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." >> what is it? what is it? >> a fight. >> when our crews go behind prison walls, we know always to expect the unexpected. we've seen bloody assaults.

>> we got another cut up here, guys. >> inmate rage. >> we will not negotiate with terrorists! >> destruction in the cell block. >> and bizarre expressions of personal style. now, some of the most memorable, unexpected moments we've encountered inside america's prisons. >> this is what you live for in the penitentiary. >> you want to think it's funny. >> tough [ bleep ]. >> never a dull moment. >> we send our producers and crews inside prisons. their job is to be objective observers. but in the first week of filming inside limon correction facility

in colorado, something unusual happened. we inadvertently became part of the story we were covering. >> why is everybody getting agitated? we were in ad seg, administrative segregation, the prison within a prison. we started hearing inmates screaming out things and i started to hear them talking about cho-mos, which are sex offenders and then mayhem

erupted. [ bleep ] >> i believe he threw a liquid substance under the door that smelled somewhat suspicious and we're going to report that. >> jonathan hall, serving 40 years for murder, was one of the first inmates to make it clear we weren't welcome in administrative segregation. >> unless he does calm down and follow our rules and orders, he'll be cell extracted. >> inmate hall won't calm down. so they call in the special

response team. and they suit up in their gear. in these situations, when we want to film it, they always have us suit up as well. >> if he doesn't comply at that point, we'll introduce o.c. >> you got it? >> uh-huh. >> inmate hall, come to the door and cuff up.

if you do not cuff up, we will introduce chemical agents. are you going to comply? >> introduce o.c. >> hall has covered his food port and window with a mattress. but the special response team knocks it down and fires a couple of short bursts of o.c. gas. >> hall, you're going to be all right, all right? listen to my orders, okay? >> i can't. >> i need you to get up on your knees. come on, help us out. >> ahhh! >> shooting an extraction wearing a gas mask is pretty difficult. you're kept a certain distance from the view finder. the seal is compromised a bit. so there is some of the gas that leaks in. eyes are watering a bit. but that's just part of it. we go in there and do the best

we can to show what's going on. >> what's going on with these [ bleep ]? i need fresh air. i can't breathe. >> you're all right, hall. >> so that was quite a first day. the next day we had to go back into ad seg to continue doing our interviews and one of the inmates we were going to i can hear water running and we had an officer in the room with us that was doing our security and i asked him, what's going on? when he opened the door, you just heard this cascading water. >> what happened? >> they flooded the tier. >> it's awesome. >> you better go get that. >> i walked out of the interview room and was shocked to see water cascading down from the top tier down onto the floor. i'd never seen anything like that in my life in a prison. >> what happened? >> what did you do, did you do this? >> i didn't do nothing. >> what happened? >> i have no idea. >> what does it look like happened?

>> i'm not even going to say nothing with that door opened. >> in the midst of this crazy scene, the officers were taking michael gill back to his cell, at which point he just started cracking jokes with the staff members. >> if you let me see the key, i'll do the rest. oh, i guess that's real cool. thanks for having faith in me.

>> i have faith that you'll try and escape. >> see? >> you're crazy, sarge. >> after following gill to his cell, our crew is taken to the source of the flood. george graph, serving three years for motor vehicle theft, started the flood by overflowing his toilet. >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> pull your seat away there, please. >> [ bleep ]. >> i'm sorry? >> [ bleep ]. >> why don't you -- >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> are you flooding out here or what? >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> you know it's not hurting my feelings. >> then, jonathan hall, the inmate extracted the day before, rejoins the ruckus. with a prison camera outside his window to monitor his activity, he begins to yell at "lockup" cameraman brian kelly. >> go film from [ bleep ] child molesters. >> we're trying to get both sides. that's what we've within trying to do. >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> that's what we're trying to show. >> come on out. >> i got it, i got it. coming up -- >> we will not negotiate with terrorists! >> the anger in ad seg intensifies. >> you know what, you want to

think it's [ bleep ] funny?

shortly after our arrival at the limon correctional facility in colorado, two inmates in administrative segregation loudly protested our interview of a sex offender. one of them, george graph, even flooded his cell by intentionally backing up his toilet. >> if you do not come to the door, we will introduce chemical agents. >> we will not negotiate with terrorists! >> the prison special response team is called in to extract him

from his cell. when inmates don't cooperate, the team uses o.c. gas, a form of pepper spray, to gain compliance. >> uncover your window. take a step back. >> get on your knees! >> in this case, graph will be moved to a stripped down cell until his can be cleaned and his behavior improves. >> this [ bleep ] sucks. >> but first, he's given the opportunity to shower off the stinging o.c. gas. afterwards, he still blamed us for his actions.

>> that's the reasoning all of this is happening right there. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> in every prison, filming in ad seg is a vital component to telling these stories. because of all this commotion, the warden comes up and says we can't film there anymore. >> we had two offenders act out for the camera crew, to put a show on for the camera crew. we've asked the camera crew to stop filming in segregation in order to calm these guys down. from this point on we'll assess whether we'll allow the camera

crew to come back in to segregation. >> the next day, we learned more about the incident from another inmate, who had insights to share. dan huff, serving nine years for aggravated murder. is considered a leader among the prison's white inmates, including hall and grapf. >> we're now told we can't go into ad seg because it looks like we're creating the problem. tell me what you think that and what's happened. >> no, i don't think you guys have created it. i think those guys are young,

and they won't listen to anybody unless you're white, unless you're -- you have authority. the reason they listen to me is because i'm their friend. but sex offenders that you guys have been interviewing, if they truly are, they're -- some of them were caucasian and they hate that. they don't want them guys on camera.

and that's where the problem arose, that they said oh, look, they're representing us as we're a bunch of -- the white dudes are a bunch of sex offender, child molesters, rapos, homosexual rats. you know, a whole laundry list of things. >> while the prison took disciplinary action against grapf and hall, huff claims he intervened as well. >> i called over there and said

hey, you need to cut that stuff out because you're not making us look any better than those guys are. it doesn't take a big tough guy or a smart guy to get sprayed and drug out of your cell. and now you're raising hell with these people and making us look like idiots. >> those things had calmed down,

prison officials did not allow us to come back right away. but two weeks later, we were told that michael gill had been injured. little did we know a new drama was about to unfold. >> i was asked to get offender

gill to bring him to medical. he's declaring a self-emergency. he said he has a broken arm. >> authorities told us that gill's injury was the result of banging on his cell door when he

was denied a shower. >> i've been dealing with the offender through the hearings process, and i've actually developed a little bit of a rapport with the guy. i've been able to talk with him in the past. i was hoping to go down with the sergeant and see if we could settle him down a little bit and get him over to medical where we can take a look at his arm, see

what's going on. >> i don't think they're going to let you in seg. >> well, i always ask. from the moment i wake up on my tempur-pedic mattress i feel like i'm ready to take on the day. i don't have aches and pains from the previous day's training. and i feel like myself. i wake up feeling stronger, a better surfer a better me. ♪ find your exclusive retailer at tempur-pedic.com

appearances and first impressions are every bit as important behind prison walls as they are on the outside. and one of the most fascinating experiences we have in prison is seeing the different methods inmates use to create their own look. from intimidating to tantalizing to just peculiar. our crews have seen it all.

tattoos, however, aren't the only tools in the toolbox. at indiana state prison, billy kyle, serving eight years on a drug dealing charge, likes to strut the yard with his grill. >> i like blue and white diamonds. >> let me see you smile. what's the deal with that? >> it was just something, you know, that we did on the streets, you know what i'm

saying? >> how much are they worth? >> about $1,500. >> $1,500? >> yeah. >> we found that most women still like to feel like women in prison as well. betty conley, serving life for murdering her husband, made that clear. she has turned her bunk into a salon, of sorts. >> i love makeup. i've been into makeup since i

was a little bitty girl. and i'm like dolly. the redder the better. the more the merrier. >> at the limon correctional facility in colorado, we met inmates who have had more permanent transformations. aaron cooper, serving 10 years for assault and escape, didn't stretch his ear lobes until he got to prison. it's a little trippy at first, you know. but i've definitely got some weird responses from people. you know, why did you split your tongue? i don't know, just something to do. you know, in a way, i guess it's

kind of tabu out there. coming up, our producer follows a trail of blood that leads to one of the most shocking scenes ever shown on "lockup." >> we need to get him on the gurney, get him up front. we have another cut up here, guys.

i'm veronica de la cruz.

when our crews are filming inside high security prisons, they know that violence can erupt at any moment. while they're prepared for it, when it happens it can still be shocking. during our extended stay shoot inside indiana state prison, we walked into one of the bloodiest encounters in "lockup" history. >> we were filming in one of the housing units and we heard a call come over the radio. instantly, all staff members started running. we picked up our gear and ran with them. >> what is it? what is it?

>> a fight. >> there was just a chaotic scene. by the time we got there, they were already pulling people out that were coming back from chow and they were trying to find a victim of what we thought at the time was a fight. >> i don't know who was involved. >> was he involved? >> i don't know. >> i know. i just told these guys to hold up. >> where is the guy that got stabbed? >> immediately it just became a

large crime scene. >> they're looking for a long-haired white guy. they say he got to main street. >> i looked over and saw our field producer take off and she had a little camera she was filming with and i didn't see who she was filming but i saw her make her way into the infirmary. >> i saw a man walking towards me and realized it was the victim for only one reason, there was blood on his shirt. and i saw blood drops coming from him, so i just started to follow him into the medical building. >> where do you want me? >> i was a little shocked because every time they would

remove another article of his clothing, there was a bigger and keeping gash. but the bizarre thing about it is, all he was concerned about was his tennis shoes. >> don't throw them away. they're brand spanking new. can you put them in a bag, please? >> we got another cut up here, guys.

>> okay. >> we'll get you an ambulance. >> how bad? is it worse than this? >> we need to get him on the gurney, though, get him up front. >> the nerve damaged? >> i don't know. >> i didn't know what happened. >> the fact that the wounds were so graphic, they actually had to be blurred, it was best for all.

they were some of the worst wounds i've ever seen. >> does it look all right? >> wanna go for a ride? >> the victim, pat ellerman, spent two weeks at a local hospital before returning to hospital. his attacker, michael ray stafford, was found guilty of the stabbing at a disciplinary hearing and received extra time in the prison segregation unit. but no criminal charges were filed against him because ellerman refused to cooperate with the investigators. we caught up with ellerman on the day he returned to general population.

>> after pat recovered from his injuries and we saw him back out on the yard, again, one of the first comments he made was about his shoes. >> see the blood on my shoes? that's why i stopped fighting, because i seen blood on my shoes. >> it's indicative of prison life.

prison haste a way of forcing convicts of meeting

personal needs. the challenge is just as big for women as it is for men. when we arrived at the tennessee prison for women, we found that meeting personal needs had led to a dilemma for mary beth. >> they done wrote me up. >> what? >> what for? >> look, it says that they found a glove in two trash cans and a tampon. they're trying to say i had -- >> sexual activity of any sort is against prison rules. and even though she's allowed to have the individual items she was caught with, she was written up for how they were assembled, or at least partially assembled. >> i'm pleading not guilty because they have no evidence. when they found it, it was not

intact, okay? >> what was you going to do with it? >> everything that they have is things that i was allowed to have. >> but she did tell us that if she were going to make what she's accused of making, she has a good idea of how to do it. >> you have to have your marker to make it hard and you have to put your pads over it to protect it. >> as mary beth began her how-to description, all i could think about is human nature and how when left without normal resources, want or need or desire will lead you to create

something out of nothing. >> and you have to wrap it with a rubber band to keep it on there and then put your glove over it because it's sanitary. and then your ace bandage is to strap it on. >> her ingenuity has gotten her in trouble on the outside as well. she's serving 12 years for i.d. theft, forgery and burglary. >> i've stolen approximately four to five people's identities and i think i've gotten over

$250,000. i've gotten boats, i've gotten cars. >> she used to break into lockers at a local gym to find her victims. >> i memorized the social security, the birthday, i memorized everything. i go into the bank, tell them i'm you and i need to draw some money out of the account. they give me what i want. they don't ask me for i.d. because i got everything memorized. even if they do ask me for i.d., i got your driver's license. and if i don't look like you, i'll make myself look like you. >> but she told us she did take some mercy on her victims. >> if i steal your purse, i'm going to leave your car keys, because i don't want you to be stranded. >> now she's hoping for some sympathy herself as she faces a disciplinary hearing for allegedly possessing a homemade sex toy. >> let's go see. let me do my job. >> she's assisted in her defense by an inmate advocate. >> this is so embarrassing. >> how do you plead? >> not guilty. >> the hearing quickly turns to the evidence. and whether the sum of their parts equals a whole. >> they're not constructed together. the ace bandages were for my ankles. the glove was to clean my toilet.

trash bags we get every day and the tampons i get at the commissary. >> and what about the highlighter? >> i got that from field day. >> what were you doing with a highlighter in the tampon? >> i had no idea it was in there. >> was it like this when you -- >> the way that the body of this writeup is, it's making it sound like mr. roundtree found an assembled sex toy. i'm asking for a dismissal on

this. >> the hearings officer, sergeant gooch, places a call to the officer who wrote the disciplinary report. >> officer roundtree, you confiscated the items that she had, the highlighter and things of that? >> right. >> okay. when you collected the evidence on this, was this intact? >> the first time we saw her it was entact. when we went back in there, the

rubber glove was taken off and i got everything and broke it down. >> may i ask you why you didn't collect the evidence when you first saw it? i mean -- >> we weren't looking for that. what we was looking for was tobacco or tobacco products when we came across that. >> so it was your assumption that this was a sexual toy? >> yes. yes, it was. >> okay. anything else? >> thank you, mr. roundtree. >> if he was going to write her up, he should have collected that evidence right then and there and not gone back. whether he was looking for tobacco or drugs or whatever, if he knew he was going to write her up, he should have gotten this in tact thing that he saw. otherwise, it's not what he's saying it is. i'm asking for a dismissal. >> moments later, sergeant gooch renders a decision. >> okay, you plead not guilty. i find you guilty. you got the highlighter wrapped up in the tampon and looking at the shape of it, preponderance of evidence is that it shows there was use for something other than what the items were to be used for. >> all right, let's go. >> she receives 15 days in administrative segregation for the contraband charge. but for her, that might not be the worst part of the punishment. >> i mean, that's embarrassing. i would have rather been caught with a female.

coming before mak realizati

correctional officers and "lockup" camera crews share something in common, they never know moment to moment what they might encounter. but the unexpected events we cover in prison are not always violent. >> inside, close the door. >> sometimes they're just heartbreaking. during our initial scout at indiana state prison, our main goal was to get familiar with the prison prior to beginning formal production. but when we toured the chronic

care unit, which houses mentally ill inmates, we walked in on a quiet drama. >> we were there for our scout week, which means we can't even have a sound guy with us. but we knew we had to roll when we came upon this scene. >> we came upon this inmate, michael steele, who was sitting outside his cell with his items all packed up.

he was convinced he was going home that day. and it was becoming a problem for the prison, because nobody could dissuade him from this notion. >> i've been in prison since november 3rd, 1988. for a crime that i was charged with and i'm not guilty of. >> okay. what's going on today? >> that's why i'm leaving prison. >> is it time for you to leave? >> my prison time has expired. >> what are you doing sitting here? >> to be released from prison. >> how long have you been waiting here? >> approximately 14 minutes. >> in reality, he was nowhere near his release date. he's serving 110 years for

murder and attempted murder. >> which one of these cells was yours? where did you sleep at night when you were here? did you sleep in one of these cells when you were here? >> the more i asked for details about him leaving, he started to shut dn. it was almost as if i was breaking his belief system. the staff then started to move in and they were making it very clear to him that he was going

to have to comply and go back into his cell. >> high -- hey, mike. come on in. >> and once he was surrounded by all these staff members, everything just kind of fell apart for him and he broke down sobbing. >> and that was tough. that was really difficult to film because he was just broken.

you know, it was just a sad, sad time. >> eventually, prison staff had no choice but to physically carry steele back into his cell. >> here we go. come on, there we go. there we go. >> don't hurt yourself. >> one, two, three, lift. bring him in. >> he just kind of went limp and then they dragged him back into his cell, propped him up on his cot, and he just sat there. just staring straight ahead. but looking very much like a broken man. >> we visited steele several weeks later. he agreed to speak with us about

the incident we had filmed earlier. both he and prison medical staff also gave us permission to air the footage we had shot of him. >> that day i saw you up here with your things packed ready to go home, did you believe in your heart you were going to go home? >> yes. >> and what about now? >> i don't think so. >> so what do you think, do you think you're going to have to stay in this housing unit? >> i hope not. >> what do you want? >> i want to be released from

prison. >> prison psychologist reggie matias hopes steele will be well enough eventually to be transitioned to a less restrictive unit. >> we have a program where they work in general population, they do that for a week or so, maybe two. if it looks like it's going well, then they'll move them up to a dorm and they can go to work from there. essentially they would be discharged from the chronic care unit. >> i heard you've been doing much, much better these days. >> i'm trying to. >> yeah, good. the plan is as soon as you get back to your usual self, we'll get you back out there working. you worked in the kitchen, right? >> yeah, i worked in the kitchen as a cook. >> i he due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. follow "lockup" producers and crews as they go behind the walls of america's prisons and jails. to the scenes you've never seen. "lockup: raw." >> start with your right hand. totally relax. >> unlike prison, the majority of inmates inside the nation's