i'm dara brown with the hour's top stories. a short time ago president trump arrived in japan to begin a 12-day trip in asia. he'll also make stops in china, vietnam, south korea, and the philippines. his first event was speaking to troops at the yokota air base outside of tokyo. >> i'm honored to be here today in this beautiful country, home of the extraordinary people of japan. japan is a treasured partner and crucial ally of the united states, and today we thank them for welcoming us and for decades of wonderful friendship between our two nations.

the "washington post" is reporting that former dnc chair donna brazile considered ousting hillary clinton from the democratic ticket during last year's presidential campaign. it happened after clinton looked unsteady as she left a september 11th memorial and prompted further speculation about her health going into the 2016 election. now back to "lockup." 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." inside prison or jail, regrets are never in short supply. >> actually killed an innocent kid. that haunts me. >> and as if watching "lockup" isn't warning enough for some -- >> tell him you will get

[ bleep ] up in my book. >> this is a place where people come to die. >> -- prisons and jails use inmates to warn troubled teens before it's too late. >> huh? [ bleep ] >> an hour's worth of tape. >> others express their regrets with personal cameras. we call inmate cams. >> i just wish that i could do it all over again. >> during a typical "lockup" interview, we have our producer, our director of photography, our audio technician, an associate producer, and various staff members in the room kind of surrounding the inmate. it can be difficult sometimes to get an intimate interview with so many people around. so we created the inmate cam. where it's basically a small digital camera we give to the inmate. >> we have this camera, super simple to use. it's already turned on for you. >> they can take it into their cell, turn it on, press record,

and the results are dramatic. ♪ we are the world surrounded by serial killers and material girls ♪ ♪ trapped in men's bodies ♪ one eye like cyclops ♪ replace password robot ipod and x-pods ♪ ♪ fireballs falling from the sky ♪ ♪ mudslides, the man can't explain why it's snowing in the summertime ♪ ♪ with christian vice lords and muslim folks ♪ ♪ feasting off cloned sheep ♪ seeking truth as we blind, dude ♪ time goes by. we doing good. we doing bad in the last days. >> wabash locked up extended stay. and hell yeah, the stay is extended. judge gave me 50 years. 50. that's five decades, man. i'm going to give you a quick walk around my cell, man. show you what's going on in my cell. show you all where i live, how i live. all right.

wake up. that's my bed. it ain't that thick. you know what i mean? it's my window. this is my window. that's the gate teasing me with freedom. you see the cars running by, going places i can't go. trying to paint a picture for you so you can understand what i'm going through. >> i look out the window a lot. >> a lot of inmates have the hopes and aspirations of going home. because of the nature of my crimes, the brutality, the heinous and gruesome events that occurred, i know that i'll never see the streets again. >> this right here, as pathetic as that is to say, this is my pillow. don't nobody touch it. ain't nobody going to touch it. you know? i put my head on it.

i -- i cradle it at night like it's another person. you know. because it's one of the things you wish you had. you know, do i want the company of another person here? hell, no. there ain't nothing to say. that's another thing i don't understand. but i ain't going to get on that subject. >> when we give them those cameras, we have no idea what we're going to get. and it's been amazing, really. i mean, they come up with these great angles. they come up with fascinating stories. it's funny. >> i got a $100 bill tattooed on my [ bleep ], but i can't show that to the camera. >> and it's often heartbreaking. >> it's all i do is sit here and think about my little boy. keep this picture right here under the mat. man. i don't know. this [ bleep ] is hell. >> i don't have no kids. i don't have no girlfriend. >> philip stroud, serving life without parole, used his inmate

cam to reach out to the families of the three men he murdered during a robbery. >> every day, every day i got to live with what i did. i just wish that i could do it all over again. not for the sake of being in here, me being here, because i been locked up my whole life. but so y'all could have y'all loved ones back. [ crying ] >> is this place stressful? hell, yeahittressful. this is one of the stressfulest things you can do. this is at i wake up to every morning. a steel door and a piece of glass. i mean these places are so petty, they count the rolls of toilet paper you get. this is what you get every week. four rolls of toilet paper.

you're allowed three khaki outfits. you're allowed one coat. you're allowed two blankets. everything is counted in here. >> oh, now you're recording. >> for joshua coffey, who was sentenced to six years for burglary, the only thing more frightening than prison was the thought of leaving. >> i got nine days. i got nine days before i'm thrust back out into society. and i'm not free. nobody thinks about freedom as something to be nervous about. you know. because everybody that ever does anything wrong, or scared to go to prison. i'm damn near scared to go home. you know? and the bad part is that i got a family that loves me. you know? they might not understand me. they might not agree with the things i do. but ultimately, they love me.

and i know that. and i hope i don't let them down. >> hello, everybody. it's me. the stone. >> james stone wishes he had coffey's problems. he's serving 101 years for attempted murder. >> that's everything pretty much got right there you're not really allowed to have a whole lot here. >> he's already served 26 but has another 25 to go before he's even considered for parole. >> i know one guy, i'm not going to mention his name, he gets out next year. i think it's may. first of may of next year. for his third murder. third murder! he's been locked up for three murder bits, and because he keeps taking plea bargains, i guess that makes him better than me. i ain't got a death involved in

my crime but this guy done kill three people in drive-by gangland shooting crap and still can't hit his target and they still release him. the law makes no sense to me. maybe that's why lady justice keeps blind because she don't really want to see this. it don't make no sense. >> several inmates use their inmate cams to offer a word to the wise. >> don't come to prison, man. >> warning others not to make the same mistakes they made. >> being locked up is real lame. it's not a game. it's no movie. it's no rap song. when it goes down and you get popped [ bleep ], this is what it's going to be, man. >> when your buddies want you to join up with their little clique or little gang, hey, let's sell a little crack, oh, let's get that little $200, $300 from the liquor store or something like that, you just think about that. t rth it? really, is it worth it?

>> this ain't the place to be. this here, this is -- this is where you come when you're scared of living life. this is where you come when you've given up, basically, on everything else. >> look at your family. look at yourself. see what you really got to lose. >> this is your future, right there, bam. coming up -- >> he was sweating, tossing, turning, hearing kids scream, falling. >> awaiting trial for murder, an inmate repudiates his former gang life. >> i don't want this lifestyle for no one. they use you. spit you up.

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many inmates say that coming to jail made them reassess their lives. if not drastically overhaul them. we can never know with certainty how sincere those claims are. but when an inmate repudiates his gang, as 25-year-old daniel miramontes did, it adds credence to their story.

>> i ran the streets. grew up in the streets. life in the streets. what you see is what the streets created. >> we met miramontes at the orange county jail. he said before coming here he was a member of a los angeles street gang and a meth addict. it seemed out of sorts with the young man who enjoyed reading novels and writing poetry. >> i like to read a lot. i like nicholas sparks. "walk to remember." "notebook." >> oh, so like romantics? >> oh, yeah. i'm a sucker for that. >> do you cry when you read the sad parts? >> yeah. most of the guys don't want to admit that because, hey, we're in jail. you know. but i don't care. >> but miramontes was facing the possibility of a lifetime in prison. >> been down almost two years. my charges are special circumstance murder. big case. big case.

>> miramontes had ented a not guilty plea and was still awaiting trial when we met him. the night of the murder, he says he was visiting friends in an orange county gang and that they were all drinking and high on drugs. while driving around their neighborhood, his friend stopped to confront a 19-year-old man who had allegedly flashed a rival gang sign. >> what ended up happening was the orange county home boys exited the vehicle, and a fight ensued which turned into a stabbing, which turned into a slashing, and the victim's neck was cut, and he bled to death at the scene. >> miramontes admits to being in the car but says he never participated in the murder. >> i'm from l.a. i'm not from orange county. so, why bother getting in the mix? so i just decided to stay in the car. one of those situations, you're in a bad place at the wrong time, you know. i was there. so i'm here now. facing a long time.

>> miramontes says even though he wasn't involved in the murder, he's paying a price beyond just being in jail. >> there's nightmares, sweating, tossing, turning, hearing the kid scream, falling. it plays in my head sometimes. later on, we find out that the little kid wasn't even a gang banger. so i feel bad because they actually killed an innocent kid. that didn't even gang bang. that haunts me. >> though miramontes maintains his innocence in this case, he admits to past violence with his gang. >> well, the things that i did, it was like little things, you know. shoot-outs with different gang bangers, but never actually killed no one. injure them? yeah. killed them? no. i'm not a murderer.

i'm not hard-core gangster, homey, no. my things were usually on drugs, weapons, money, easy. i had good grades in elementary, junior high, high school. i graduated with a 3.17. i'm a certified electrician. people used to say, he works, he has a good job. but i started hooking up with different people, older friends, older guys. serious business. so i was, hey, easy money. i will do that favor for you, you know, let's go. >> what was easy money? >> delivering, here, there. >> delivering what? >> meth. they used me to do all these runs. was i getting paid good money? yeah. was it worth it? not really. but that's one thing that i thank god for being locked up, is because being on the street, when i was on the street, oh, man, i was bad. i would have been probably dead within the month, a week, a year, the way i was going.

i really didn't care what i was doing. hanging out on the streets all day. there was one time i didn't sleep for like four, six days. just running around here, running around there. bad. using meth a lot. maybe that's why i'm so skinny. >> miramontes spends large parts of his day drawing, reading, or writing poetry. he says he's forsaken his gang and is now housed in protective custody. but he says it's worth it. >> well, i don't want this lifestyle. look where it got me. you know. i don't want this lifestyle for no one. they use you. spit you up. >> his analogy was, it's like bubble gum. when you put it in, it's real fresh and chewy. you chew it up for a little while and you spit it out. and that's his analogy of the gang.

he was used when he was soft and vulnerable. and once he got a little hard and a little stale, they spit him out. >> you know, i have to ask you this. you're talking to me about a lot of your activity on the street. does that put you in any danger? >> if it happens, it happens. i just try to give a message out to, you know, people out there that the gang life is not good. they use you and spit you. killing an innocent little kid is not good. you want to kill somebody that took your brother's life, go ahead and do it. just don't kill innocent kids that don't gang bang. that's bad. >> but it's okay to kill another gang banger? >> if he killed your brother. and if he shot your house. >> but when does it stop? >> it doesn't. i guess it keeps going until one of -- rather they kill you or you kill them, you get busted for life for killing that guy or he gets busted for killing you. it doesn't.

>> while awaiting trial, miramontes said he made a conscious decision to not let jail bring him down. >> i love it out here. you know. this is paradise. i mean you could just picture background, the noise, you got a little water running. but my imagination plays it as an ocean. you know. it's good. being in here is like, hey, man, i'm in hawaii or something. better place than being in jail, right? >> although he could face a life sentence if he is found guilty, miramontes has chosen optimism over pessimism. >> don't think negative. no matter how dark the world gets, just laugh. just laugh. that way there's nothing else to do. you laugh when the pain gets too much. that's what i do. i live my life with my own philosophy. and in here is yesterday was a dream,ight? but tomorrow is only a vision.

so me every yesterday a dream of hope. and tomorrow a dream of happiness. coming up -- >> right now i have six staff members. there's 384 inmates in this gym. it's very dangerous. >> one of the nation's most infamous prisons is bursting at the seams. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free. it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well fitting dentures let in food particles just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made even the kiwi an enjoyable experience try super poligrip free. ♪ depend silhouette briefs feature a comfortable, sleek fit. as a dancer, i've learned you can't have any doubts. because looking good on stage is one thing.

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let's go, gentlemen. >> don't let us catch you up in here. this ain't no regular penitentiary. this is the hole, man. >> there are approximately 2.3 million people doing time behind bars in america today. that's more than china and russia combined. and over the years we filmed in various prisons across the u.s. where we witnessed overcrowding, overelming conditions that really lead to a dangerous environment. >> this is a zoo. they're animals. >> our first ever extended stay series was shot at california's fabled san quentin state prison. designed to house just over 3,000 inmates. it was home to more than 5,000. when we shot there, robert ayers was san quentin's warden. >> we are grossly overcrowded, which is just totally unacceptable for the inmates,

and the staff. >> been here before? >> no. >> all right. come over here and stand on the fence right there. >> the incoming population at san quentin was relentless, with staff releasing 150 inmates each week, but welcoming 350 new ones. >> let's go, gentlemen. let's go, let's go, let's go. clear the door. >> many of them wound up in the gym, which had been converted into a huge overflow housing unit. >> when i first walked in to the dorm at san quentin, i was taken aback by how many people were packed into this small area. it was very loud. ♪ >> attention in the building. james, report to the lieutenant's office upstairs. >> there's always people talking, people yelling. some people in there were trying to read and some people in there were trying to sleep. so you'll have a big group of people having a conversation over here while a guy's trying to sleep over here. most people would tie towels around their head to try to

block out some of this noise. >> officers strive to maintain order in this potentially ngerous housing area through regular inspections for weapons and r contraband. >> go ahead and unlock your locker, man. >> can i movsomething out of mine real quick? >> huh-uh. >> come on, man. >> come on. >> luckily i don't have nothing illegal. as long as you don't know my locker. >> you got the drugs. you got the inmate manufactured alcohol. you got the gangs. you got the weapons. so it's -- it can be real dangerous at times. >> all right, all right, all right. go, go, go. turn around, gentlemen. show time! >> right now i have six staff members. there's 384 inmates in this gym. it's very dangerous. >> gentlemen, on your rack. on your rack. on your rack. >> with so many inmates crowded in the gym, correctional officers are challenged to keep minor confrontations from turning into chaos.

>> what's wrong, dog? >> he talking [ bleep ]. he telling me -- he's telling me how to run my life. he ain't running his own. >> you need me -- >> i'm cool. i'm cool. i'm just telling you he will get [ bleep ] in my book. >> everything down here is observation. just watching, listening. getting the feel for the dorm. if you're always watching, you can tell when something's starting to go bad, hopefully stop it before it gets bad. you know, these inmates have to share everything, share the rest rooms, share the showers, day room areas. so respect is a big thing in here. inmates all respecting each other, everything's fine. but if you come into a disrespect issue, that's where things get sketchy. >> during our stay at san quentin, we witnessed one small but dramatic step the prison was taking to stem the flow of new inmates. coming up -- >> every man inside of this building has a date that they're going to die. >> a group of teenagers learns the cold, hard facts about life in san quentin. >> you want to use this

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