due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. there are 2 million people behind bars in america. we open the gates. "lockup." >> you never know who's out here to get you. >> i'm not supposed to be here. >> everything builds. it's constant pressure. >> there are times where the hair stands up on the back of your neck. >> i do something to you, what's the worst they can do to me? >> i was signing. that's how i communicate with the men. >> it wasn't stealing. it really wasn't stealing. >> i chose to be executed by firing squad. >> you stick with your gangs, who you know and where you're safe.

>> all i'm trying to do is survive. >> over the past 20 years, america's get tough on crime policies have forced an evolution in the way prisons operate. with fewer resources and an ever-growing inmate population, institutions must constantly adapt to deal with the growing threats of violence and gangs before they rage out of control. we're about to take you inside utah state prison, the largest maximum security facility in the state, with nearly 4,000 inmates. more than 400 of whom are women. it is noteworthy because utah is one of only three states that still executes some of its inmates by firing squad. utah also has one of the most violent inmate populations in the country. >> you have to watch your back every day. it's dangerous. you never know when you're going to get stabbed. or someone going to rush you in

your cell, get you then, beat you down. it's hard. yeah. prison is very violent. >> in the shadow of the wasatch mountains, just south of salt lake city, lies utah state prison, or usp. originally built in 1951 this enormous institution has grown to cover over 680 acres. >> i've been at the utah state prison for over 25 years. during that time, we've gone from 1,200 inmates to almost 4,000 here. >> warden clint friel is tasked with the responsibility of running seven different facilities that house every variety of inmates. from gang units, to female offenders to death row, usp holds it all. the facilities at usp have earned their monikers from the

surrounding mountain ranges with names like wasatch, oqirrh, timpanogos and uinta. building uinta-5 houses the receiving and orientation, or r&o. >> uinta-5 is probably a time when they are most afraid. it's when they first hear the slamming of the doors, see the officers. and it can be a very difficult time for the inmates. >> after 20 years in the corrections business, lieutenant dale whitney knows that the first few moments with an inmate can be the most dangerous. >> we don't know when these guys came in, what their crimes are, if they're coming down off some kind of drugs. we don't know what their mental state is. >> anything you are allowed to have, you'll get back. it will be letters, photos, legal papers. basically, that's it. >> our intake officer will take them, one at a time, into a

strip room and strip them down, do a visual cavity search. >> searching there, too? >> yep. >> they try to do it with a level of dignity and respect so as not to make the person uncomfortable. >> bend over. spread your butt cheeks. okay. thank you. what size of underwear? >> after receiving their prison-issued jumpsuits, shoes, socks, and toilet kit, each inmate's property is inventoried. >> i honestly don't think think my life is that messed up. i lived a basic, normal life of an everyday, normal human being. i had a problem with drugs. >> galin sisneros is at usp for possession of a controlled substance. >> i don't want to come in here with no chip on my shoulder. thinking i'm going to take on everybody, because i know that's not going to happen. i just really want to keep my head down, stay out of trouble, and try to get through this as fast as possible, you know. >> each inmate is photographed, with special attention paid to their tattoos. >> one of the reasons is to document what kinds of

activities they may be involved in while they're inside the institution. for instance, if they belong to some sort of white supremacist gang, hispanic gang, asian gang. >> been diagnosed with an std? >> no. >> ever had sex with an iv drug user? >> no. >> each inmate is given a thorough medical screening to determine their medical history and prevent the spread of disease. the inmates will spend most of their first day in this holding cell, named the library after its former purpose. it's here the inmates will have their first prison meal. >> a lot better than where i just came from, that's for sure. >> i thought it would be a lot better. after the population started getting worse and worse, the food started getting worse. >> randy russell is no stranger to usp. he first came in at the age of 15 and did 17 years on a robbery charge. >> randy, it's not good to see you. okay? >> now, randy is back on a

parole violation, leaving behind a wife and four children. >> one time i thought i was going to come back, i asked my wife, i said, should i run? she goes, well i'm not going to make that call. but she goes, but you can't take me with you. if i'm not with my wife and kids, freedom is not freedom anyway. >> grab that and come with me. >> andrew dykman is in for statutory rape. unlike randy, coming to prison for andrew is a new and frightening experience. >> i'm pretty nervous. and i'm scared. i wasn't expecting to be here. it's a scary place. i heard stories about what goes on at night here. i heard stories about people getting killed. you name it. >> dykman. >> in order to properly classify the inmates, they will spend several weeks on the cell block as their behavior is observed. because they must be considered a security threat until

classified otherwise. these new arrivals will remain locked down 23 hours a day. >> i'm not supposed to be here. >> this is the hardest part because you're in here with very little to do. you sleep, you eat. and you sleep some more. and you eat some more. basically, what we got here, to kill time with playing 10,000. what did you make them out of? >> basically toilet paper. just rolled them up. after that, i draw on them. >> then we make dominos. we have our dominos made out of soap. >> it's lucky because both of us want to exercise. sometimes you get with a celly that doesn't want to exercise. it's nice to have somebody that does then you can use their body weight. >> you want to not look over your back as much. if you stay physically fit, they'll leave their hands off of you. you don't want to end up somebody's girl or something like that in here.

>> it will be a long time before most of these inmates will be released. for now, home is an 8x12 cell with little to do but contemplate their crime. we'll check back with these inmates to see how the first week inside usp has affected them. >> you know, it's cold and it's depressing. you know, this is the worst but you have to do it. you've got to do your time and be strong about it. there's nothing you can do but face your fears. up next -- >> what else do you do with an inmate that constantly stabs his roommate? >> inside the world of a monster. ♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first on the side. from honey nut cheerios

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you can go insane over here. and you see a lot of people like that. after they've been over here a long time, they just withdraw into themselves and they start hating everybody. >> separated from the rest of general population is usp's uinta-1 facility. >> our uinta-1 is a super maximum security. basically, this is a jail inside the prison. >> lieutenant jeff myers has served at usp for over 25 years, including six at uinta -- 1 >> we have inmates that have shown very negative behavior in other housing units. they have assaulted their roommate, they have assaulted staff. they have tried to escape. so this is it. this is the end of the rope. >> in this unit, inmates are single celled to reduce chance of assaults. there are also units called intensive management, where

extreme measures are required when dealing with inmates. these men are only allowed one 20-minute shower every other day and one hour of exercise a week, alone, in a small, concrete yard. sandbags are used to prevent inmates from flooding the cells with the water from their sinks or toilets. shields are required to protect officers while serving meals. signs designate certain inmates as spitters or slimers, those who throw urine or feces at officers. >> we had an incident not too long ago, where the inmate reached out through the cuff port and stabbed one of our staff, one of our officers. so now whenever the cuff port comes down, the staff will always put the shield in front of the cuff port to make sure no foreign objects comes out of the cell to hurt our staff. >> should an assault occur, officers are armed with an arsenal of pepper spray, a pepper ball gun, and, if necessary, lethal power.

>> these officers come here every day. and they put their life on the line, or they put up with not only verbal abuse, but physical abuse and mental abuse. >> in the name of jesus, you need to come and check it out. >> with all of the different personalities and crimes, couple that with having nothing to do, it is a pressure cooker. >> paul payne is serving up to 15 years on 11 different counts, including aggravated assault, kidnapping, and escape. he was transferred to uinta-1 for being involved in a murder at another utah prison. >> everything builds because of this constant pressure. and then, eventually everybody pops off. and it's just, you know, it's like popcorn. it doesn't go off at the same time. it's one here, one there. >> harassment, torture. >> being here for 15 years seems like a waste. you know, i could have went to college. you know, that was my plans. and i mean, it was just -- everything got thrown off track. >> what else do you do with an inmate that constantly stabs his roommate?

paul payne has a track record. not just violence. chronic, terrible violence. >> thomas headley is in unita-1 for his own protection. >> because i was a member of the mormon church and a sex offender. this individual decided he was going to beat the living crap out of me and in the process of it, decided he was going to kill me. >> he is serving 15 years. >> they have been holding me in the section that they're in right now, because i absolutely refuse to be housed among people that are going to cause me harm. >> about a quarter of usp's 4,000 inmates are sex offenders. most, like thomas, have been targeted for their crimes. >> we're constantly finding them assaulted. we're constantly finding them extorted. >> i've got a safety list that's got at least 20 names on it with people that told me in no uncertain terms, you're a dead man if we ever get our hands on you. i admitted to have improper

sexual relationship with this girl. she was 14. i am a man that is attracted to young women, god forbid. i have 16 months left to go. and all i'm trying to do is survive. >> steven johnson was convicted of killing a rival in a gang fight. >> i'm currently incarcerated for first degree murder. i struggle every day. it's a battle that must be won. and i'm going to win it. >> steven isn't up for parole until 2021. with an ailing mother, steven's crime could be more costly than he ever could have predicted. >> there's mom. i got mom right here. and mom -- keep her close to my heart. she's with me every day. i hurt every day to think about the past that i led. and to sit here and think every day of my life.

and every day to wake up and look at concrete walls and steel bed and knowing that you don't have no loved ones there that you can embrace is probably the hardest thing that an individual can go through. coming up, life inside utah state's general population and the code its convicts live by. >> they got their rules. we got ours, you know? y dollar car insurance companies say they'll save you by switching, you'd have, like, a ton of dollars. but how are they saving you those dollars? a lot of companies might answer "um" or "no comment." then there's esurance. born online, raised by technology, and majors in efficiency. so whatever they save, you save. hassle, time, paperwork, hair-tearing-out, and, yes, especially dollars. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call.

once you get behind this fence, the whole world stops. it can get pretty nasty. this is life. >> a prison is a society within a society. the inmates are going to have their own language. they're going to have their own body language. they're going to have their own set of rules.

>> at utah state prison, the bulk of general population is housed in what is called the wasatch facility. with its four tiers and old-fashioned, crank sliding doors, this unit is a flashback to the past. >> i like the old school. you've got the noises that you're used to. >> sergeant dan herring is in charge of a-block east. >> it was the first block built and used. used to be the old max. now, it houses medium security. >> this one is better because it's single cell. and there's a more relaxed atmosphere. >> jessie walker is serving up to five years for aggravated sexual assault. he's known as jazz by his fellow tier mates. >> my first couple of months, i didn't think i could make it this long. i never seen myself be here for a year. i thought i was going to crumble up and die, you know.

>> on a-east, there are only two officers to manage 95 inmates. >> it's almost like a college of psychology. deviant and otherwise. you learn a lot about people, their movement, their eyes. things that tell on them. i would be a liar if i didn't say that there are times where the hair stands up on the back of your neck. but that just goes with the job. >> with the numbers heavily in their favor, many inmates see themselves in the position of power. >> they're only in there to make sure nothing major goes on. other than that, inmates run everything else. >> yeah, they protect the block. but they're not going anywhere. >> 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 make your time easy. >> the criminal code is simply that they do not want us to know

what is going on. >> you don't rat on people. >> and if you snitch, there's going to be severe consequences. >> usp has separated inmates based on behavior. most of the inmates on a-east are classified as kappas. >> the kappa inmates are those inmates who exhibit aggressive type of behavior, and are most likely the inmates who are going to prey on the weaker inmates. >> i got aggravated assault. so any time you come in here on violence, you're automatically a kappa. because if you can do it out there, you can do it in here. is what they think. if you're a kappa, you'll get along with these people. you know street rules. if you're weak, you ain't going to have no fun. >> if they don't like someone, they won't let somebody in their section. >> they'll get moved. >> they'll get moved. they will straight out be told, get yourself out to the pod and get moved. >> you're not welcome on the block. >> there is a pecking order that they go by. as far as them moving over inmates off the block, it happens. >> this is life. this is the consequences for being --

>> if you look up, the fourth deck is pretty high, you know. you see people taking an elevator ride. the problem is, there ain't no elevator. the fall doesn't hurt them. it's the sudden stop at the end. >> the inmates have created their own hierarchy in this unit based on their own form of respect. the old-timers live on the top tier. >> a lot of them respect me. not because they're scared of me but because i've spent a lot of time in here. >> tony duran is one of the influential inmates on a-east. he's been in and out of prison for 20 years for robbery, and burglary. >> murderer, robbers, they're up here. child molesters, rapos, they're down here. it's a food chain, you know? everything is about respect in this place. how you carry yourself determines how you live. this joint here ain't like the rest of them. when i first got here in '84, convicts used to run this joint. the man runs this joint now.

what i mean by the man is the system. >> we run the prison. we have the towers. we have the fences. and we keep control of the inmates. >> to crack down on contraband and violence, usp instituted a policy of controlled movement. no two cell blocks are ever in the same common areas at the same time. >> things are changing over there. this place now, it's that new mentality with get tough on crime. it's kind of working, man, because, you know, they don't mess around no more, man. they want to build more prisons. they want to keep us down. and they're doing it. >> the system of controlled movement has significantly reduced the level of violence at usp. >> it's not like, you know, people getting stabbed and murdered all the time. fights and things do happen in here. you know what i mean? but it's not like every day. >> the guy up here is preying on the one at the bolt up. it happens everywhere. but it's a little more controlled now. >> we take care of our own.

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utah state prison is an institution in flux constantly adjusting to the changes in the state's evolving criminal landscape, especially the trend of younger and more violent inmates coming into the system. many of these men also come to the prison affiliated with a gang. inside utah state prison, there are more than 150 recognized gangs. prison officials say the white supremacists pose one of the greatest threats. >> my whole family's in here. i was raised that way. my dad, my uncles, all my cousins. i been getting tattoos since i was 13 years old. once you start getting tattoos, it's addicting. the ink is addicting. the pain, to an extent, to me, is addicting. >> curtis allgier is serving 1

to 15 years for burglary, forgery and escape. >> a lot of people see the swastika and say that's hate. to me, that's not what i wear it for. i wear it as a symbolism of pride of who i am and a symbolism of good luck. and i have a lot of them. >> curtis is locked down with gang leaders in uinta-2 because he's considered a threat to inmates in general population. >> in uinta-2, that is where we'll house our maximum security gang members. this is generally the leadership, those that are trying to run the gang. >> they are the more active gang members. that's the reason we have them here because they are so active. and they're the ones who like to start trouble. >> while proud to be a skinhead, curtis doesn't want to be considered a gang member anymore. >> i'm no part of them. i've never been a part of them, nor will i ever be a part of them. those dudes, in my mind, are weak and lame. they're not white supremacists, because of these groups that commit crimes and do all the

crap that they do, people are going to look at us bad. >> at utah state prison, staff estimates that almost 1,000 inmates, roughly one-quarter of the prison population, are active gang members. >> we are around our rivals all day. anything can happen to me. >> stick with your gang. stick with who you know and where you're safe. >> it's not a gang, it's not an organization. being a skinhead is a way of life. >> it's not illegal to belong to a gang. however, when those gangs start becoming involved in criminal activity, then we will separate those gangs. and we will classify them as a security threat group. >> usp security threat group, or stg, was formed in 2001 after five inmates were stabbed in a massive gang attack. >> it was almost to the point where, if an inmate came in, he almost had to join a gang just

for protection. it was at that time that we realized that we need to do something to try to curb gang activity within our prison system before it led to a violent nature. >> captain darren smith is the head of the stg unit which has documented more than 150 different gangs inside the prison. >> we have our hispanic gangs, which basically fall under southern cal or southern hispanic or northern cal, northern hispanic. we have crips, and we have bloods, and then we have our white supremacists. >> the most active gang members at usp are segregated into one section of the prison, away from the general population. >> it's pretty amazing. you got a bunch of different people associated with gangs for one reason or another. and you stick them all together, some people do get along, some people don't. >> it has its ups and downs. rival gangs bring problems from the streets in here. that brings problems for everybody in here. you know. >> part of getting along you have to learn how to be a human

being and put your hate behind you. >> so there's always this kind of uneasy truce. but for the most part, if they have respect for each other and each other's space, then there's usually not a problem. >> while segregated from the rest of the general population, within this unit the inmates are integrated. meaning a member of a latin gang could be housed with a white supremacist. >> we try to create a balance throughout the building, you know? so they kind of have to live around each other, but there's not a big congregation of one gang versus another. they'll hang with their certain group. they are in such a confined spaces they're still basically forced to interact. they will do calisthenics. they'll lift water bags, play hand ball, play cards. >> it just brings more tension. they're trying at first to get along. but not everybody thinks that way. there's other gangs that just don't -- just don't want to get along. >> felix solis is a member of

occ, ogden's craziest chicanos, a local utah gang. he's serving 11 months for possession of a controlled substance. >> i've never seen so much gang all in one place before. if you're gang-banging, and you're down for your set, you're down for it, no matter what it takes. >> you can tell any time something's going on. any time there's any type of issue or anything like that, the section will split apart. >> certain words will be said. there's some obvious words, punk, bitch, stuff like that. >> going up to somebody saying "f" your hood or something like that. >> even if it doesn't involve you, even if it's two different rival gangs, you'll go and gravitate towards your own gang because you never know what's going to happen. >> within our last three or four assaults, what happened it started out with two inmates. but then inmates from those same games jumped in. we've had seven, eight, nine inmates fighting at once. >> to combat gang violence, officers are on constant alert for weapons. cells are checked twice daily.

and all inmates are strip-searched when returning from the yard. >> these are actually pieces of our building, aluminum louvers that were in our ventilation system. and so the inmates found out they can get them out pretty easy and sharpen them up. basically, they'll put toothpaste on the cement and just work it across like you would with a knife on a stone or anything like that. >> we're like animals in here, every day. if i do something to you, what's the worst they can do to me? give me some more time? i'm a lifer. >> in the same uinta complex, the state of utah houses the inmates whom its courts have condemned to die. >> we don't have a lot of violence in there. we don't have a lot of negative events. you can either do good time or you can do hard time. our inmates on death row, they have elected to do good time. >> there are fewer than a dozen men on utah's death row on various levels of appeal. ralph menzies has been there for 17 years.

>> ralph's crime was a brutal one. he kidnapped a female from a convenience store. took her up one of the canyons. tied her to a tree and cut her throat and then left her there. it was so brutal, that's why he is on death row. >> my window is always covered. if i can't go out there and walk on the grass, i don't want to see the grass. because it does bring back a lot of memories. and it does tell me what i can't have and can't do. so, i just fit into my little world and i'm all right. >> ralph has always maintained his innocence. that's ralph's fight. that's not the state of utah's fight. our staff here manage him day to day because he is a death row inmate. and he will get what's coming to a death row inmate, and nothing more. >> from death row, the condemned will be transferred in a state van to the back of the uinta-3 building. >> i personally wish they would

either overturn my case, my conviction, or execute me and get it over with. now, you don't know if it's going to be five years down the road, if it's going to be two years, ten years, what they're going to decide. and that's really hard. >> if ralph menzies is to be executed, he will be moved from a holding cell at 30 minutes to midnight, then be escorted by a team of five officers down this hallway, arriving at a room whose purpose cannot be mistaken. some inmates die by lethal injection. utah still uses a firing squad for inmates who have chosen that option. one such execution made headlines when convicted murderer gary gilmore was put to death in 1977. >> he'll be strapped to the chair. at that point, a medical personnel will place an "x" over the inmate's chest. a hood will be placed on him. the chair does not have a back

for obvious reasons. it is bolted so that it does not tip over. >> a two-inch thick kevlar panel is bolted to the wall to absorb the rounds. five law enforcement officers from around the area in which the crime was committed are assigned to fire simultaneously. one of the rifles is loaded with dummy rounds, leaving each potential executioner with a hint of doubt as to his ultimate responsibility in the process. >> once he's given his last words, and then he's been given the okay to proceed with the execution, a cadence will be given and shots will be fired. >> i chose to be executed by firing squad because the only other option here is lethal injection. that's what they do to dogs. and i don't want them -- i'd rather sit up and take it and have them look at who they're killing. if they was going to execute me tomorrow, i would be nervous. but on the other side, i would be relieved it's all over with.

it's not really living. we're just existing day to day. a lot of people call their cells their homes or their houses. it ain't my home, ain't my house. it's like a dog cage. that's all it is. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy.

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utah state prison is one of the only penal institutions in the country that houses both male and female offenders. usp's 430 women are housed here, at the timpanogos facility. >> they come from every social, economic class that there is. they come in and say, i didn't think that this would ever happen to me. and here i am. >> the timpanogos facility is split into four buildings or stars. lieutenant whitney supervises star-4, a home of the excel program, a therapeutic community for substance abusers. >> i'm in here for zero to five. >> possession with intent to distribute. >> possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. >> two counts of distribution methamphetamine and illegal sale of a gun. >> while only 50% of usp female inmates are here specifically on drug charges, a large majority of these offenders are doing time for crimes committed in order to support a drug habit. >> it numbs you up and you don't

feel. you become somebody you would never expect to be. >> cheryl megarry is serving five years for forging a credit card application, a crime she perpetrated in order to buy drugs. >> this unit is very good because the women all support each other. it's like a sisterhood. >> in the community they have mentors, they have support for each other. >> positive nine plus negative six. >> exactly. >> we have set it up so that everybody gets positive reinforcements all the time. >> we realize the consequences what we have done, because of the wrong choices we have made and how we harmed our loved ones. we can't change the past but we can change the future. >> i'm just a totally different person. you wouldn't have liked me seven years ago. >> cindy johnson has been clean for some time. a graduate of the excel program, cindy discovered her drug problem only after it was too late.

>> i'm here on a first degree murder charge. i have been here seven years. i was a housewife. i have four children out there. i got into the pain pills. i got involved with an older man that was giving me his pills for sexual favors. and it just got really deep. i broke it off with him. and it got bad. we got into a big fight. i went over there with a bat and hit him in the head with it. that's my little boy, skylin, with his sister, kristin. when i came to prison, my baby boy was only a year and a half old. it was devastating because i didn't -- it wasn't planned. i didn't realize what i was doing. >> although cindy won't see the parole board for another seven years, she has made things right with her children. >> my girls are older now. they can drive up and see me. my youngest son, now 9 years old. i just talked to him yesterday on the phone. he's just doing really good.

i have a good relationship. even though it's over the phone, just because i'm sober. >> like cindy, many of usp's female inmates struggle with cycles of abuse that stem from destructive relationships with men. due to overcrowding issues, usp is forced to house men in the timpanogos star-1 unit, side by side with women's housing. >> it would definitely make it easier if there wasn't men. it would help the women focus more on what they need to focus on. >> the prison goes to great lengths to reduce contact between the men and women, ensuring that they are never in any adjacent yard areas at the same time. and covering windows to prevent them from seeing into each other's housing units. nevertheless, the two genders have devised other ways of keeping in touch. >> what i was just doing was signing. and that's how we communicate with the men. >> monica waterfall is serving up to 15 years for possession, and has become fluent in

signing, an active communication that's expressly forbidden. >> oh, hugging. this is hugging. or kisses like this. >> communications is a big thing in prison. so, if they're signing to those guys, whether it's, i love you, or he did this to me, take care of him. i'm not going to decipher whether it's positive communication or negative communication. it just can't be. >> kay law is serving five to life for running a meth lab with her husband, scott. kay is housed in timpanogos star-2. scott lives next door with the star-137 >> i never actually contributed as far as in the making of it, but, yeah, i was using. i love him. there was nothing i would have ever done to hurt him in any way. so, yeah, i mean, if he was going to go down, i was going down with him. >> she could have decided, well, this guy is a no-good guy, and left me.

it means a lot to me that she still cares. you know, she's still there. >> although they live just 100 feet apart, kay and scott are not allowed to visit each other. the few moments a week she passes by in sight of the men's yard is the extent of their contact. >> there's times i wish i could just sit down and talk to him or give him a hug or whatever. but i feel lucky, i do. i'm lucky that i just get to see him and have him right there. >> just a little glimpse makes my day. you know, it's right there on my wrist, my watch. when it comes that time, i'm there. >> with their parole hearings coming up, both scott and kay hope to be out of prison within a year and are looking forward to a fresh start. >> i feel like i owe her. i owe her a lot. and i want to make up a lot of what we missed. >> i can't change what happened, but i can tell you i learned a good lesson from it. and in a sense, i can say maybe it was a blessing that we came here.

i think that it's made our love stronger. >> we can build from this, you know, this is our foundation now. we've experienced the low of our lives. and it's just going to get better. coming up, while getting used to life at usp is difficult for some -- >> you never know who is out here to get you. >> for others, getting out is the greatest challenge of all. >> i hope this is different. >> there's your daddy. >> i'm scared though. ♪ more and more folks are trying out snapshot from progressive. a totally different way to save on car insurance. the better you drive, the more you can save. no wonder snapshot's catching on. plug into the savings you deserve with snapshot from progressive.

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for a lot of people, doing time is never easy. and i think most of their struggles with it are within themselves. so they can't see any light at the end of the tunnel. >> it's been one week since these two men, galen and andrew, entered usp. they've been transferred to uinta-3 which contains overflow housing for new arrivals. >> i'm thinking more of changing my life now. because i'm getting a little too old for this, you know. prison. i mean, i got to grow up sometime. i don't know when it's going to be. >> you kind of keep to yourself, because you never know who's out here to get you. my cellmate is in here for murder. so, it's real, you know. it's kind of scary. hard to go to sleep knowing you're surrounded by all these

people. >> randy russell has been struggling with drug addiction. unable to take methadone prescription, he is suffering from withdrawal. >> your body starts twitching, it is mad. it twitches, keeps fighting. won't let you get in any kind of comfortable position. suicide crossed my mind a few times. >> i could tell that he was struggling and having difficulty deeing with the idle time in here. so i gave him this book by viktor frankel. >> it makes a lot of sense, talks about if you gain a little hope, if you have something out on the streets, like a wife and kids, then you have something to hold onto. >> tuesdays are release days at usp. jed strong has just finished serving an 11-month sentence for possession of heroin and methamphetamine. >> i'm a little nervous to get back out on the streets, but i'm looking forward to it. i met a lot of people that, you know, have a lot of knowledge. they gave me advice i got to take with me.

>> without any family members to pick him up, jed will be transferred by parole officers to the parole office. meanwhile frank trusty something released after serving 14 months for forgery, possession and distribution of a controlled substance. >> there's your daddy. >> frank is seeing his daughter for the first time in 14 months. >> i love you, baby. >> i love you. >> this little girl has been waiting. talking to him every weekend on the phone. >> this baby girl doesn't do it. and if this grandma doesn't keep him on the straight and narrow, he's going to get the tar beat out of him. >> my daddy. >> are you happy to have daddy home? >> uh-huh. >> upon release, all offenders are required to check in at adult probation and parole reporting center. >> what's your name? >> strong, jedd strong. >> jedd will enter a halfway house, where he will have to look for a job and undergo

substance abuse therapy. >> and i want you to check in every tuesday until you get an agent. >> many inmates who don't have anywhere to go, end up here, the salt lake transitional housing center. these parolees have just been released today. >> one of the first goals is to find a job, with the idea of being able to afford to find a place to live and get on out of here. >> i'm going to look for anything and any place that will hire me. it's hard for a felon to get a job. >> residents are required to check in and out with an officer. paychecks must be turned in each week for room and board, restitution fees and child support. >> compared to prison, obviously the restrictions are much less than what they've been used to. >> it's nice to walk around in the city, you know. to meet real people other than other male inmates. my freedom is everything to me. you know, you don't have freedom when you're in the penitentiary.

>> with a family to provide support, frank trusty is one of the lucky ones. frank arrives after a haircut and change of clothes to change his offender status from prisoner to parolee. >> regardless of how well or bad your life is going, you have to report as required. we are going to come to your home. >> okay. >> and if we believe there's a reason to look around, we're going to ask to look around. you can't have weapons. possession of a firearm is a federal offense. because you're a convicted felon. you should always come to the office, ready to give a urine. >> okay. >> frank will face random drug testing as part of his parole. any positive urine test, frank could be sent right back to usp. >> i smoked marijuana. my distribution was for mushrooms. every time i get out, i end up getting high again. i hope this is different. i'm scared, though. >> frank's 30 years old. that's where offenders are usually on the cuffs. where they'll start aging out, they'll slow down and will start making responsible decisions. you'll hear a lot, i'm too old for this.

i'm too tired for this. >> so if you're not hanging out with the bad guys, if you're not using drugs, if you're employed -- >> it shouldn't be a problem. >> exactly. you're going to move on and this will be the first day of the rest of your life. >> that's how i'm trying to look at it. >> statistics show that if an offender is able to stay in the community for six months, they have a 30% chance of completing parole. that percentage rises to 50% if they are able to stay out a year without re-offending. >> ready to go, baby? >> daddy! >> i don't know if there is anything i could do to make up for it. hopefully i can be a good dad and be an active member of society and not take from people. try to give back some of what i took. hopefully that will be enough.

>> prison officials say nearly half of those paroled return to prison within the first year. that's our report. thanks for watching. i'm john seigenthaler there are 2 million people behind bars in america. for the next hour, we open the gates. lockup. >> my particular interest is mostly in latchkey kids. >> i would identify my victims by finding women alone in their home. >> so, i just told myself, i'm going to kill her. >> what do we do with society's monsters? the people who for now are too violent, too sick to live on the outside?

>> it is male and female voices and knowing what i know, it bothered me. >> we will take you on an extraordinary trip inside of the california hospital for the criminally insane. >> we treat people. we do not cure anybody. >> how do they keep more than 1,000 patients under control? should we lock them up and throw away the key, or is there a better way? >> i don't think that we should stop trying. this is somebody's son that we have here. it is a dilemma that judges are facing all across the country, what to do with people who have served their time, but clearly remain a danger to themselves and others. in california the answer is often a state hospital. it is a sometimes temporary and often permanent home to more than 1,000 violent murderers, rapist, and men who have agreed to psychiatric treatment.

they have agreed to let cameras in to observe what it is like to live and work in one could easily be one of the most dangerous places in the country. only miles off of the central coast of california and quietly nestled among wineries and rolling hills is atascadero state hospital. beyond this unrestricted entrance lives some of the most violent and dangerous criminals. they are considered the worst of the worst. too dangerous to be allowed back into society. over the next hour, you will be able to decide as we take you inside for an extraordinary look at atascadero, california's hospital for the criminally insane. >> i don't remember standing in a line anywhere saying i want to be a child molester.

>> harry chase is a child molester and his chilling admission can frighten any child and any parent. >> i just told myself, i'm going to kill her. >> richard guest murdered his stepmother. >> now that my dad is dead, i am going to kill her. and that is what i did. i went over to her house, and i shot her. >> even though some patients may never leave atascadero, patrick who admits to raping ten women was released in may 2004. >> i would identify my victims by finding women alone in their home when they were sleeping, most vulnerable. >> officials here have asked us not to show you all of the outside of the hospital, because they take great efforts to keep the patients from escaping, but however, regardless of where you look, security is evident. protecting the public and the nearby towns are a priority here. so is keeping the majority of

the 1,000 patients on medication. this hospital functions as a completely self-contained city. it has its own fire department, police department and perhaps most importantly, it has its own pharmacy. >> do me a favor, sir, take everything out of your pocket and place it here. >> almost 90% of the patients are on some form of medication, mostly antipsychotic. >> spread your feet, please. >> without medication, it is said that this hospital would be one of the most dangerous places on earth. >> a ha! a comb. a comb keeper. >> the patients are not shackled nor restrained nor confined to cells. for the most part they walk freely among the staff and the general population. even the police in the hospital carry no weapons.

if there is a problem with the patients, it is considered a medical emergency, not a police emergency. unlike a prison where guards can and do use force, here at atascadero, prescription drugs keep the peace. it is monday morning and the new set of parents arrive at the hospital. because weapons are not allowed inside, the transporting officers are told to remove their guns and secure them in a lock box outside. the prisoner is then led from the van and escorted inside of the hospital to admissions. from this point on, he is no longer a prisoner. he's a patient. this patient is awaiting sentencing on crimes that would place him in the hospital as a sexually violent predator.

we will conceal his identity, because at this point, he has not completed the criminal process. >> we need to look at your scalp. >> upon entrance all new patients are examined for contraband and signs of contagious diseases. and the patient then showers. >> does that itching get worse after you take a hot shower. >> the patient is given new clothes. he is put through a battery of tests to find out what kind of medication he is on and what should be prescribed. >> if you want to come in and have a seat. have you ever had a seizure. >> no. >> have you ever tried to commit suicide? >> no. >> okay. are you mad at anyone? do you want to punch anybody out? do you want to like go after them, assault them? >> does that include the judge? no, no, i am just kidding. >> okay. you are a patient now. you are no longer a prisoner, okay.

>> the new patient is escorted to the photo lab for the for mall identification and here the paperwork is completed. >> we also need to do a change of location form on your registration which entails having you read what your current requirements are as a sex offender. he is photographed for a picture i.d. >> put your back against the gray panel over there. >> and then he is fingerprinted. a psychiatric technician or a sponsor, as they are also called, takes over from here. >> i am assigned to unit six, and what we will do is to take you down to x-ray. everybody is x-rayed in the facility and from there up to unit six. >> on his way to x-ray, the patient gets his first look at the new surroundings. inside the hospital looks more like an airline terminal, brightly lit and impersonal.

two huge corridors each a quarter of a mile long connect the various wards of the hospital. electric vehicles used for maintenance share the halls with the patients and the staff. at any given time, patients line the corridors for meals to go into the courtyards or to go to various groups and activities. lock boxes for police and staff line the hallways. inside are restraints and protective clothing. red lights also line the corridors. when activated, they flash to indicate the location of an incident. >> so, we will have you take a deep breath and hold your breath. >> even though most of the patients have been in and out of prisons, the hospital can be an overwhelming experience. it will take nearly a month to process a new patient. carla says that the sexually

violent predator should not be housed with other patients at atascadero. >> sexually violent predators are not patients, but they are a legislated disorder and a political commitment. they should not be referred to as patients, because patients can be treated. >> in 1995, after a bitter battle that was settled in the supreme court, the sexually violent predator law was passed. the law gives the judges the discretion to send the most irreprehensible prisoners to atascadero, and in a sense they are sent here not for the crimes they have committed, but to prevent them from committing any future crimes. atascadero is nothing short of locking them up and throwing away the key. the cost of keeping them on indefinite parole is almost

$50,000 per man per year is nearly five times the cost of keeping them locked up in any other california prison. proponents of the law say it is money well spent. over the next hour, you will be able to decide as we take you inside atascadero, california's hospital for criminally insane. hey guys, breakfast! ♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first on the side. from honey nut cheerios to cinnamon toast crunch to lucky charms, get more whole grain than any other ingredient... without question. just look for the white check.

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mid-way between los angeles and san francisco is atascadero state hospital. atascadero has opened up the doors and allowed tv cameras to bring you this rare glimpse of the state-of-the-art hospital for the criminally insane. about 400 of the patients here are called mentally disordered

offenders or mdos. they make up the largest population of patients at atascadero, and they have a long history of mental illness and violent criminal behavior. >> i hurt my girlfriend. i hurt my mother. she claims that i knocked her eye out. >> these patients are here on parole. they have already served out their prison sentence, but they are here, because think are considered too dangerous to be released back into society. >> it is male and female voices that know what i know and they bother me and needle me and push me and sometimes i can handle it, and sometimes i can't. >> doctors and therapists know that for many of the patients there is no cure for the illness. for these patients, their only chance at a so-called normal life here at atascadero or on the outside is staying on medication. >> i have been on every medication that they have and

hear voices since 1978. you will stop them for a while, but they will just come back. they always do. >> i enjoy working with these guys, because i believe that people are capable of change. >> chris walter, a registered nurse, and his brother james, a psychiatric technician work with the mentally disordered offenders. >> one of the main reasons that these guys are in here is that the mental illness played a major part in the crime that they were originally convicted on and a huge part of that is violence. the crime was considered violent or had an element of violence within it. >> in my mind i had already wished her dead so many times. you know, and the only thing that held me back was my dad, i knew that how disappointed my dad would be. >> richard guest was convicted of killing his stepmother when he was 16 years old. he was tried as a juvenile and served seven years in the california youth authority.

>> my dad used to do everything she wanted. you know, it was like she was manipulating him. and whenever he was not, there i would get abused by her, and so i told myself, i am going the kill her. you know, and i don't care what happens to me. now that my dad is dead, i am going to kill her. and that is what i did. and i went over to her house, and i shot her. >> since his release 11 years ago, richard has been in and out of california prisons. he has been sentenced for numerous crimes, including drug abuse, robbery, prison escape and attacking other inmates convicted of child abuse. he was sent here to atascadero a year ago after robbing a fast food restaurant. >> well, the question is, what kind of a job does this ad describe? tommy? >> manager job. >> i try not to think of it a as prison. i am trying to think of it as more of a school.

>> jamal? >> like a college or a school or something. that is the kind of way i try to picture it in my mind. i don't want to think of it as i am locked up here and doing time here, you know. because then, it is -- that's just the same way i was thinking before. if my thinking doesn't change, then i'm going to -- my behavior is not going the change either. >> it is our job to help assist them to make positive changes in their life, teach them about their illness -- >> give them the tools. >> yeah, give them the tools and the education they need to go back out into the community and not wind up back in corrections or warehoused in mental hospitals. >> for 11 years psychiatrist c.j. boyd has worked with the mentally offenders here at atascadero. >> we can get you out to

straight parole, because you have done really, really well or you don't done well and we can extend you involuntarily at the end of the parole. >> what do employers look for? tommy? >> the knowledge and the skill involved or the task involved. >> it is rare for this group of patients to stay at atascadero for more than 14 months. >> okay. any other criteria that the employer is going to look for? >> even though most of them have a long history of violent crime, about half of the so-called mentally disordered offenders will be released. >> to make this law work, the patients have to get good treatment here and get the kind of treatment they would get if they were not here and where the medications really well is a skill and art. >> without medication, most of the patients here would not be able to function much less control the violent behavior. atascadero's pharmacy is perhaps

the single most important place in the entire hospital. 27 pharmacists and technicians dispense over 12,000 pills a day to the patients in the hospital. that is nearly 12 pills for every patient here everyday. >> currently the hospital has approximately 1,000 patients in the hospital. of those, approximately 700 patients are currently being administered antipsychotic medications. the way that the process works is that the physician will be out on the unit, see a patient, write an order. that order is inputted into the computer by a pharmacy technician. it is then reviewed by a pharmacist for any types of drug-drug interaction, drug-food interactions, allergies. once they feel that the order is appropriate, it is validated. we do approximately 270 new orders on a daily basis through

that. once the orders are validated, they become part of the patient profile and then it is downloaded to the machine and then the machine dispenses the medication. >> each one of these machines costs approximately $180,000 and holds 248 different kinds of medication. they are called automated medication dispensing systems, and what they do is to spit out a prescribed dose of medication into the individual packets for medications. without them, the job of dispensing medication at atascadero would be virtually impossible. as it is, each time a canister becomes empty, a technician will refill it, but a pharmacist has to inspect the technician's work, verifying the lot number, the expiration date and checking that the right medication is put into the right canister.

the pharmacists are always aware that a overdose or mixing the wrong combination of medications could be deadly. >> the next step in the process is that we fill the medications in what we call a tote bag. those tote bags are locked with the numbered lock and the unit's nursing staff, licensed nursing staff will come down and sign for that tote bag. lit go back to their unit, to their medication room. it will be administered from that point. >> when we come back, keeping the peace. how do they do it here without armed guards? daddy, come in the water!

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four violent incidents everyday. >> well, i know that people got to learn to live together and love. that is because someone else told us all about love. >> for 11 years dr. colleen love has headed the clinical safety program at atascadero and her job is to research violence in an effort to reduce it at the hospital. >> i love the whole wide world and then the whole wide world will love me. >> we are working with the big leagues of mental illness here. this is a very challenging population, so we have 1,000 patients who 99% of them have violent histories living together in close quarters in a public sector institution. and even people without mental illness would have a hard time tolerating some of the frustrations of a total institution like ours. >> the red light is emissions ready room two. red light. >> when an alarm goes off, 12 to

15 staff members and police officers assigned to that particular zone respond. the job of the police is to assist staff members in restraining the patient and aiding in crowd control, ensuring that no further violence erupts. once the patient is restrained, he is taken back to his unit where his psychiatric technician and the unit psychiatrist try to get him to talk about the incident. >> we have to see what is happening with you right now. you have to let us know what is going on. >> the patients are really unpredictable, some, so you have to develop that rapport within 10 to 15 seconds and try to calm the situation before it is out of hand here. >> ah, it works. >> the police department in atascadero employs about 100 officers which is three times the number of police officers

that the city of atascadero has with a population of 360,000 people. >> the patient for no apparent reason kicked and struck an employee in the face several times. the employee received three stitches above the eye, and they were checking for spinal and neck injury. >> although the majority of the violent behavior is hand to hand assaults, atascadero is not uncommon for handmade weapons. >> this is looking like this piece of the eyeglass, and the other part is taken off, because it is covered by plastic. so that part is taken up, and sharpened and used as a dagger. this part is ingenious and used for attempted suicide. they were able to get a hold of an electric cord and attach a

switch which attached to the wristwatch which went around the wrist. he tried to electrocute himself. >> to cut down on the incidents of suicide room checks are conducted every 15 minutes. >> the warden sent this down to our therapist and we decided to put our hands together and that shows not only harmony, but unity and organization. >> not only to bring violence under control, they have done something unheard of in a facility of their kind. they have organized a patient government. here the patients are elected by the peers to provide perspectives on what provokes violence in the hospital, and how best to solve it. >> we are in here as a patient and always finding myself caught up in that sometimes, you know, especially in, you know, aggressive situations, you know, it is like, you know, a guy wants to fight, and i'm in limbo.

it is like, what do i do? the whole nation wants to come up to lash out. >> in many ways it is like -- our deliberate attempt to take fundamentally right behaviors, compassion and care, and cultivate them in an environment that can then override the dark side of human nature. >> when we come back, we will meet the fastest growing and perhaps the most violent and controversial population in atascadero, the sexually violent predator.

atascadero state hospital in california is home to some of the country's most violent criminals. most of the men in the maximum security facility have served their prison citizens, but deemed too dangerous to be free. some of them have diagnosed mental condition, but some of them haven't. we are about to go back inside of atascadero where cameras are allowed only in the rarest of occasions.

this is the place where some say you come face-to-face with evil. this is where about 500 of california's sexually violent predators live. atascadero is home of one of the nation's largest collection of sexually violent predators, and that number is expected to increase. the overwhelming public sentiment is to lock them up, throw away the key and no matter the cost, keep them away. since 1995, california has been doing just that. instead of setting the convicted child molesters and rapists free, the state has been locking up the worst offenders and only a few have been released. >> it is not a matter of whether or not i feel sympathy or not, the law says that this particular prison population will come to us as treatment,

and that is our job to provide them treatment. do you think that we are ready to move unit 20's meal schedule to the way it was? >> grenda is the director of the the violent sexual offender unit. her job is to oversee every aspect of the treatment for these patients. like other patients in atascadero, the sexually violent predators live in single rooms or dorms. the rooms are small, only 6x10 and the windows are lined with metal grates that block the sun and prevent escape. the doors are made of heavy steel and locked from the outside. the bathroom and the shower facility are shared with other patients in the unit. unlike other patients, these men can't be subdued with medication. they are under constant watch by the staff.

>> i'm not here to judge my patients' behavior. i'm not here to judge their past. i'm not here to punish them for what they have done. i am here to treat them. >> i never asked to be the way i am. i don't ever remember standing in a line anywhere saying, oh, i want to be a child molester. >> harry chase, 37, has been in the sexually violent predator program in atascadero for two weeks. >> the legalistic crime is called gross sexual misconduct and also unlawful sexual contact with a minor. i had two victims. both boys. my particular interest is mostly in latchkey kids. i look for the kids that carry the keys in their pocket. i look for the kids that have a scruffy hairdo and may not bathe all of the time.

maybe in second-down hand-me-down clothes. i look towards the family to see exactly where financially they stand economically and also sociologically meaning where is the family structure? is the mother and the father living together? if not, perhaps that is something to be used quote, unquote to my advantage. >> harry is one of the few men in the svp population who has a mental illness. his diagnosis, psychosis. he is on numerous medications to help with the symptoms, but harry and the therapist say he is nowhere near ready for release. >> i will watch certain movies, because certain actors are on them, and when i say actors i refer to anyone less than 18 years of age, river phoenix or elijah wood or something like that. one thing that gets me is that our society is so adamant about

the adult-child sexual issues, yet they, and as you know, media provides sex for enticement to whatever product they are attempting to sell, and sometimes they prevent us with children with no clothes on in soap commercials and things like that. those things disturb me. those things disrupt my serenity. i am too young in the recovery to shut off the impulses that go through my body. >> while most agree that they don't want these men living next door to them, many patients' rights advocates advocate it is wrong to keep them locked up in a mental institution indefinitely after they have served out the sentences. a class action suit filed by inmates says they are wrongfully incarcerated. matthew hennessey works with the svps and he has heard many of the complaints.

>> if you try to put yourself in their shoes for a while, you understand why. a lot of the men have been in prison for a long time and had the idea they would be released and then very close to the release date, they are told they are not leaving and they will be going to a maximum security forensic hospital, and they are not sure what situation they are getting into. >> a long time advocate for the mentally ill, carla jacobs, has heard the same complaints. >> the sexually violent predator law pretends that people who have committed crimes have an illness that can be cured, when psychiatry is used to control sexually violent predators, what we are effectively doing is using the psychiatrists as a form of social control when in effect that is the job for prison guards. >> i committed my crimes well over 10, 15 years ago. i paid my criminal debt to

society. i did without argument. without complaining. i plead guilty. and i went and did my time. as society requested me to do at the time of my crimes. >> chris was convicted of child molestation in 1995 and he was released in prison in 1988 and reoffended that same year. he was released in 1994 and shortly after that, he was picked up on a parole violation for drug possession. he has been in atascadero since 1997. he doesn't want us to show you his face. >> there is a lot of hype with the megan's law and the registration and the posters going up and stuff, and that is all fine and dandy, but the public ought to be happy to know who is in their neighborhood. they need to worry about who is not in the neighborhood who is out molesting the children and raping the wives and daughters and sisters and mothers. >> the prison system releases

300 to 350 sexual offenders every month. that is an enormous number of people, and these are people who by and large have not been treated in any way for their sexual acting out. >> that statistic refers only to those released from california prisons. national rates for rape and sexual assault remain fairly constant despite the high cost of releasing sex offenders to state institutions at least 15 other states have followed california's lead and locking up the sexual offenders on indefinite parole. >> we don't talk about cure in any of the areas in which we treat people, but we do talk about bringing symptoms under control. >> there's some more. >> and in our particular commitment we talk about people learning what the high-risk factors are, how to understand and control the behavior and exercise controls that they were

not able to exercise before, but we do not cure anybody. >> but can a sexual predator really control the violent urges? >> i actually did try to commit suicide yesterday. >> coming up next, a look at the controversial treatments for some of them. >> she is doing? >> trying to break in the door. >> including a shocking 911 tape that has many of the patients accusing the hospital of abuse. >> why are you here? fantastic! ring, ring. progresso. they fit! awesome. thank you. [ man ] ring, ring. pro-gresso. they fit! okay-y... okay? you don't understand. i've been eating progresso because there's... 40 flavors 100 calories or less and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay. is there a woman i can talk to? [ female announcer ] tell your story at progressosoup.com for the chance to win an ultimate makeover in hollywood.

>> atascadero state hospital in central california is already home to the nation's largest population of sexually violent predators and hundreds more are expected in the years to come. the svps are a unique group of

criminals with a history of monstrous crimes. they are here at the california hospital for the criminally insane having already served their prison sentences. >> i can distance myself from what they have done, and i think it's not too much difference from distancing myself from a patient who has committed murder or has beaten and robbed somebody. if i hold on to that and think about that, then i'm rendered ineffective as a treater. >> well, as usual, we start off with a check-in to see how people are doing. >> very few of these men have a diagnosable mental illness. their violent behavior cannot be cured with medication, instead, treatment consists of helping the patient find and then maintain a level of self-control in effect, they are taught how

to police themselves. they use voluntary, and chemical castration and a state-of-the-art machine that can monitor a patient's arousal and when this machinery is attached to the genitals, it can record the sexual arousal to videos and stimuli such as children and violent fantasies such as rape. psychologists here agree that many of the men got into trouble, because they are unable to feel basic human emotions, so they have counseling sessions, and group meetings where the therapists try to teach men how to empathize with their victims, how to feel sorry for them, how to feel their pain, how to feel something, anything for their monstrous acts. >> last night was a rough night. >> empathy is a learned behavior. it is not something that someone is born with in the egg. >> i actually did try to commit suicide yesterday. >> so, our gentlemen here at the

hospital have not been shown a lot of empathy here in their lives. that i come from broken lives. >> you have done a lot of positive things. >> and virtually all of them have spent time in prison where empathy not the order of the day. >> hearing people value you, and your talents and skills and things that you do that make things easier for them. >> so it is important for us to show them empathy, and respect and dignity at all times, and empathy is learned by modeling. so it has to rub off essentially from us. >> you are doing? >> he is trying to break in the door. >> one of the more controversial and chilling means used to teach thesis ex offenders empathy is the use of a 911 call from a woman being raped. we must warn you that although we won't play the tape in the entirety, what you are about to hear is graphic and disturbing. >> he's here. he's here! who are you? why are you here? why? why are you here? no!

[ phone hangs up ] >> patients break down and cry when they hear the audio tape, and then some patients are angry that we are playing the audio tape. they feel that it's abusive of us and sadistic of us to subject them to something that is so horrible. >> since the sexually violent predator law was passed in 1995, only a few men have completed the program and have been released under monitoring, including convicted serial rapist patrick galotti, and several residents fear to go out at night. >> i don't go out at night. we keep the drapes closed and you can't control whether he is out meandering around at night or not. >> scared now? >> yes. at atascadero he cooperated fully and took the chemical castration drug.

he underwent a surgical castration at his own expense. >> the depth of my commitment is going to keep me victimless for the rest of my life. i'm not saying that i'm going to be perfect. i probably will fail in a lot of areas, but in none of my failings will i hurt anybody. >> our best predictor of future behavior is past behavior and that will probably stick. if somebody has a history of offenses against children or offenses of rape, there is a certain amount of concern that people should have that's probably healthy. >> court is in session. >> when we come back, patients who have been deemed incompetent to stand trial are prepared to return to court.

atascadero state hospital, california's hospital for the criminally insane, is now overflowing with mentally ill will prison inmates and people found incompetent to stand trial. this is where the patients who were deemed incompetent to stand trial live when they're sent to atascadero. they're referred to as the 1370s after the state penal code that describes their commitment. the average stay for a patient on this ward is 63 days. >> good morning. how are you? >> this man is undergoing evaluation and treatment for his competency to stand trial for sexual abuse of a child. >> you you understand the reason that you're here at the hospital? >> yeah. >> how are you doing with your competency? >> i have no idea.

>> do you know what competency for court is? >> understanding the court proceeding. >> each patient goes through similar reviews at 30, 60, and 90 days. the staff is constantly evaluating the patients' behavior and adjustment to medication. in 1998, the state began a crackdown on hundreds of patients suspecting of faking insanity to avoid prison time. armed with new guidelines, prosecutors, judges, psychiatrists, and hospital staff can now better detect those criminal defendants who try to con the legal system by pretending they have a mental illness. but for those who aren't faking an illness, they are treated and medicated so they can stand trial for their crimes. peggy thomas, unit supervisor, has been working with patients at atafkt dare row for 18 years. >> they need to understand all of the roles of the people who are in the court. so we talk to them about the

prosecutor and what he does, about the district attorney, the public defender, the patient's role, the judge's role. so that when we go done to do the mock trial, they get a chance to practice that. >> by the time a patient is ready to take part in his mock trial, his medication has been stabilized. >> court is now in session. >> in this courtroom, therapists and staff members play the role of court officials. >> it's my duty to advise you of your constitutional rights. you're entitled to an attorney in all proceedings against you. if you cannot afford an attorney, an attorney will be appointed to represent you. >> the people of the state of california against john guzman jr. >> many guzman, you're charged with three counts of assault on a nonprisoner with great bodily injury and one count of aggravated battery. you understand these charges? >> what is your understanding of

why you were found incompetent in this case? >> most likely either not getting -- cooperating properly with my attorney or my lawyer. >> okay. the records indicated you were paranoid, experiencing hallucinations, and you were exhibiting manic behavior. does this sound like what was going on at the time? >> yeah. >> mr. guzman, are you on any psychiatric medications now? >> yeah. it's helping me out a lot. >> how does this help you? >> it makes the voices and stuff go away. >> no further questions, your honor. >> thank you, you may step down. >> mr. guzman, you pass. good luck to you. you'll go to staffing on thursday. >> okay. >> passing means the patient is ready to return to court to stand trial for his crime. atascadero state hospital with its razor wire and guard tower looks nothing like a hospital.

no one here talks about curing the patients. instead, they talk of medication, and a lot of it, enough to keep these patients from hurting themselves and others. this is where california sends its criminally insane, those who will be released and those who will never be free. >> people who are probably watching this will find me to be a very distasteful and unpleasant person to be around. the only thing i can say to you is simply this, if i don't get up today and tell you exactly what these people look for, exactly what i look for, exactly how works, then the next child who gets molested is my fault because i didn't do my share to try to stop the next guy who needs help. >> i don't look at it as working in madness. i look at it as working where we are able to help people get stabilized on meds and have a better existence than they have had heretofore. >> it's going to be rocky.

it's not going to be easy, but i'm in it for the long haul and there's not doing to be any victims from me again. >> we continue to try to understand this most dark side of human behavior and find a way to assist these patients to control themselves. and i don't think we should stop trying. this is somebody's son, somebody's brother that we have here. some mother's heartbreak. >> in 2001, the supreme court ruled that sexually violent predators can be locked up indefinitely. but some say a loophole in california sexual predator law allows offenders to gain release through a court hearing rather than completing or in some cases even beginning the five-stage program. california is the only state that requires a court review every two years for those committed.