk waited by his frequent battles with holman's ward, grant culvl ver. at the time culver and his unit were about to review his request to transfer. but other inmates decided to interrupt the meeting by banging on the cell doors. that's when ward culliver

decided to take matters into his own doors. >> beat on another [ bleep ] door again. beat on another door again. you do it. you beat on the mother [ bleep ] door again. i don't be no [ bleep ] cow. beat on the [ bleep ] door again. >> once the inmates calmed down, gilbe gilbert's hearing got underway. his appeal for a transfer was quickly dismissed, but it didn't take long for gilbert to make another request, one to help beat the boredom of prison life. the return of his recently confiscated chess set. >> why can't have a chess piece, ward culliver. >> segregation. let me tell you what to do. >> get you some paper, draw you out a chess board -- >> i can't play in my head. i just don't see where it can hurt anybody to let somebody else have something semi-constructive to do in their cell. >> ask the law library to come next through to bring you a copy

of admin regular and see if it says you're supposed to have chess pieces. >> well, you're the man, you run this place. >> i follow the regulars. >> that's what i'm saying, that's your decision. >> and i follow the regulars. >> the regulars say we supposed to be able to have books, doesn't it? >> nope. >> that's what i'm telling you. >> if it said that, you'd have them. it's segregation. it wasn't meant to be nice. you ain't here for going to church. you ain't here because you were doing something constructive. if you had been doing something constructive. >> i was doing something constructive until they [ bleep ] me down that hall. >> it's always somebody else's fault. >> you want us to exhibit some form of moderate behavior, but then every avenue closed to doing anything constructive. we can't read a novel because we can't have one. i can't play chess through the mail like i used to because my chess piece was taken away from me. i was the door and sticking my [ bleep ] through the door every time a female came through there. i guess that's model behavior.

>> our cameras followed gilbert back to his cell where me continued to fume over his chess set. >> i ask them to give me one reason, one semi-intelligent reason why it will hurt anybody for me to have my chess pieces. ain't hurting nobody in the world. but that's the doc for you. that's rehabilitation at its finest. >> next on "lockup:raw." >> there's nothing i've done that god has not forgiven me for. >> a serial killer claims he's found god. >> is it a greater sin to steal a cracker or to kill someone? >> and another lockup inmate finds satan. >> i demand the forces of darkness to bestow the infernal powers upon me. in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and more, swanson® makes holiday dishes delicious!

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until we get there, we never really live in the light. we'll always live in the darkness. >> come on, pastor, take your time. >> few events in life can motivate somebody to find religion like a life sentence. >> you know, you hear a lot of people who come to prison and well, oh, i found god. well, i did. >> robert frye's religious conversion came only after he found himself on death row at the penitentiary of new mexico. >> i am in for four counts of murder and i'm currently serving three life sentences. >> i thought maybe we should do, what a friend we have in jesus. >> today, frye is a regular at a prison bible study. the inmates, all death row and maximum security, are confined to their cells. >> i apologize for all the filming going on here. this isn't about me, this is about this fellowship. it's showing what prison

fellowship and christ is doing for us. >> frye's crimes were both numerous and gruesome. >> i was very angry, very confused. >> frye received a death sentence for bludgeoning and stabbing to death a 36-year-old mother of five in 2000. >> you best show your love for god by the way you show your love for your fellow man. >> he has three other murder convictions as well. frye beat one man with a shovel and threw him off a cliff. another victim was nearly beheaded. but when he sat down with us, frye told our producer he was confident of one thing. >> i believe i'm going to be with my lord. when i die, i go to my maker with a clear conscience. because i have accepted him as my savior and i have asked for forgiveness for my sins. >> do you feel your god has forgiven you? >> he's your god too? >> has god forgiven you? >> god loves everyone,

regardless. >> frye would not discuss his crimes with us. but our producer pressed him on whether his victims would be as forgiving as his god would be. >> what would you say if you showed up to the afterlife and there were the people you had victimized? >> hello, brother. when we go to the kingdom of god, there is no anger, there is no strife. all of that will be taken from us. the people i've hurt directly, i do beg forgiveness, but i've always asked god for his forgiveness, and all i can ask you is to please forgive me. and if you don't, then, okay, and then you get to live with the power of your own hate. >> frye surprised our crew when he placed our same brutal murders on the same plane as another crime. let me ask you a question. is it a greater sin to steal a cracker or to kill someone? >> to kill someone. >> god doesn't see it that way. you break one sin, you break all sin. if you are guilty of the least of this, you are guilty of all. so what does it matter what sin

you perpetrate? sin is sin. >> today, frye remains on death row at the penitentiary of new mexico while continuing his appeals. >> even at the hour of your death, if you turn to god and are truly repentant of the things you've done, he will forgive you and accept you, and he knows. >> what if that's not the case? >> that is the case, though. >> but what if it's not? >> it is. >> but what if it's not. >> you can say what if and why about everything in the world, but it's faith. >> have it ever come into your mind that maybe the interpretation isn't quite there -- >> no, it's faith. faith brought me to god. faith cleansed me of my sins and faith will see me through. >> when we visited iowa state

penitentiary, we found the prison attempts to provide services for a wide range of religious beliefs. >> a lot of the religions are just a quiet, mellow, peaceful kind of find. so for them to pray to see a god answer or something is very, very special and empowering. >> then we found an inmate named travis wolfkill. >> in the name of satan, the ruler of the earth, the kingdom of the world, i command the efernal powers to bestow the power upon me. >> the church of satan is about enjoying life. it's about doing what you want to do. we believe in indulgence rather than abstinence. we believe in doing what makes us happy, what improves the quality of our life. >> such an attitude may have been what led wolfkill to a life sentence without the possibility of parole for murdering his grandmother over a $300 tax

refund check. but he told us he has found a salvation of sorts in his religion. >> this is what called the 11th satanic rules. earth. and if you look at number nine, it says, do not harm little children. number ten says, do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food. that right there is something in self, destroys all the bad things you hear about this religion. there is no human sacrifice. >> later in our meeting, we asked wolfkill to clarify a few points about his church's doctrine. >> you had pointed out number nine. >> yeah. >> tell me about it again? >> it says, do not harm little children. >> and the next one? >> it was, do not kill animals unless you're hunting, unless you need them for food. >> it says, do not kill non-human animals. >> is that what it said? "non-human animals."

do not kill non-human animals," that sounds about right. >> yet you're here for murder. >> yes. yeah. it says do not kill little children. i'm not in here for killing a child, so. >> coming up -- >> if i'm not busy, i have a tendency to get in trouble. >> "lockup" discovers true talent behind bars. ♪ it's either kill or be killed ♪

a life behind bars can lead some inmates to further destruction, even death. but others use the time to create something meaningful. >> you know you need a segment on the talent inside these walls. >> "lockup" producers only had to walk to the other side of the door at the holman correctional

facility in alabama to learn how right he was. >> all blues country, no rock 'n' roll. i don't mess with the hard rock stuff. >> while robert teter passes time playing music, that's not what amazed our crew. it's that teter builds his own guitars out of one of the few recreational resources allowed inmates. model book kits. >> all of these are stood up together and glued together to make this neck like this. and down inside of it, we have one radio, the tone control, have three controls down here, the set of batteries, and this one back here is the mic mixer. and we use magnets here to hold a lid on it. ♪ teter always includes one other element on his guitars. it's for his muse. >> everything i do, i dedicate to my wife. the blue heart is because we've

been separated for 23 years now, and she's still with me, she's sticking with me right through this. i always put a blue heart on every letter i mail to her, every card i send her, and i put a blue heart on the case and the guitar. it's just our symbol, being separated so long. >> while music helps teter cope with life at holman, we met another inmate who finds his aggressive tendencies are soothed in the prison hobby shop, at the spring creek correctional center in alaska. >> i've been in this prison since june of 1998. august will be 20 years. charged with murder. murder in the 1st. i try to be in the hobby shop here as much as i can. for me, if i'm not busy, i have

a tendency to get in trouble. when the place first opened up, i wasn't really busy, i was in fights, basically beating up other people. >> but in the hobby shop, harrington focuses those energies on something far for delicate. an incredibly detailed dollhouse he was building as a gift for his niece. >> i've been working on this dollhouse for about two years now. and it's for that young girl. but the young girl, she has no idea i'm making it. she has no idea it's coming down there. >> harrington gave our crew a tour of his master piece. >> the windows here, they all work, up and down, all the doors open and close, all the lights work, the doors open. all the yellow-colored wood, it's the natural color of the wood. this door up here, it's fold-downstairs, like a little doll can come up, come right up top. the shingles are individual. this is real brick. 900 individual bricks. it's a lot of work. it's a lot of fun, you know?

>> with hobby shop security consisting of little more than surveillance camera, time spent here is a privilege accorded to only the most trusted inmates. >> you know, there's no officer in here. officers do walk through here at times. you know, the windows, they look through the windows, but while this hobby shop has been here, there's been no fights, no trouble in here. >> just a few months away from finishing his niece's present, harrington already has his next project lined up. >> my brother has another daughter that's a year and a half, so will i have to make another daughtollhouse for the daughter? maybe. if i do, you know, i'll do it. >> and with a 99-year sentence, he has plenty of time to build plenty of dollhouses. >> i can go to the parole board in 2019. will i get it? there's a chance. >> in the exercise yard, we met an inmate whose art is inspired by his life. >> tell me your name.

>> my name is kevin moore. >> and what were you convicted of? >> i'm doing a parole violation for sales of marijuana. >> the yard is an interesting place, because you never know who you're going to run into, you never know who you're going to talk to, you never know what personality or who they are. i kind of just started looking around and tried to find interesting-looking faces. he started telling me he's a rap artist. >> i have a record deal, and for any rap fans that'sling, my aka is sassoon and i have a demo coming out in a few months. >> when you start talking to inmates, you're not sure what to believe. >> i've begun a ghost writer in the rap industry for about 13 years and a lot of stuff that i've written from behind these walls, i've sold to other artists the that have been out there and been successful. >> i said, do a rap for me. >> and he just rolled one right

off his lips and it was called "15 to life." >> ready? here we go. ♪ 15 to life ♪ doing 15 to life ♪ got a brother locked up again ♪ ♪ down to the state pen ♪ it's going to be a rough ride ♪ ♪ because i'm about to do crime f time for the crime of homicidhomicide ♪ . >> when we met him, he was 17 days away from his release date. >> this is like a cemetery. once you here, it's like you dead. it's like you dead here. a lot of cats here, you might as well consider them dead. and i've got home boys that you can consider deceased that are right here, that have beenten forgotten. >> still, moore could not guarantee that he would steer clear of conflicts that would keep him here. >> no way i'm going to do

something thalgd delay my stay here, unless it's something that can't be avoided, unless it's like a racial situation where i have to react. ♪ now it's back to the zone ♪ and if the race war is on, i might not make it home ♪ ♪ the first rule of the game is watch your back ♪ ♪ it's either kill or be killed ♪ ♪ if you're scared to make a knife, then the next mother [ bleep ] will ♪ ♪ then i'll find some steel and make a strap ♪ ♪ because if i've got to do time, i'd rather do it like a real mother [ bleep ] ♪ >> i'm listening to the word and he's rapping about every little experience he's had in there. doing 15 to life, that's it.

a community in arizona gets customers to shop local, by shifting 10% of their spending the from major retailers to small businesses. plus, customer service lessons from the hospitality industry. and four things you can do to improve the experience with your company. that's all coming up next on "your business."