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." in any prison, there are essentially two sets of rules. there are the rules of the administration. the other set of rules are the inmates' rules themselves, the convict code. >> they got their rules. we got ours. >> the convict code is you don't get in other people's business. you don't let nobody know your business. you don't tell on nobody. >> you stick with your own race.

you don't talk to other people. >> you might stare at a person and he might consider that a sign of disrespect. >> any inmate will tell you, that's the set of rules you follow first. on their first morning of shooting at utah state prison, the "lockup" crew entered the wasatch "a" cell block, home to some of the prison's most violent convicts. we met a group of inmates playing cards and talking about who really runs the prison. >> guards don't run this. it's all run -- >> by the inmates. they pretty much tell what goes on. a guard does your section but inmates pretty much, if they don't get along, they force them out. >> or they'll get moved. >> sergeant danny herring was one of only two officers assigned to manage the 95 men on

wasatch "a" that morning. >> yeah, they can take the block, but they're not going anywhere. what are they going to do. that doesn't really bother me. i don't have a control issue that way. they let us control and manipulate how they live and what they do. >> they got their rules, we got ours, you know? >> there's a code of conduct in here that you got to follow, if you want to, you know, make your time easy, you know. you don't rat on people. there's all kinds of stuff you don't do. >> that code of conduct is the convict code. and the penalties for violating it can be severe. >> it's pretty high, you know. see people take an elevator ride. problem is, there ain't no elevator. the fall doesn't hurt. it's the sudden stop at the end. >> utah state inmate tony duran is well versed in the convict code. he's spent the majority of the

past 23 years behind bars for burglary, robbery and a slew of parole violations. >> the convict code is the person that carries themself with respect. he only talks to the man when he has to. he don't sit there and kick it with the man. you don't tell on nobody. >> but these days old time inmates like duran all agree the convict code is changing. >> well, because the different breed of inmate that's coming to the joint now. you got kids coming in here, you know. some are gang bangers that don't know how to carry themselves. and some of them, they just don't give a [ bleep ] about respect or nothing like that. >> we discovered the proliferation of gangs in every prison we profiled and utah is no exception. but nowhere are prison gangs more powerful, dangerous and faster growing than in california, and they've added their own ominous chapters to

the convict code. >> you can always spot a guy that's not used to prison, a new inmate. because he'll come out. he'll wander around, he won't go with his own group. he's just looking. usually what will happen is one of the gangsters will snatch him up and bring him over and run the game down to him. telling him, this is what you got to do. you can only hang out about your own people. we don't want to see you talking to people of other races. that happens real quick. real quick. >> at san quentin state prison, we learned that not only do gangs force most of the prison population into racial segregation, they even draw boundaries on the rec yard. >> this is the lower yard. the inmates segregate themselves out here. the reason being that the gangs want it that way. the blacks are over here, the hispanics is our main gang here at san quentin. it's because they're better organized. the white guys over here an the parallel bars and the picnic table, over in the corner you see where the asians are sitting. >> you can't just walk and sit

down at a table. i have to explain that. confrontation with that two or three times. i saw a table, i sat down. it's not like that. you got to ask for permission. >> even such a minor misstep can be taken as a sign of disrespect. and that can lead to widespread violence. though correctional staff is constantly on the lookout for weapons, it's well known that many on this yard are armed for battle and none more so than the northern hispanics. >> they have a minister of defense and his thing is he's to have ten weapons ready at any time down here on this yard. their weapons are all hid over there. and in the morning we'll come over and search that area and try to find their weapons, but they're getting better and better at the way they hide their weapons. you see this one guy keeps looking around. he's got the heavy coat on. the temperature's pretty hot. so they're soldiers. they wear these jackets as a little bit more armor.

if anything goes on, they're the first ones to get involved. >> many inmates have told us that if violence does break out the convict code dictates how they will respond. >> it's a racial situation, you have to respond according to your racial background. if i'm standing next to this man here and he's suddenly attacked by another racial group, even if i don't know him, he's black. i'm obligated by myself to assist this man. you know what i'm saying? >> it's a white thing, then you get in it. if it's with the whites and another race or something, then you got to be a part of it. but if it's something else, i just turn my head. i don't even want to see it, you know? >> we found that violence does not only occur between racially segregated rivals, sometimes gang violence erupts from within. >> i've stabbed people because of what i've had to do. you can't go against the program. >> at california state prison corcoran, we met one young

inmate was ordered to attack an older, weaker gang member simply to thin out the herd. he asked that we not use his name. >> i accepted that because that's the way it is. you know i didn't question it. some things i was against but i just dealt with it and accepted it because that's the law of the land in here. >> he explained that the hit was ordered because the older victim was unable to keep up with the gang's military style exercise program. >> he couldn't keep up with the exercise. you know, that was the reason. this is how stupid this is. you know, the dumb reasons they have in here. when i did speak up for him, it was placed on me. well, since you're speaking up with him, you'll deal with it. i dealt with it because that's what it was about. >> the older inmate survived the stabbing and his assailant quit the gang. >> finally i made my stance and went against them. now i'm a christian and i go for

that. i wrote him a letter and i apologized that i was sorry i had to do that i was so weak. and i didn't protect him. i should have. i was in a position to protect him and i didn't. >> coming up on "lockup: raw." >> a man is attracted to young women, god forbid 99% of us are. >> how the convict code applies to sex offenders. >> they walk around and they slide a knife under your door. here kill your cellie or we kill you when you come out. quicker smarter earlier fresher harder and yeah, even on sundays. if that's not what you think of when you think of the united states postal service,

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child molesters, rapers, they're down here. them guys on the bottom deck, most of them are sex offenders, you know. i don't like them. i just tolerate them. i used to beat them. i used to prey on them. >> they normally mark the sexual predators by cutting them across the face with a razor blade or a knife. and the other inmates know hey this guy is no good. they call him trash. >> we even met a pair of brothers who wouldn't hesitate to extend the convict code to their own father. >> my father was in here for -- i don't know the exact charge. but he was in here for messing with kids. and you know, i ain't cool with that. >> brad and michael love are serving time for murder at an mow is astate penitentiary in iowa. >> i was never incarcerated with him. when i found out he was incarcerated, what he did time for, what he got charged for, they asked me if there would be any problems if we were in the same prison. i told them yeah, i would probably end up killing him.

i just cannot condone that. >> "lockup" has profiled plenty of inmates who spewed hatred toward sex offenders. but we also introduce viewers to those on the receiving end. thomas headley is serving years at utah state prison. and like many sex offenders say his punishment is unjust and his crime is misunderstood. >> i was charged with kidnapping somebody that was under 14. i'm a man that is attracted to young women. god forbid, 99% of us are. >> when we interviewed him, headley was serving his time in solitary confinement as a punishment for being uncooperative. but he explained to us he has his own motives for being in the hole. >> there's not a safer place anywhere in the prison than where i'm at. no matter what you do, how far you try to approach it, you're a worthless piece of crap because you're a sex offender. you're a useless mole.

that's the way everybody talks to you in here. oh, you're a mole, huh? molester. you're one of those. but i have seen guys get stabbed. i saw a guy get a piece of a shovel handle stuck right in the side of his neck. and i seen a guy get a hammer took to him. beat the side of his head to a wreck. they've got a safety list with 20 names on it where people told me in no uncertain terms, you're a dead man if we get our hands on you. >> on the main line, i'd be dead in a day. they would kill me right in front of an officer because it's a notch on their belt. >> we met earl hymer at california's kern valley state prison. >> i have a 37-year sentence, lewd acts on a minor 14 years old. >> this was not his first time in prison nor his first sex offense. >> my wife deemed it necessary that i be arrested for attempted rape of your wife and not of

a -- as weird as that sounds. you come home drunk and try to take it and she doesn't want it, that's still a criminal offense. >> hymer shares a cell with another convicted child molester, ray rowe, who is serving a 230-year sentence. even though he is in protective custody, rowe rarely leaves his cell out of fear for safety. >> i don't know whether someone is going to take me out before the day's over with. every time i go to chow. any time any sex offender goes to chow or goes out of their cell. and sometimes even in your cell. can i go to sleep with this person in here? you're pretty vulnerable when you're sound asleep. >> hymer and rowe have worked out an uneasy trust if not a friendship. >> we've managed to read or stay out of each other's way. >> yeah.

i draw in the afternoons sometimes and generally like he said, we watch tv. he got the television and kind enough that i can watch it more than he does. for me, with this much time, it's safer to be in there with a guy with the same charge. i can sleep at night. i don't have to worry about this guy going to cut my throat. on main line they walk around, they slide a knife under your door. here, kill your cellie or we kill you when you come out. that sounds like that's a movie. no, that's a fact. >> still, hymer has mixed feelings about sharing his cell with someone just like himself. >> my cellie is really a multiple offender. and bad as that sits in my gut

like acid, i just -- it's just a putrid thing that there's nothing sexy about a kid. you know what i mean? and to hear it, to know it, i know i'm here for it, that charge. but that just still sickening. >> coming up on "lockup: raw." >> i was convicted of four counts of first degree murder. my children. >> how the code extends to the loneliest place in prison. death row.

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took a lot of juggling to keep it all together. what's possible when you have high-speed internet at home? the library never closes. it makes it so much better to do homework when you're at home. internet essentials from comcast. helping to bridge the digital divide. for convicts with a death sentence, rules of any kind might seem irrelevant. but a chapter of the convict code even extends to death row. a place "lockup" has visited many times. >> there's an unmistakable feeling when you walk on to a death row at a prison. everywhere else in the prison is alive, it's bustling with noise. they're loud places.

when you walk on death row, it's completely silent. it is eerily silent. >> randy haight convicted of double murder and armed robbery has been on death row at kentucky state penitentiary since 1995. >> we have one of the most well-behaved units in the institution. you can't say that we ain't got nothing to lose. we got plenty to lose. we have whatever privileges we do have, you know, that can be wiped away in a heartbeat. >> but that's not the only reason death row inmates are often the best behaved. >> their basic behavior is directly related to them being able to say in their clemency plea that we were good guys while we were there. we didn't create havoc. we weren't violent. we weren't all these things. and try to obviously portray the good things that they've done while they've been incarcerated. >> i have a hope that one day i

can be out of prison, you know. even though that hope might be small. i know that what i done was wrong. i deserve to be where i'm at. i've accepted whatever might come. >> what the future holds for haight is not certain. his case is still on appeal. but one day he might take the same walk our "lockup" crew took when they shot at kentucky state. >> kentucky is one of the states that actually still has an electric chair. i asked we want to make sure we get a shot of the electric chair. so we go to the end of the corridor in three cellhouse where they keep the execution chamber. and i remember he opened the door and there was old sparky. and it was unforgettable. >> this is the electric chair, which is maintained by the kentucky state penitentiary in order to complete executions by electrocution.

it was originally built somewhere in the 1900s. >> it's just leather and wood and metal like any other chair, but there's this unmistakable feeling. you know people died there. >> some of kentucky's death row inmates can choose between the electric chair and lethal injection. that's also the case in the neighboring state of tennessee. when we visited there, we met a death row inmate who soon would face that decision. and as far as daryl holton was concerned, the sooner the better. >> convicted of four counts of first degree murder. my children. >> throughout the entire interview, holton spoke in a calm, coherent manner about what led to his nightmarish actions. >> got out of the army. divorced my wife. had custody of my children. reconciled with my wife. the reconciliation didn't work.

and i hit her. i struck her. she got custody of the children. and pretty much factored me out of the picture. >> then on november 30th, 1997, holton picked up his four children ranging in age from 4 to 12 to take them christmas shopping. instead he shot each one through the heart. >> i miss them, but no, i can't say that i feel any remorse. >> while many death row inmates file numerous appeals to delay their execution, holten dropped all of his. >> i do think that the death penalty is appropriate in some cases. and i've got a low tolerance for someone claiming that they didn't do something that they actually did. there was no factual dispute about what happened. there was nothing. it wasn't a question of who did it.

there's no doubt. i'm not going to sell out. i'm not going to change my views on the death penalty just because i'm facing the death penalty. >> holton was not only ready to face his death sentence, he had chosen to have it carried out in the electric chair, but to his dismay, he had seen his execution date come and go more than once. >> supposed ey were serious about executing me last year and supposedly they're serious about executing me this year. if the past is any indication, i don't think they're very serious. and that's not bravado. it's more an issue of integrity. a deal's a deal. >> back at kentucky state penitentiary, randy haight made it clear he's not as eager to face death as holton. but he's ready for it nonetheless. >> i'm extremely sad for what

i've done, and it hurts me knowing that i went to the level that i went. and if there was any way possible for me to be healed or corrected, believe me, it would be done. it's an impossible situation not only for me but for everybody involved, you know. and i'm not saying that there to get out of an execution because like i said, i'm ready. if you want to kill me, let's go. i'm ready to go. but i think that i have something i can offer somebody and i don't really think it's time for me to die.

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