there are 1,300 inmates serving life sentences at kern valley. their crimes were often cold-blooded. >> i'm here for aggravated mayhem, attempted murder, kidnapping, and great bodily injury. >> i'm in here for the heat of passion. i caught my wife with somebody and killed her. >> for some of these inmates, the prospect of spending decades behind bars affects their ability to function. for others, a prison job can give them a sense of purpose. they work in the kitchen preparing and serving the food. they serve as porters, clerks, and barbers. marcus armstrong and jeffrey cattera know it's likely they'll never see the outside of prison again. >> january 13th, 1989, i committed my crime, was arrested the same day. it was a murder/robbery. i got life without the possibility of parole. stupid. stupid. i was a kid. did the wrong thing. you know? i've never denied my crime. i accept responsibility for what i did. although i regret what happened and -- i mean, it happened. i can't take that back. >> i'm in here for first-degree murder. i have 25 to life

at california's kern valley state prison, the sets are racially coded.cific islanders. >> before you take it out, you have to check with the officers to make sure all the pieces in there. and after the job is done, when you turn it in, they have to check it again. let the officer check again. they don't have to worry about what's missing and what's not. >> this inmate, a native of cambodian, only services the others, like fellow cambodians. >> i give haircut by inmates assigned to another flock. he cut the other's hair. we are the minority of the prison. we're the smallest group in the prison. >> could a white barber cut your haircut or a black barber cut your hair? >> no. i mean, if you're really cool with the person, yeah. but i prefer to be cut by my own people. to be safe is better, stick to our own. >> safe. and well groomed. >> he's good because he did that as his profession on the street. so, we got one real barber here in prison. cut.

>> during our shoot at kern valley, inmate george johns serving eight years for being involved in a highhase while parole, started a fight in the cafeteria and was hit in the head by a wooden block. we met him the following morning. >> tell me the story. tell me what happened. >> well, i had a personal problem and i ran over to handle it, but i didn't make it all the way. i was in the chow hall eating and i got irritated and decided i didn't like this guy and fight him. that's it. >> next thing you remember? >> they were dragging me out, telling me i got hit in the head with a block. >> can we see your head? >> the shooting left johns with seven staples in his head and a wound still caked with dry blood. he says that the scar running to the back of his head was the result of getting run over when he was younger. >> so you knew the other guy that you got into the fight with? >> kind of, sort of, apparently didn't like him. >> i was eating my dinner, baked potato and gravy at the corner of the chow hall and the guy was running and i didn't see him and i saw him and i ran into him and hit t

. >>> it's monday at california's kern valley state prison.rcus armstrong, that means it's laundry day. >> a lot of guys don't trust the launders. we do the laundry ourselves. some do it in the sink. me, i do it in the shower so i can really get it clean. soap it up, rinse it out, wring it out. get a little workout in the meantime. good as new after two hours. just like mamma taught me. >> it's also the best night for television. >> monday night, primetime tv come on and i watch the primetime shows. my favorite shows right now are "24," "smallville," "grey's anatomy," "desperate housewives." you know what i'm saying? i love you bri. >> armstrong's weekly routine will continue indefinitely. he's serving 25 years to life for first-degree murder. >> sometimes i can see the victim in my case when i'm walking, you know what i'm saying? it's like demons that never go away. i have dreams about it, you know? >> the victim was a friend who learned that armstrong was involved in drug dealing and credit card fraud. >> she was an ex-girlfriend of mine, bu

. >> aaron yost was 11 years into his latest sentence when we met him at kern valley state prison in california. he says his problems stem from a near life-long abuse of drugs. >> i grew up with drugs. my parents were quote/unquote hippies. both my parents dropped acid. my mom's dead now from a drug overdose. when i was 9 years old, i was rolling joints for mom and dad. >> yost's life is now largely confined to this cell, which he shares with another inmate. >> i'm not comfortable with this. i don't like men, i like women, you know? and this, to me, it's disgusting. i'm still irritated. if i wake up in the morning, i'm agitated because i have to live with another man. >> now, the closest yost comes to female companionship is through his tattoos. some of which are too graphic to show on television. >> that's what i dream about, that's all i got. you know? >> i remember when we met aaron, the man was tattooed, incredibly inked. if one word describes him, it's intense, just full of energy. and i remember when my producer asked him, what's the daily routine? he just started right in on t

. >>> on the first day of production at california's kern valley state prison our producers set out toh the monotony of being locked in their cells 23 hour as day. they pass reading materials and other items to each other through a process called fishing. >> go ahead. take off. >> though fishing is against prison rules, inmate, tracy washington, was willing to demonstrate how to make a fishing line. >> you get the string made out of the waistband of our boxer. we take the string apart and then we put a little piece of plastic as a weight and we slide it across the floor like this. they might come in here and take my line now that they know i've got it. but i'll make another one. >> shoot it out. >> but our producer was about to find out that there was a far more dramatic story surrounding inmate, washington. >> i was on suicide watch last week and i just came back last week. >> why? what happened? >> they was trying to send me somewhere i didn't want to be. >> so what did you do? >> i cut my wrist with a razor blade. >> washington went on to explain that he cut his wrist to prevent the

. >> we met earl hymer at california's kern valley state prison. >> i have a 37-year sentence. lewd acts on a minor, 14 years old. >> this was not hymer's first time in prison, nor his first sex offense. >> my wife deemed it necessary that i be arrested for attempted rape of your wife, as weird as that sounds. you come home drunk and try and take it, and she doesn't want it. that's still a criminal offense. >> hymer lives in the prison's protective custody wing. ironically, during his first prison term, he was one of the inmates who targeted sex offenders. >> you know, i've participated in helping hunt for child molesters. well, this guy he's a child molester and this is a child molester, and you catch him out in the yard and you go through his stuff and read his paperwork and see what he's really here for. you know? then yes, he is or no, he's not. >> then what? >> well, generally somebody will catch him in a day room or tv room or whatever and punch him in the mouth, tell him to roll it up now. and if he blinks twice or hesitates just a little bit, like i said a minute ago, w

. >> at kern valley state prison in california, we met inmate aaron yost who participates in anotheret very common practice behind bars. tattooing. >> mine's art work. you know what i mean? i did this myself. >> where? >> in a cell like this. >> how? >> how? see this cassette player? i ripped the motor out of it, and i attach a tube to it with the needle, spin the needle back and forth. and i make the ink. burn plastic or baby oil, and the soot will go up. i collect the soot and mix it with shampoo to make a thick black ink. >> tattooing in prison is illegal and poses a variety of health risks, but we've met countless inmates who have gotten their ink both on the outside and inside. many tattoos represent gang affiliation and are documented by prison officials. most of the rest have a meaning all their own. >> what my trip is is physics. my tattoos represent it. the tattoo on the back of my leg says "quantum physics." i've got an atom on my hand. i study what the ultimate nature of reality is. it sooths me. it soothes me to try and figure out what i am, what all this is, what it's al