/s >> 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. ask any "lockup" producer where to find the most drama intention inside prison and the answer is usually intake. the place new inmates cross the threshold into a world where they will be known as much by a number as by a name.

>> what size you wear? >> 8 1/2. >> 10 is going to be your lucky number. >> the intake process varies from prison to prison. but each one brings stark reminders of how life is about to change. >> let me tell you just one more time and one more time only. no one will be allowed to keep any type of gym shoes. we have shoes to fit you. >> at the correctional center in illinois, a boot camp-like orientation begins the intake process. >> you may keep 12 envelopes. you can keep 24 pictures. anything after 24 pictures will be sent home or destroyed. >> you start with specific directions and you tell them what the expectation level are. if anybody causes a problem, you take them out of the equation immediately.

and by doing that, you maintain that control. >> some people have been there several times before and it's quite frankly almost a home coming to them. and then you can always read what they refer to as the fresh fish. >> oh, man, i've heard stories about what goes on at night, i've heard stories about people getting killed, all sorts of stories, you name it. >> there is always that guy who is wide eyed who absolutely doesn't want to be there. >> you get to go home and they don't. >> such was the case with 23-year-old andrew dykman. we were there the day he arrived at utah state prison on a statutory rape conviction. >> jail time. i've never been here before. whole different animal. >> what's different about it so far? >> the bars on the windows, a lot more serious, you know.

this is real stuff here. it's scary. worry about getting beat up by other inmates. they try to make it as safe environment as possible, but you never know what's going to happen. >> we have accompanied these inmates and many others through one of the more discomforting aspects of intake. the strip search. >> our intake officer will take them one at a time back into a strip room, do a visual cavity search. >> search in all that, too? >> yes. >> they try to do it with a level of dignity and respect so as to not make the person uncomfortable. >> bend over, spread your butt cheeks. >> because utah receives a relatively small arrival on intake days, off kerrs can make the process more comfortable for

intakes. >> stand up. spread your feet shoulder width apart. >> l.a. county, which is probably one of the largest jail systems in the world, is completely different experience. >> drop them. >> inmate reception center is gigantic, you know. it's like 400 guys a day, 2000 a week. >> no talking, no laughing. just reach back, pull them apart. >> spread them wide. >> while intake can be a traumatic experience for new inmates, settling into the day to day routine prison life provides a very different challenge. >> the time isn't hard if you keep yourself busy. it's a point of managing it. you can either manage it or it can manage you. >> harper and his inmate have created ways to break the m ono

tony. >> basically you get creative once you're in here. you have nothing else to do. >> we make dominos. dominos made out of soap, just different things to occupy your mind. >> shortly after meeting harper and ray, we discovered another pair of utah cell mates. with their own unique method of passing time. >> my name is todd luck, t-o-d,one d. luck, if i had any, l-u-c-k. i am currently here for a one to 15 robbery. >> steve eichbauer. i'm here for dirty urinalysis for using drugs. it's lucky because both of us want exercise. sometimes you get a cellie that

doesn't want to exercise. it's nice when you get somebody that does because you can use their figure weight. >> if you're a stick figure walking in with some new beef and your chest all puffed out like this, you know, and you're talking like bubba, you know, of course you're going to have some problems. if you're consistently working out, people know that you're pretty much physically fit. they'll leave their hands off you because you don't want to end up somebody's girl, something like that in here. yeah. >> as for the new arrivals, they'll have to come up with their own methods for coping with life behind bars. >> you know, it's cold and it's depressing and this is the worst. but you have to do it. you go to sleep and have nightmares about this place, wake up and still be stuck in the same nightmare. you have to do your time and be strong about it, it's nothing you can do but face your fears. >> coming up.

the inside scoop on prison life. >> keep my toilet fresh and clean. >> and prison ink. >> i wear it proudly. i got the bolts. >> the tier represents several different things. it can represent the fact that you killed somebody.

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how? because our phones have evolved. so isn't it time our networks did too? introducing america's largest, most reliable 4g lte combined with the most wifi hotspots. it's a new kind of network. xfinity mobile. we've met inmates who have not only devised ingenious ways to pass time, but to take care of routine domestic chores. few, though, made this lasting an impression on us as cell inmate of san quentin state prison. >> i'm a third termer. the first time he got 12 years,

he only got 13 days now. so i'm really preparing him to what's ahead of him. keep the house clean. >> he gave both his cell mate and our producer a lesson on the finer point of laundry behind bars. >> i clean my t-shirt, grab my bar of soap. dip it in the toilet. keep my toilet fresh and clean. scrub it out. remove the soap. when the toilet fills up with freshwater now, i can just rinse it. i fold my towel, put it here. right up under here is my clothes line. >> he went on to give us a cooking demonstration using toilet paper like a stove-top burner. >> take this, you sit it on the edge of the toilet because it's got to breathe.

sit it here, light it at the bottom. as you see, it's like a fire. you hold your can over it and you cook. therefore your water gets hot. flush it down. grab a damp towel because you don't want it to be on the toilet. don't want to burn your toilet up and get my bowl, crack my soup open and do my eating. >> over the years, we've also seen another trick of the inmate trade in the majority of prisons we visited. it's called fishing. >> they rip up their sheets in little pieces, tie them together to make a long rope as such, and then they usually use a roll-on deodorant bottle or something heavy they tie on the end of it so they can throw it to one cell or over the top range to the bottom range. they can put letters in or magazines.

and a lot of times you'll see them tie a tie or letter to the end of it and that's the way they communicate. >> the package is tied to the fish lines are sometimes called cadillacs. and hard as they try, correctional staff can rarely keep up with them. >> 99% of the time you're not going to get out there and catch it because they're looking out for each other. but we'll go up and tell them to give us the cadillacs. if we want, we'll shake them down, take the cadillac and they'll have another one tomorrow. so, it's where a lot of our sheets go. you take one, they'll have another one the next day. >> at kern valley state prison in california, we met inmate aaron yoest who participates in another illegal yet very common practice behind bars. tatooing. >> it's artwork. i did this myself. >> where? where? >> in here in the cell just like this. >> how? >> how? you see this cassette player? rip the motor out of it, attach a pin tube to it with the

needle. it goes back and forth. i make the ink with burnt plastic or baby oil. mix it with shampoo because i can make black ink. >> tatooing in prison is illegal and poses a variety of health risks, but we've met countless inmates who have gotten their ink both on the outside and inside. many tattoos represent gang affiliation and are documented by prison officials. most of the rest have a meaning all their own. >> my trip is physics. my tattoo on the back says quantum physics. i have an atom on my hand. i studied what the ultimate nature of reality s. it soothes me. it soothes me to try to figure out what i am, what all this is, what it's all about. the deeper thinking, philosophy i guess you would say. >> you know, i got a couple females down here on the old

legs. kind of that s & m thing. it's my thing. >> this tattoo right here is the joker, a representation of me and the women is a representation of my way or the highway, you know. i mean, that was my thoughts in dealing with women and relationships. this is the madness. this is me on crack. that's me. that's before i learned to manage my problem, that was me. >> the tear represents several different things. it can represent gang membership. it can represent the fact that you've killed somebody. or it can represent the fact that you've done a lot of time in prison. in my case i've done a lot of time in prison. i've never killed anybody. >> tattoos in prison often lead to violence. as we learned when we visited the correctional facility in alabama. >> you want to be interviewed? put your clothes on. come on. >> steven parker is serving a

life sentence for the murder of his stepmother. >> a lot of people villain ize me. i grew up with parents that didn't give [ bleep ] about me. i'm not trying to excuse my behavior, you know what i mean? i take full responsibility. i pled guilty. >> when we met him, he was serving his time in administrative segregation because his desire for another tattoo nearly turned deadly. >> about six months ago, i cut a dude's throat down there in population. he was supposed to do some tattoos. i was going to get some swastikas tattooed on the side of my neck. he didn't want to. i said you just need to give me my money back. he didn't do it. i pulled out a box cutter, cut the side of his throat. he ran away, hid behind an officer like an officer is going to stop me [ bleep ]. flew him to the hospital, did some kind of surgery.

>> our producer learned that the total debt owed to parker was $60 payable in snacks and toil tris purchased at the prison canteen since inmates are not allowed to carry cash. but behind bars, the true value of a tattoo can only be determined by the person who wears it. >> why did you want to put a swastika on your neck? >> because i just thought it would look cool. i wanted to get two of them on each side like franken stein bolts, swastikas. just let everybody know i'm a racist son of a bench. you know? >> coming up. >> i'm like the most popular one. they call me countest, big countest above all. >> men who do their time as women. >> he's the wife, i'm the man. that's mine, that's his. got that right here. y to say th.

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every prison inmate must make decisions about how to do his time and how to create a life behind bars. we have encountered a number of prisoners who have made an unusual choice. they are not only openly gay, but for all practical purposes, function in prison as women. >> i'm like the most popular one. they call me countess. the countess above all. because i look more female-like more than any of the other ones here. i don't lift weights. i don't do any of that stuff. i just be me. i flirt. oh, god. i flirt, yes. >> but there's another side to

randy stemper. he's serving a 25-year sentence for attempted murder. >> i shot somebody for stupid reasons. >> what? >> shot him for getting me the wrong bottle of vodka. stole his truck, 18 wheeler. >> in this previously unaired footage, he claims he uses sexuality with weaker inmates. >> you use weaker inmates, kind of like what i would be in a rougher prison. i target that and start talking and flirting with them. to them it's like having a woman in here, so, they are willing to pickup more things. doesn't have to be sexual. just the presence. i know it's in their mind. but the trick behind it is to try to not do it that way. and to still get the item.

>> though teit's against the rules, stem per has found a way to engage in other activities to make life more tolerable for himself and other inmates. >> to have sex in prison, what the guards are looking for, know how to get around that, the places, cameras, guards. you can have friends lure a guard away from someplace so you can get into someplace. have the sex and then come out before the guard turns around and comes back. there are staircases, closets, other people's cells. it's kind of like a cloak and dagger game with the guards. in my case i'm just good at it. kind of never get caught, ten years. >> when we visited the correctional facility in alabama, producers met keith mason who also assumes a female persona. >> what's your first name again?

>> pete. but they call me precious. what makes me a girl first of all, is this. again, it's my choice. it's nothing i would force into like -- i walk in the door, slap me down, you zbgonna be my benc. it wasn't like that. i had eyebrows and did what i did, i let the cat know, boom, i'm gay. >> having already served an earlier sentence for aggravated assault, precious was doing life on a robbery conviction. and when we met him, he was living in a state of domestic partnership with fellow inmate marqise nobles. >> i'm the wife, he's the man. i got on my band and his. that's mine, that's his. got that right here. >> this is my partner. this is my friend. this is, you know, the person that gives me strength, you know. like i said, i don't have family or anything. this is the person that helps me out day to day. >> but despite being in the

fifth year of their relationship, marqise, nearing the end of a 15-year sentence for kidnapping, made it clear, the situation will likely change once he's out. >> this is not the life-style i would live when i get out because i like women. i'm in prison. there's no women in here, but there are men that want to be women, so, i have to deal with them while i'm in here. >> though marqise might not be in it for the long haul, that hasn't deterred precious from being a surrogate spouse. >> i make sure whatever he needs he has that. that's not the penitentiary rule. he doesn't have to brush his teeth. he smiles and i brush his teeth for him. >> women are liberated now. >> right, they are. >> they don't have to wait on their husband any more. what do you think about ha? >> i choose to. i choose to. >> housework isn't the only way in which prison marriage is less

than a union of equals. as precious explains in this graphic interview footage. >> if there is any sexual activities taking place, he is the man, you know. he's the server at all times. i'm always the recipient of whatever it is. it doesn't matter whether it's oral or anal or however you want to look at it. i can't penetrate him or get oral sex. if i choose to, you know, go and release myself, i have to go get me a girl to go do it with. >> our producer then questioned whether the relationship between precious and marqise is motivated by more than just love and sex. >> listen to me. please listen to me. i am 7-0 right here. i have not lost a fight here. i believe i can beat him, but i wouldn't wrestle any time i put him to sleep.

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good morning. coming up on msnbc's your business, these three small business heroes turned around a town's economy by bringing back the cheese making legacy. why the owner of this growing beauty care line wants the federal government to regulate her industry even more. and wisdom from his lips to your ears, the ceo of car maximum on why you need to respect and respond to customers. advice and stories to help you succeed coming up next on your business.