. >> i got into a altercation with my bunky. i ended up stabbing him. >> i found two razors, and these can be melted into a real good slashing instrument. >> it's aggressive. it's dangerous. it's violent. >> from the day i stepped in here, i've been looking for a way out. >> it is action. it's real action. >> the inmates that are here, they're not here for going to church. >>> at kentucky state penitentiary, some inmates can apprentice in an auto body shop. at rikers island jail a bakery churns out nearly 90,000 loaves of bread per week while teaching inmates how to bake. in many of the prisons profiled on "lockup" inmates have opportunities to learn skills that can help them find work on the outside. but all too many spend their time honing skills more suitable to mayhem and murder. >> i stabbed an inmate 12 times over some dope in front of the chow hall. >> i took a knife and stabbed him with it three or four times until he was dead. and then i butchered him with it. >> you find a piece of metal or something, file it down on t

i just did this stuff on my bunkie right here. >> did that one last night and that one last night. >> i was waiting for the police to see you, because i know you probably don't get too much contraband shown to you. >> as correction officers are always standing nearby during our interviews, the gun was quickly confiscated but the cellies still had plenty of other prison tattoos to display. >> my jason mask. >> that's how we pass our time right there. >> that's what we do all the time. just tattoo art. i just did the stuff on his head, the stars on his face. >> we tattooed last night until 5:00 in the morning. >> yep, till 5:00 this morning. that's what we do, sleep all day, tattoo all night. >> i got most of these tattoos done in less than a month. my mom has no idea i have any tattoos. i didn't have any tattoos. >> so how you going to explain it when you get out? >> i don't know. i'll let the tv show do the explaining. >> do you want to say anything to your mom right now since she's probably watching? >> sorry mom. >>> coming up, the inmates' stories beneath the ink. >> i got these pr

you know how many people wanted to be my bunkie for the wrong reason? it's ugly. it's ugly and a sick environment. >> he was 15. i remember him coming into the sawhouse and i remember talking to him. he looked so young. he still had that baby-type face. >> superintendent knows him well. he was superintendent of wabash 18 years ago when he first arrived. arrived. both are in miami correctional facility in kokomo. he still remembers the tense discussions that took place as staff members prepared to put an eighth grader in a cell with an adult offender. >> they are all two-person cells. the leadership got together and we screened who was going to be in there with him. we've got a duty to protect everyone as best we can and we tried to steer him in a position direction for him. >> it was scary. it was tense. i had never been to prison. worst case scenario, what if i'm having to defend myself and doing things i shouldn't do just to protect myself? how would i explain that to my family? it's rough for the kids coming in. i feel sorry for them. >> here in a minute, three

. >> i got into an altercation with my bunky. i ended up stabbing him. >> i stuck my hand up his ass to my forearm and bashed his head and made him drink out that toilet. and took the toilet and strangled him. when they opened up the door, i tried to throw him off the tier. >> i tore the sheet and wrapped it around his head and i said, nope, you ain't doing nothing. >> but at the brushy mountain correctional complex in tennessee we met two cell mates who were not only successfully living together, but doing so in a maximum security unit, locked up 23 hours per day. >> it's not any kind of fun, stuck in a cell. you go out. me and him go out and work out every day, come back in the cell and watch tv and listen to the radio. that's our life every day. >> sky bishop was sent to the hole when he refused to share his cell with an inmate the prison assigned him. >> what about your cell mate now? >> i've known him for over a year. that's my buddy right there. i don't have any problems with him. we always get along. i had him moved down h