lockup." >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> inside san antonio's bexar county jailafia and the tango orejones, pose the greatest throat security. but according to gang investigator officer rodriguez, there are only two pieces in a complicated puzzle. >> in the bexar county jail, there are approximately nine prison gangs, but uncountable number of street gangs. street gangs pop up, literally overnight sometimes. and dissolve as quick lip however, prison gangs have a lot more of a thicker history, it's a larger population, they're actually nationwide. >> one of the larger gang is the aryan brotherhood. >> aryan brotherhood is a true prison gang like the mexican mafia. they have a constitution, a hierarchy, a paramilitary structure. >> at hispanic bexar county jail, the gang is characteristically quiet. >> the white population is very low. 48 inmates but 10 whites in there. it's counterproductive for white groups to cause any tension when they're severely outnumbered. >> the few aryan brotherhood members that i did get to know in the bexar county jail did have a lot of

. >>> at the bexar county jail in san antonio, texas, 38-year-old kathy mermia is more than familiarith the accommodations. >> this is my temporary home for now. it's where i live at the moment. i kind of keep my -- this is kind of like my little strain here. it makes me feel free. i sit here, and sometimes i'm looking out here, i look at this. >> when we met her, she was serving 59 days for theft but had also done time on prior convictions including burglary and evading police. she said that time she was pulled over when a friend in her car told her he had a warrant out for his arrest. >> i see the cop get out, and the cop starts coming this way. and i put the car in drive and i took off. we went on a high-speed chase for maybe 10, 12 miles. i hit another car head-on. at this time i knew i'm screwed. i was on parole. i'm on a high-speed chase with the cops. i knew i was going back. i went head-on with another vehicle. and i remember, you know, the air bag popping out. i remember snapping out of it, and looking over at him. he's trying to get his seat belt off. i told him, run, i sai

. >> during our shoot in one of the female units at the bexar county jail in san antonio, desiree stalbird out from the rest of the women. >> i was scanning the unit and noticed desiree. she was holding a sign that said "free me." >> free me please. me and my signs. >> finding the inmate that's the comedian is oftentimes good for the show. they're very outgoing. they draw a lot of the inmates around them and participate and joke around. >> what are you doing right now? >> cleaning up the showers. some of our dreams go down that drain right there. >> she had mentioned having pets. every now and then you'll see somebody who adopts a mouse or some insect of some kind and they call it their pet. in this case, it wasn't a mouse or an insect. >> these are my cats. they're just like my hair. i shave my head in here so they call it my cats. >> the thougf her lling up these little hairballs out of her hair she found in the drain, it was -- it was quite repulsive. >> what do you plan on doing with them? >> taking them home and putting them in a little aquarium. >> it's gross. >> as long as she keeps

. >> the inmates who work the commissary loading dock at san antonio's bexar county jail see it prettyou want to buy something for somebody else, they're going to have the noodles -- >> we do like a layaway. >> people don't get any money in their books, so they get creative and start drawing on envelopes. >> let me know the next one, i might cut you a better deal. you know what i'm saying? >> they sell them, they survive and they get to eat. >> i guess you can call them armored trucks. but we drive these carts around and inmates look at us like, wow, we had all that? >> this is the noodle train. >> while ramen noodles and honey buns are classics, we've discovered the emergence of a new contender. and it's one that can only be savored by one that works or does time in jails or prisons. >> when we were working in the cleveland jail we kept hearing about shabang potato chips. and there's this kind of mystique around these potato chips, that you can only get them in the jail, that they tasted better than any potato chip you can have. and it kind of built up this myth. >> shabangs is the on

at the bexar county jail in san antonio, texas, it was the windows. >> we got a window in our cell and everybody want it. that we talk to, how you got your window? we could sit there all day and be able to look out, that would drive me nuts. being able to look out there and see everybody else is free makes me jealous and envious of everything. can't see my family, i'm locked up in here. >> this is all we have to look for the to. to the free world. that's all we can see. little skyline of the city, san antonio. train tracks. and that's about it. i can see the neighborhood of my house but that's as close as i'm going to get there for the next two years. there's nothing i can do about it. >> i wouldn't want that window right there. >> it's a gift and a curse all at the same time. >> too much partying here. i'm in here. there ain't no partying here. >> for 20-year-old clancy kelly, who we met at the fairfax county adult detention center in virginia, looking out a small corner of her window came with risks that were probably much greater than she ever imagined. >> why did you appeal to some