due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. all inmate deaths in the florida department of corrections are investigated by our inspector general office. >> one inmate meets an untimely demise. >> prison ain't like it used to be. the extortion game and making them feel threatened. that's kind of out the window because they'll snitch on you. you've got to use finesse nowadays. >> a convicted murderer breaks down the ways of prison, while a young, fresh-faced inmate learns about them. >> this is a man's world.

it's not a child's world. >> within five minutes of arriving at the dormitory, the secret service arrives to interview him about a possible threatening letter he had made to the president. >> another inmate mails a death threat to the white house, and then carries out a shocking act. >> that was a first for us. first for me. >> and we had personal cameras to some of the inmates to express intimate feelings in the privacy of their cells. >> treat us like civilized human beings? they put us in cages like animals. there are approximately 135,000 incarcerated in the state of florida. that's staggering. that is staggering.

that is staggering. there's approximately 65 major institutions in the state of florida. that's major institutions. it's not counting all of the work camps and work releases. and the county jails are overflowing with people right now. there is people waiting to come to prison. every day, the reception center, five days a week, buses coming in and out from the county jails. >> 30 miles away from pensacola, in the small town of milton on the florida panhandle lies a compound that's never on the itinerary of local tour buses. but once a week another bus, one nobody willingly rides, passes through the gates of the santa rosa correctional institution, florida's toughest maximum security prison. >> we get between 40 to 70 inmates a week, by school-sized buses that are secure.

>> everybody get your shirts tucked in, get your i.d.s out. >> we get intakes from all over the state of florida. they can be new inmates coming in through the reception center or inmates coming from other institutions that their level, custody levels change. >> watch your step. watch your step. >> they'll come in through our bay. typically, they'll have their property with them. we'll identify them as they come off the bus, then drop their property and we'll go through their property individually. >> get the knots out of the bags. if you have your bag with a knot in it, while you're standing there, get it undone. in it, get it undone. >> we're trying to do this as expediently as possible and making sure there are no weapons or shanks or anything that can be used against us, or themselves. something as simple as ramen soup, it has the little metal flavoring in it, sets our metal detector off.

toothpaste. make sure there's nothing here to make a shank out of. just trying to be thorough. >> hey, come on. you're up. >> every inmate that comes to us from santa rosa gets a haircut. unfortunately, they can't have their own individuality. so we try to make them as vanilla as possible. when we take their photo and their i.d., we want a clear look of their face, in case something should ever happen, one would get away from us, you know, they would be able to be readily identified by that photo. >> thank you. >> have a good one. >> paul bennett, a transfer to santa rosa from another state prison, is just starting the check-in process, and his search might take longer than most. >> oh, they search.

it doesn't bother me though because i feel safer knowing that they search, you know. so in case i come in contact with another inmate that i am quite sure that person don't have a weapon, or, you know? >> why are you in a wheelchair? >> i got shot in north carolina, so i was quad and then paraplegic, you know. this helmet, i'm epileptic. you know, which i have grand mal seizures. so, i wear the helmet to protect my head because the bullet is still in my head. >> bennett is only two months away from completing his sentence of seven years for burglary and grand theft. but neither that nor the fact that he's in a wheelchair will deter officers from scrutinizing him as much as any other inmate. >> you need any help doing that. or can you get it yourself? >> while bennett undergoes a strip search, all his possessions, including his

helmet and wheelchair, are thoroughly inspected. officers quickly discover that a religious booklet contains more than one revelation. >> upon opening the book, i noticed that he had some pornography that he's had for quite some time. you can tell because he's laminated it or stuck it inside this book. >> they found some pornography. >> uh-huh. >> that they took out. >> oh, those was in a book. i know about those. i know about those. i got them in confinement. i am not in denial. one thing, i ain't going to lie. i'm too old to lie. yes, ma'am, that's true. that's true, ma'am. they took them out. they didn't, did they throw them away or something? >> i think they take them away. >> yeah, they do that. they confiscate stuff like that. >> to bennett, the loss of his pornography seems to be a metaphor for his life.

>> i lose pieces of myself. sometime i see pieces of myself, just, just going away in prison, and i'm wondering, how am i going to get it back, you know? it's like -- it's just, it's just going away, you know. it's like i just cannot get it back. >> while bennett's first day at santa rosa is off to a rough start, staff believe inmate anthony cruzado is struggling with the prospect of leaving the prison. >> inmate cruzado doesn't have much more time left, and he's afraid to go in the community. he probably does not have any place to go, perhaps, nor family. and so, it's kind of scary. >> cruzado nearing the end of a five-year sentence for grand theft auto. he is housed in the close management unit, a high-security wing for inmates who have proven unmanageable in general population. recently his behavior has grown

more erratic. >> i cut myself when i get lonely, depressed and get mad. it releases pain. when i see blood, it just give me a good relief. it's like smoking a cigarette. >> cruzado, who has been treated for bipolar disorder but is not currently classified as a mentally ill inmate, says prisons do not adequately treat people like him. >> people, you know, who have a serious mental disorder, you know, there should be somewhere for us. prison shouldn't be the solution, you know? this is not no rehabilitation. this is punishment to me, you know what i'm saying? this ain't prison, it's not supposed to be punishment. supposed to be rehabilitation. i didn't learn nothing from prison.

i'm sorry to say that, i didn't learn nothing from prison. all i've learned from prison is to be more aggressive towards the officer, more violent, more disrespectful to law enforcement. that's all i've learned, you know? i learned how to curse more, you know what i'm saying, i learned how to be angry more, i learned how to [ bleep ] cut myself more. >> during his time at santa rosa, cruzado has engaged in another form of self-destructive behavior. he has issued death threats to public officials, including the judge who sent him to prison. >> i told him, [ bleep ] i will get out soon, next year, and i was going to kill him when i get out. i'm going to go to court and kill him. >> why? >> all the pain that i went through. he didn't have to give me no five years. he is not a fair judge. >> cruzado hasn't only threatened his judge. >> i received inmate cruzado approximately three months ago. within five minutes of arriving in the dormitory, secret service

arrived to interview him about a possible threatening letter he made to the president. >> i told them that when i get out, i'm going to kill him. i told obama that, i wrote obama like three letters already. telling obama i will kill him. >> we do monitor the mail the inmates receive and send out. so when you think the fact that we've got close to 3,000 inmates in our institution, it's hard to catch every letter that comes and goes. luckily, you know, like the president has people check his mail for him. they intercepted it and secret service came and spoke with him about it. >> what did the secret service ask you when they came to talk to you? >> are you mr. anthony cruzado. yes, i am mr. anthony cruzado. well, did you write this letter to the president? yes, i did. at one time, i was scared, i denied it. i ain't deny that i wrote it, but i told them i would not kill the president, though. >> were you serious with your threats? >> you think i'm just going to write him just to write him a letter and that's it, you know?

i know i could be facing more time with it, but, you know, they're serious. >> minutes later, cruzado retracted his threat. >> i think i am talking out of anger. you know what i'm saying? talking out my anger. because, you know -- i get out, i don't think i'm going to react on the stuff that i wrote to -- >> ten minutes ago you told me you were definitely going to do it. >> but i don't think so. i mean, it -- i don't think so. >> coming up -- >> you can imagine officers and nursing seeing that for the first time, it's pretty bizarre. >> anthony cruzado carries out a horrifying act of violence on himself. and -- >> they say that dude threatened my young brother, and i got upset. one thing led to another, and the dude's dead in the woods, stabbed 21 times.

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>> back, back. >> florida's santa rosa correctional institution is a maximum security prison housing many of state's most violent inmates. >> come here and cuff up! >> inmates considered a threat to security are housed in a special confinement unit called close management. >> basically, the worst of the worst offenders we have here at santa rosa, the staff here do an outstanding job here of maintaining that population. >> hands behind your back! >> depending on the severity of their violations, close management inmates are allowed a limited number of hours outside their cells per week. >> did you hear that? >> you play cards? >> when they let us out of cell, three, four times a week. i'm playing some spades. anything works for money. >> at santa rosa, a simple game of spades serves a purpose. the prison-issued playing cards are like nothing you will find on the street. >> these are the only cards they sell, dead people, homicides, missing people. that's all they sell.

>> it's cold cases. they hope some of the inmates may see the cards and know something about the case where they can help solve the case, put the family at rest. >> did you ever see anybody you know in there? >> no. if i did, i still wouldn't -- i would still say no. >> why is that? >> because these are dead people. that's what it's meant for. unsolved homicide. >> when we gave jesse kozlowski a personal camera to use in the privacy of his cell, he explained why he wouldn't help solve any of the cold cases, even if he could. >> would i want a homicide to be solved? i feel ambivalent to that type of question for the simple fact that me being incarcerated for someone snitching, to a certain extent, i hate snitches, so i wouldn't want a homicide to be solved from that aspect.

i feel sorry for the family. but i hate snitches. >> kozlowski says prosecutors convicted the wrong man in the murder case that sent him and his brother to prison. kozlowski got 45 years. >> they say that dude threatened my younger brother and i got upset, got into it. one thing led to another, and dude's dead in the woods, stabbed 21 times. >> kozlowski says he's not guilty of murder but admits to violence behind bars. he was brought to santa rosa's close management unit after he assaulted an inmate at another prison. >> my biggest challenge is dealing with inmates as well as officers that run their mouth a

lot. it gets me angry. but i don't like to show my anger. i've been trying to work on it through meditation and seeking other things, but it's hard, kind of hard. can't be a sheep among wolves, you know what i'm saying? >> kozlowski decided instead to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, especially when it comes to new inmates. >> you get new people in prison, they're kind of scared. so, when you send your home boy, which is kind of big to step down on him, what you do is intervene, you know, he's all right, leave him alone. so now he owes you. he feels gratitude towards you. so suddenly, you put him in debt to you. so when he gets money, tell him hit the canteen window. initially, if you do it right, you don't ask nothing. >> kozlowski says the inmate will volunteer extortion payments out of appreciation to his new protector. >> i'm going to go through the window, do you need some food?

yeah, bring me back ten honey buns, a couple of soups. if you do it right, they will feel it, but it will feel more like friends. prison ain't like it used to be. the extortion game and making them feel threatened, that's kind of out the window because they'll snitch on you. so you've got to use finesse nowadays. >> when finesse works, it's an effective weapon in kozlowski's arsenal. when it fails, old-school violence is the backup plan. >> my hands are up, i'm pretty fast. scars? recently. two months ago. >> still, kozlowski says he would prefer not to resort to violence. for that he has his silly, tafari cook. >> he knows about the game, so we see eye to eye. >> cook is serving six years for armed robbery. >> they labeled me a trouble-maker. every different prison i go to, i get in some kind of trouble,

so they just transfer me. >> what kind of trouble? >> extorting people. charging people rent to live in the dorm. >> what happens if they don't pay? >> well, it might end up -- >> -- pretty bad. >> it might be a violent situation. >> at your hands? >> at my hands? depends. sometimes, if i think i can get away with it. mostly -- >> let me see your knuckles. >> oh, i don't got no cuts on my knuckles. >> what do you use? >> oh, i really don't, i really don't fight like that. i, i use weapons. i will put on combination lock on the belt and i assault them with it. this one dude in particular, he was paying rent and then he didn't want to pay rent anymore, so i pretended like everything was straight and i wanted to talk to him and i ended up assaulting him. i mean, he ran out of the room with one of his shoes on his

shirt ripped off, his head bust open with a master lock. he was messed up pretty bad. >> coming up -- >> smile for the camera, baby face. >> in a world of predators, a baby-faced inmate tries to find his place. >> they eat you alive. lps you fe of coverages. no one else gives you options like that. [voice echoing] no one at all! no one at all! no one. wake up! [gasp] oh! you okay, buddy? i just had a dream that progressive had this thing called... the "name your price" tool... it isn't a dream, is it? nope. sorry! you know that thing freaks me out. he can hear you. he didn't mean that, kevin. kevin: yes, he did! keeping our competitors up at night. now, that's progressive.

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oh, yeah, i love it! >> there is a predator-prey relationship among the 2,800 inmates serving time at florida's santa rosa correctional institution. predators often extort weaker inmates, a practice very familiar to jesse kozlowski and his cell mate, tafari coke. >> as soon as they come in, whenever they get their money receipt, they let us know how much money they got and we'll make a list either for half of what they got or depending what type of person they is, we'll just take everything. >> since cash is banned in prison, the payout typically

comes as commissary goods which inmates purchase from debit accounts funded by friend and family. >> this is my fifth cup of coffee today. i'm about to start sweating profusely. >> colin mccaffrey is the type of new inmate that could be the prime target for predatory extortionists. >> whenever they give you, they want something back, want you to do favors for them, so that's how you get caught up in it. that's how you get into fights, because they expect something from you. yeah, whether it is sexual or not, it happens. i have to remind myself every day. this is prison. people are doing a lot of time. >> mccaffrey is known by other inmates in his general population housing dorm as jit, short for jitterbug, prison slang for a young, naive inmate. >> smile for the camera, baby face. look over here. tell me how you living.

>> i come from a good family. where i went wrong, i can't tell you right now. i am thinking about it now where did i go wrong. shame is all i can think about. i am ashamed. can't show that in here. >> why not? >> they eat you alive. >> but mccaffrey has made two friends in his dormitory-style housing unit who he feels he can trust, 38-year-old jason piersol and 36-year-old matthew kemp. >> i think he is looking for a father figure and he is hanging with us. no, i'm just joking. >> everybody needs a war daddy. >> scared. but no, i vibe with them well. they're good people. these are good guys right here. we look out for each other. especially me being one of the youngest people in the compound, they look out for me. >> when you see somebody who is 21 in here, what goes through your mind? >> what the hell are they doing? what are they doing in here? wouldn't want to see one of my

kids in here. i've got an 18-year-old daughter, so i think about stuff like that. >> why are you here now? >> another assault charge. >> how many times have you been to prison? >> twice. >> and both times on assault? >> yes. >> i've been in prison since 18. >> so you know what he's going through. >> well, it was so long ago for me, i really don't remember. but i remember being in prison. >> i've come to learn that the older people you hang out with, the better, because you don't want to play any games in here. this is a man's world. it's not a child's world. >> coming up -- >> he's kind of scared. >> i'm horribly frightened. >> one of colin mccaffrey's protectors reveals a secret. >> you asked me in the dorm what i was here for. i gave you a bs story. >> and -- >> the medical examiner currently has done the autopsy, and all of the case is under investigation at this time. >> the unexpected death of an

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i'm frances rivera. a delegation of lawmakers arrived in cuba saturday for a three-day stay. it is the first congressional group to visit the island nation since president obama took steps in late december to normalize relations with cuba. violent protests in pakistan, yemen and niger over the latest issue of french satirical magazine "charlie hebdo." a cartoon of islam's prophet mohammed is on the front cover. two gunmen attacked the magazine's paris office last week killing 12 people. more news later, now back to "lockup." due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> oh, no [ bleep ] ♪ anybody out there. all y'all know. anybody that got somebody in their family or friend that's in prison, man, i want to tell you

the most important thing y'all have got to do. be there for them. i'm telling you, [ bleep ] get hard, man. gets hard when people don't get no letters, people can't call their family. it gets hard. so all y'all listening [ bleep ], watching, remember your loved ones, man. >> while a lengthy prison sentence can represent a black hole that consumes years of life, some inmates insist the experience motivates them to become better people. >> that's my ultimate goal. i want to be a better man. i have the opportunity where i can be a better criminal, but that's not me. i want to be a better man. a better father. i want to be a better son. a more productive member of society, you know. >> paul bennett had just arrived at the santa rosa correctional institution from another florida prison. he did so in a wheelchair and with a bullet still lodged in his head, along with other

health problems. >> i'm epileptic, you know, which i have grand mal seizures. >> just one week later, bennett was found dead in his cell. though there were no signs of foul play, the prison began an investigation. >> all inmate deaths in the florida department of corrections are investigated by our inspector general's office and they're reviewed by florida department of law enforcement to ensure there is no foul play. the medical examiner currently has done the autopsy, and all of the case is under investigation at this time, so i can't reveal any more details about inmate bennett at this time. >> as the investigation into bennett's death proceeds, life for santa rosa's other 2,800 inmates continues on. >> well, good morning. i'm still here at lovely santa rosa, main unit, here in milton, florida. it's not exactly the best place

in the world to be, so i would not advise anyone out there coming in -- i know i have a lot of regrets. the food here is horrible. so is the daily schedule. it's pretty boring. i work in laundry here, five days a week, monday through friday. i'm a sewing machine operator. nothing too glamorous about it. >> santa rosa's laundry plant is a sea of blues and whites. sheets and blankets. about 60 loads of laundry gets washed, dried and folded here every workday. the inmates who shoulder the burden put in eight hours, just like a job on the outside. and should one of them ever tire of the job, there are plenty of others eager to replace them. >> i get about 70 to 80 work requests, i want to work in the laundry, a week. of course, we're only authorized 18, so. it's a highly coveted job and

position here at santa rosa. they're not getting paid. they get game time for their pay, but they like working here. it's a good atmosphere, a good environment. we attempt to recycle 100% of everything we have. if the uniform goes bad, we'll make belts out of it, we'll make whatever is required. >> inmate johnny brewster, serving three years for cocaine possession, lends his formidable sewing skills to the prison's recycling efforts. >> sometimes i get teased about it by these guys here. ♪ >> right now, i'm making belts from pant leg material. as you see, we start off by joining the two pieces. usually i make one large spool approximately 35 foot every two to three days. i'm making approximately 10 to 12 belts a day.

i learned to sew approximately 20 years ago from my mother. she asked me one day if i want to learn to sew. i said, i don't know, boys aren't supposed to sew. girls are supposed to sew. she said don't give me that nonsense and sat me down on the sewing machine and started teaching me everything she pretty much knew. i'm doing pretty much what i like to do. it keeps me out of trouble, and i try not to ever, you know, take that for granted. because after all, this is prison, i mean. ♪ >> brewster lives in "a" dorm, an open population unit that gives him more movement than other inmates and a small corner of the prison to call home. >> this is it, right here, this little area you see, which is basically probably a little smaller than a cell, considering the fact that the beds are so close, because back here starts the next man's area. so, two men have to share this space right here.

top bunk has the footlocker. bottom bunk has a locker up here against the wall. >> you have a window? >> such a lovely view too. i can see the cm dorms out there. as you know, i work in laundry. and i see some of the clothing that goes to them. i repair some of the clothing that goes to them. >> right. >> so i can imagine how they have it back there. i know i definitely would never like to be in cm. >> cm is the close management unit where some of the most problematic inmates in the entire state of florida are housed. >> keep it quiet, you understand? no talking. >> among them is anthony cruzado, whose most recent problems have involved sending death threats to the president and cutting himself. now he has taken things to a new level. and we warn you, what you are about to hear is graphic and disturbing. >> we heard kicking on the door. i went ahead and i come up to the wing and i went to his door. and he was standing there and he had blood on him.

and i look down, and he said, "look." and i look down and he had his testicle out of his scrotum. i ordered him to submit to i ordered him to submit to hand restraints, and he cuffed up. we took him to medical staff. >> staff believe that he peeled off the casing of a battery and used that to cut himself. he was treated at a local hospital. after returning to prison, cruzado underwent three days of psychological evaluation. >> you can imagine officers and nursing seeing that for the first time, it's pretty bizarre. and so, naturally, people are going to think this guy must be crazy. but in regards to other things that he has done, like writing letters or threatening officials, whatever, i think this is really just to gain some attention. he really does not have a place to go, as far as he says. and i think this is one way that he just wants to remain in prison.

he has everything he needs here, and i think he's scared to go back into the community. >> why did you cut your testicle? >> something that i just do. >> what's going through your head when you're doing that? >> a lot of things, my family, just stress. >> what are you stressing about specifically? is there something that triggered this? >> me going home. >> that was a first for us when he was in here. a first for me, too. after seeing stuff after almost 16 years, it's like nothing really surprises you anymore. it's like, okay. >> coming up -- >> so, mr. cruzado, let's talk about how you're doing. >> anthony cruzado discusses his life plans on the outside and his goal of being a private investigator. >> what about the issue of carrying a gun? ♪

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life at the santa rosa correctional institution in florida is marked by instances of sheer terror and long spells of sheer monotony. as any one of the inmate kitchen workers can attest to. >> wash about 1,300 of these things twice a day. it gets old. 1,402, see. >> we are making 2,700 biscuits a day to feed the compound. i use 6 to 12 biscuits every time i make them, if i'm hungry. >> i actually work in the pot

room, but every day the boss says he calls me up here to work on the line because he needs help. >> kitchen work has proven beneficial for 21-year-old colin mccaffrey, who's serving 15 months for robbery. >> i enjoy it. it's not bad. you eat well. it's a job. it makes the time go by fast, yeah. i haven't worked this hard in a long time. it is the longest i ever kept a job, seriously. i've got a lot of good people looking out for me. you think sometimes they're going to put down on a young person, but it's not like that. they'd rather look out for me. >> one of those friends is biscuit maker, jason piersol. >> he is kind of scared. i'm his war daddy. >> exactly. i'm horribly frightened, horribly frightened. >> just joking. wendy -- >> wendy is my mother.

>> piersol, he's a good guy right there, one of my good friends that i can say actually will look out for me, cares for me. >> i try to take care of the kid, you know, keep him out of trouble, help him make some better decisions like i've learned to do. he's only got a little bit of time left, so he'll be out of here in a couple more months, which is good because he's too young. too young. >> while piersol may act as a father figure to mccaffrey, the crime that brought him to prison cost him his relationship with his own child. and he admitted when we first met him, he wasn't honest about the crime. >> you asked me in the dorm what i was here for. i gave you a bs story. other people were around. haven't taken into my confidence so to speak. >> how many times have you been to prison? >> twice. >> both times on assault. >> yes. my friends and family know my history, and i'm just not, you know, i'm done putting up fronts and facades. i've lived too many years like that. i'm incarcerated in florida for

failure to register an e-mail address by a sex offender. and that stems from a charge that i had up in new york statutory rape charge where i slept with a teenage girl. there are some people in here that have done some really bad things to very young children, things like that. i'm not in that category. i'm not a predator. i'm labeled as a sex offender, but i don't live my life as a sex offender. i've made some mistakes, like everybody else in here, fell in love with somebody and just, you know, made some bad choices. >> how old was this young lady and how old were you? >> she was 14. i was 33 at the time. like i said, you can't help who you fall in love with and how you feel about people. i mean, some people are, as they say, old souls and things like that, but you know, it was a very intelligent young woman, young lady. >> piersol's freedom wasn't the only thing he lost when the relationship was discovered. >> how did you know this girl?

>> a friend of the family. >> okay. >> yeah. she was my daughter's best friend actually. >> does your daughter still speak to you? >> not since that day. >> at santa rosa, piersol is hardly alone when it comes to dealing with hardship. inmate anthony cruzado recently found himself at a new emotional low as well. in response, he startled staff when he used a battery casing to cut open his scrotum. >> this environment is stressful. they resort to these kinds of behaviors partly out of revenge, or manipulation, or complete, utter frustration. and that's their way of coping. how are you doing? okay, mr. cruzado. >> mental health specialist william barecci has taken on cruzado's case and is counseling him as his release draws near. >> so, mr. cruzado, let's talk

about how you're doing as opposed to how you were doing since you cut yourself some time back. so how are you doing? >> i been doing all right. >> you feel more stable now? >> yeah. >> i'm glad to hear that. >> i don't know how long it's going to last, but it's been lasting at least a month and a half now. >> well, you continue to learn self-reliance, and that's going to be the trick, that's going to be the key. he was relatively maladjusted and unstable when i first began to see him, but he's made a lot of progress. and the progress and the credit go to the inmate's willingness to overcome their own anxieties, depressions, insecurities. so what are you going to do when you get out? >> i'm studying to become a private investigator. so when i get off this criminal charges, i can get my license, stuff like that. i can get a license for a private investigator.

>> now, have you looked into that yet? >> mm-hmm. >> okay. and is there anything to prevent you from doing it? >> you just can't obtain a license once you come out as a felon. but you get your rights restored you can get your license. >> what about the issue of carrying a gun? >> yeah. you have to be not a felon. >> so is that going to be a problem for a private investigator? >> no. >> no. >> because it is my own business. i'm not working for a firm, nothing like that. >> okay, but it's still -- you can still carry a gun? >> no, no, no, you can't. >> so you're going to be doing the kind of investigating that doesn't require -- >> -- a gun. >> -- a gun, very good. coming up -- >> my lungs are literally about to explode from the burning of the cocaine to the point where my lung's almost ready to collapse, which i'm still finding myself trying to get more money for -- for the cocaine. >> johnny brewster describes life at rock bottom.

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a lot of people forget we've got inmates out there that love them. they've got people out there that love them. a lot of us start at a young age. we know we did dirt. we know we did dirt. we know we [ bleep ] up. there are people that love them, trying to get back out there to them. we ain't all animals. we may be in cages, but we ain't animals. act like civilized human beings. they put us in cages like animals. product of our own environment. do you believe this [ bleep ]? you ain't got to. come live in [ bleep ] and find out. >> jesse kozlowski has been at florida's santa rosa

correctional institution for the past two years. he's in the highly restrictive close management unit for assaulting another inmate. both he and his cellmate, tafari coke, have admitted using a combination of finesse and violence to extort other inmates, but now the two friends have been separated after coke was heard making a threat. >> they was listening to my phone call. i was telling my cousin why i came to cm, because i had [ bleep ] somebody up, and they thought it was a future reference when i was talking about a past. >> so they were concerned you were going to actually beat someone up? >> yes, ma'am. >> do you miss him? i mean, you guys were pretty close. >> yeah, he cool. i miss him out, but that [ bleep ] happen all the time. can't get too attached to people. they come and go all the time. i've got a lot of time to go.

>> kozlowski has shifted his focus to a more productive pursuit. he has just gotten a job as a house man in the close management unit. >> pretty much pass out food, make sure everybody gets their food, drinks, what not, pass out the laundry. make sure everybody has stuff behind the door, get what they need. >> certain other jobs, such as those in the sewing room, are only given to the most trustworthy inmates. but even they are carefully monitored. >> our scissors and seam rippers are a required tool. checked out daily in the morning. each individual signs out on a log and uses it in the daily job. everything is signed out. we ensure it is back in. that goes for the little needles too. we have inventory on the little needles. so all the needles are accounted for, for all the machines. until everything is accounted for, nobody goes home. >> i'm going to make this from scratch. tape right over the edge here. this is going to be the fly panel, is what this is going to be. >> inmate johnny brewster is one

of the sewing room's most experienced workers, but these days he needs a little extra help to lay down a straight stitch. >> i have to ask you, where did you get those glasses? your glasses do not look like they're prison issued. >> well, they're not. these glasses are a favor because of the fact i have trouble seeing to be able to eye the needle, but i leave them here. i cannot take them to the dorm. they're only for use here and i have to turn them into the office before i go back. to the dorm. >> okay. >> sometimes they have problems seeing, especially sewing. they have to do small stuff like threading and all that, and i loan him a pair of these or let them sign out these with me. got to see to sew. >> brewster's real problems run deeper than just poor eyesight and they've written the history

of his life up to and including his stay at santa rosa. >> i seem not to be able to get a grip on my addiction. i've been allowing the addiction to basically defeat me all this time. i need to stop this pattern. it's been carrying on for way too long. >> brewster has had a decade-long addiction to crack cocaine. >> i feel that i hit rock bottom about four years ago. it was pretty cold. and i found myself around 2:00 in the morning running around trying to panhandle. there wasn't too many people out because it was too cold. and my feet were hurting really bad, walking so much. because i would walk sometimes two and three days at a time. my feet are on fire, my knees are hurting, my back is hurting, my lungs are literally about to explode from the burning of the crack-cocaine that's in my lungs to the point to where my lung's

almost ready to collapse, which i'm still finding myself trying to get more money for the cocaine. it's rock bottom right there. that's about as low as i think i could go. i think before you kill someone, before you break into a house, before you steal something, whatever the case may be, get caught with drugs, trafficking, whatever the case may be. this could wind up being your view. you could be staring out of your cell or out your window. this could be what you see if you decide to come to prison. i wouldn't recommend it. i wouldn't recommend it.

>> 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 and danger. now, the scenes you've never seen. "lockup: raw." >> most of the prisons we profile on "lockup" are maximum security prisons. these are hard core places with gang members, rapists, murderers. but every once in awhile we come across a fish out of water storin