history. that's our report. thanks for watching. i'm john seigenthaler 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." these girls, these girls right here is my homies. >> damn right. >> some of us gather here four years, some five. some have been together a long time on relationship. know what i'm saying? >> if male inmates look for sex in secret, we found a different story when we visited the north carolina correctional institution for women.

>> a female offender has a lot of needs. and part of that is to feel that someone cares about them. that has a lot to do with them bonding. because a lot of women have been abused. for the first time they see somebody they think they care about them, they run to it. they don't take time to see if that person is really good for them or not. >> as a result, the prison places strict limits on intimate relationships. >> ladies put some space in between y'all. >> it is a rule violation for inmates to have sex in prison. when we see it, they are punished because of that. we can't have it. >> but we met one group of inmates willing to share their secrets for skirting the rules. they were led by dawn braswell, known around here as "heavy d." >> you mostly have ten fours in here, somebody that you can -- ten fours is like another inmate. like i say, chelsea,

inmate, like i say, me and my girlfriend, man, while i go in here. she's going to follow. it's easy to get them to ten four for me. you can give them two or three cigarettes. coffee. some know what you are doing, and they don't care. that's why i tell you you got some police down with inmates and some police that's against inmates. >> while some inmates sneak away for quick sex, others like kathy phillips and devon gann seek long-term relationships. >> we have a good relationship. we've been together about two years. and for a relationship in here, it's good. >> when we met them, kathy was 42 years old and serving 14 to 17 years as a habitual felon with multiple counts of forgery, larceny and resisting officers. devon was 25 years old and serving 9 to 12 years for second degree murder. >> it was a man i lived with. he was a drug dealer. it was a robbery gone bad. and he got kill. and i left the crime scene with the guy who killed him because i was -- it was a bad situation.

>> but in prison the two women seem to have discovered a comfort zone. >> you get in here and you don't have anybody. you don't have anything. so you just sort of cling to somebody. >> and women are more affectionate or whatever, anyway. >> yeah. >> so it looks like normal couples on the streets, but it's all women. >> but any relationship in prison involves toeing the line. >> a new couple is like the staff sort of zone in on them, give them a hard time. but then after a while, it's like they just get used to seeing them as a couple, and they sort of ease off. i mean you can't, you know, kiss in front of them or do a sex act in front of them, but they're not on you for every little thing. i respect the staff. they got their job to do. so i don't cross that line. >> in spite of rules against it, kathy and devon appear to be a picture of domestic bliss. >> i'm the wife. >> we spend our money together. i shop and get our stuff and cook our food every day and make sure she has her stuff.

we do everything together, everything. whatever she is involved in i'm involved in. yeah. >> that includes the family business. kathy and devon are not only lovers, they're loan sharks. >> whatever you give them, they owe you double. i started out with $10. put the 10 out, pulled in 20 the next week. put the 20 out, pulled in 40 the next week. i just kept doubling until i got on my feet and got stable. it's a good hustle. mostly everybody in here has some type of hustle. because, i mean, a lot of people don't have help from home. you have to survive in here. prison is not free. they give you three meals a day and a bar of state soap, and that's about it. >> all your hygiene, your food, if you don't want to eat what's in the dining room, you pay for. and if you don't have anybody on the outside sending you money, the only jobs you can make money off of is probably 40 cents a day. 40 cents a day will never support you. so people do all kinds of stuff to make hustles if they don't

have somebody on the outside. there is all kinds of hustles. loan sharking is one of them. >> but the loan shark lovers insist they never use muscle to extract payment. >> if somebody doesn't pay me, i generally just -- >> it's a loss. >> i mark it up as a loss. i just don't deal with them no more. i tell my friends that loan shark, don't deal with them. you got some people in here that will bust them in the head with a lock or something. i ain't down with that. >> devon told us she used to run an even riskier business. >> before her, i had my own hustle that was pretty much staff-related. yeah. i would find weak staff, whoever i found in here because they obviously can't find somebody on the streets to hook up with. and then i would play them to get some money. >> then what? >> i would continue to get money. >> then she would have them fired.

>> devon believes the officers she seduced deserved their punishment. >> i have no remorse when it comes to that. i feel as though it's some type of perverted injustice when you come in here and think you can get a free lick off of an inmate and you have access to the free world. yeah. i have gotten a lot of money that way. yeah. but i have kind of cut that out in this relationship. >> yeah, no more. no more. >> i'm retired. >> as close as kathy and devon were, they told us they have no illusions about a future together. up next on "lockup: raw." >> i, raul, take you -- >> exchanging vows when the groom is locked up. and later, when visitation includes sex, emotions run high. >> we're going to let you take one of these in. >> i need both of those. you can't tell me that i can't use my personal hygiene for my body. i need both of those.

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>> raul and leticia, today is a very special day for both of you because today marks the beginning of your new lives together as one. >> under the best of circumstances, marriage can be challenging. even more so when it begins behind the walls of one of the nation's most dangerous maximum security prisons. >> i can't even touch her or nothing. you can't even consummate the marriage. >> the groom, raul vidal, has been in california's pelican bay state prison since age 18. >> i was involved in a gang. street gang.

you know, drugs, violence, all that. and got in a shoot-out. there were six guys in a car that they said i shot at. they gave me six life terms for that. >> because of his gang affiliation, vidal is assigned to the secured housing unit where contact visits are not permitted. >> right now here together you stand free and apart from all other people in this world because right now you stand within that charmed circle of your love together. >> vidal and his bride, leticia, were childhood friends and had reconnected five years earlier. though it's unlikely vidal will ever be free, leticia agreed to marry him anyway. her son, reuben, stood in as best man. >> you have a ring picked to go on your hand. >> oh, my gosh, i dropped the ring. >> she sees me, she opened up her house, her heart. she gave me her family. >> i, raul, take thee, leticia.

>> i, raul, take thee, leticia. >> to be my wedded wife. >> to be my wedded wife. >> to have and to hold from this day forward. >> to have and to hold from this day forward. >> i'm the black sheep from my family. i am the only one that has ever been to prison. >> i, leticia, take thee, raul, to be my wedded husband. >> to have and to hold from this day forward. >> to have and to hold from this day forward. >> i have been thinking about the sacrifice she made. how much she loves me to do something like that. >> as you take this ring and place it on her hand, raul, will you repeat after me. i give you this ring. >> i give you this ring -- >> as a symbol and commitment in marriage. >> she knows that the possibilities of me getting out are slim to none, and she accepted that. >> this is the first day of the rest of your lives together. and we would all hope that tomorrow would be even happier. you may kiss your lovely bride.

>> though there will be no reception or first dance for this couple, the odds aren't totally against them. according to one study, unions in which one partner is incarcerated are less likely to end in divorce than a conventional marriage. >> it gives me the hope. i feel love. she's a friend, i'm a friend. and we just got married to show love for each other. >> next on "lockup: raw." >> being with a female makes you appreciate the little things in life. >> a rare night of physical intimacy for a convict and his wife.

prison inmates don't have a lot to look forward to. so visitations are a big deal. for some of these inmates, they haven't seen a child or a wife or a parent in years. so it is a very dramatic time

when they come to visit them. and in lockup, these visitations have provided some of the most compelling moments in the series. >> few visitations provide as much drama as conjugal visits when an inmate is allowed an overnight stay with his spouse. >> it makes you appreciate the little things in life. >> when we met ron golden at the california's kern valley state prison, he was serving a 22-year sentence for armed robbery and assaults on correctional staff. he claimed that his recent marriage to a childhood friend helped turn him around. >> before we were married, i was always in a lot of fist fights and riots, whatever, in and out of the hole. >> golden's improved behavior earned him the right to a 46-hour conjugal visit with his wife in one of the prison's family cottages. but before the visit begins, hope golden must pass through

security. >> do you have your i.d.? >> it is in here. >> okay. >> when ron's wife, hope, showed up, we thought we would get shots of her being processed coming through the metal detector, opening her bag. getting shots of her and the c.o. there going through her things. then it turned into a bit of a scene. >> baby oil can't go in either. >> that wasn't on the list. >> it's a lubricant. like this isn't factory-sealed. it can't go in. everything has to be factory-sealed. and this is not in a clear bottle, and it's unopened and it contains alcohol in it. >> everything that is made like that has alcohol in it. >> everything that contains alcohol. it specifies in the rules. >> everything just about has alcohol in it. >> after coming dangerously close to being denied her visit, hope is allowed to proceed to the prison's gated conjugal unit. >> it's good things and bad things that you have to go through to get here.

>> hope says the difficulties of a prison visit are worth it. >> i knew who he was before i started coming to see him at the prison, and i liked him then. because we were friends first. and that's what made us bond as lovers even better. and it was special because we didn't make love until we got married. that's something that i never did before. so i was happy about that too. >> what are you guys going to do for two days? >> we are going to have fun. do a lot of exercise, jumping jacks and stuff like that. >> liar. >> golden is finally escorted across the prison yard to the family visitation center. his long awaited reunion with his wife is just moments away. >> i'm peopling marvelous, extremely excited.

>> hey, baby. >> are you nervous? >> mm-hmm. >> i know, we ain't used to this. >> you know, sometimes when a camera is in the room, people are not going to act naturally. and ron and hope both knew that we would be there for the beginning of the conjugal visit, certainly not during any part of the conjugal visit. >> oh, the crew was real nice, very pleasant. >> but as i stood to the back of the room to get kind of a wide shot, i could hear them talking, saying, is he gone yet? is he gone yet? they just wanted me out. >> but visitation is also bittersweet. our crew saw how much so at indiana state prison when the family of inmate jerry bonds arrived for their first visit in months. >> to be honest, i grew up with a two-parent, middle class home. you know, my brother, and my

older brother, they all graduated from college. i just happened to go down the wrong road with selling drugs and living on the streets. >> bonds is serving 85 years for robbing a liquor store and killing the owner. >> i had two daughters at the time. and my girlfriend at the time, she was pregnant with my son. so she was two months' pregnant when i got locked up. >> that child, bonds' son eddie, was 8 when we shot at indiana. even though he had never lived with his father, eddie was missing him nonetheless. >> he actually shot a person and he didn't mean to. but when i see him again, i'd like to live with him and be with him together so he can go to the park and the museum. >> his youngest son cries sometimes because he doesn't have his father around. there are some things he really needs to be in his life for. >> but bonds has had a tough time following the rules in prison as well.

his last infraction was for attempting to intimidate an officer. that along with three urine tests that proved positive for marijuana has cost bonds visitation privileges with his family. he had only recently gotten them back but with restrictions. >> so right now i am on noncontact status. it's like through the phone and the glass. >> how did you react when your son told you he wasn't going to have contact visits anymore? >> well, i was upset at first. i even threatened him to not even bring his kids up here. you know? i was very upset with him. as a matter of fact, i was so upset with him, i couldn't think straight. >> bonds acknowledged his actions both in and out of prison don't set the best example for his children. >> it's like how can i tell you guys to be good, stay in school and every time you come see, i'm

restricted for visits. >> they're like you're kind of a hypocrite, dad. you're telling me to be good, but you're not being good. >> our crew caught up with bonds shortly before his first visit with his children and parents in months. >> you want to look kind of spiffy because it is a special day. when they do come, they have came from so far. it puts a smile on their face to see, okay, you are doing okay. because they worry about me in here. >> but first bonds would need to pass pre-visitation security measures, starting with his freshly pressed clothes. >> all right. do me a favor. go ahead and completely disrobe. >> despite the fact he will not have physical contact, bonds like every other indiana inmate is strip searched prior to visitation. >> this time open your mouth. put your fingers in. spread the cheeks apart. upper lip up, please. lower lip down. look inside your nose, please. >> authorities must ensure that inmates are not attempting to pass contraband to the outside.

>> turn back around. squat and cough. all right. go ahead and get dressed. >> meanwhile, the bonds family has to pass through security as well. even though it was nearly a three-hour drive to get here, jerry bonds senior feels it's worth it. >> when a person is down, you really have to be there for them, you know? so what we try to relay back to jerry is that we hope you will get out of here sometime soon. and then when you do get out, you know, to pick up where you left off and show these kids they're not just coming up here for, you know, nothing at all. >> i'm just anxious, man. i want to see them so bad. i wish i could touch them and hug them, but i guess this is better than nothing. >> finally, the waiting is over. >> what's up, man? >> what's up? how y'all doing? look at you.

look at his smile, man. i ain't seen you in a while. how are you doing in school? >> good. >> what grade are you going into, eddie? >> the hardest part is like seeing him behind the glass. he's in here and stuff. so i really want him to get out. >> when his kids can't hug him like i told him he is hurting his kids. you know i can stand the hurt. but sometimes kids can't. >> let me speak to him. >> hold on. >> what's going on? >> what's happening, dad. how you doing? >> staying strong? >> yes, sir. >> thank you for bringing them up for me, dad. >> no problem. >> i want to let him know we love him no matter what. but make it easier on us when we come up here. we're in here with you. don't make it to where we are locked up, being locked up. you know what i'm saying?

>> hey, have i ever told you i love you? i love you. i'm sorry i pained you. >> limited to only 30 minutes, the visit hardly seems to have begun when it's time to leave. >> i love you. y'all be good. bye-bye. >> all right. stay strong. >> yes, sir. >> i'm praying, hoping, hoping that this is the last time they have to come up here like this and see me behind the glass. because it is not a good feeling. it's not a good feeling. >> i just feel that when i don't see him anymore, i get sad. and when i see him, i get happy. >> i want him to be here, and i don't want him to be here. i want him to learn his lesson while he is here so when he comes home he knows right from wrong and knows what to do and what not to do. >> as a mother, i would like to just touch him, and are you okay? i want to give him a hug. i haven't been able to do that. but i know one day i will.

good morning. coming up next on msnbc's "your business" mental health care meets the digital age. we sit down with the owners of talk space, a tech space therapy company. a look at startups that are helping consumers save money on medicine and student loans and how one veteran hires other veterans to maintain memorials honoring our fighting men and women. all that and more coming up next on "your business." .