1,300 men and women incarcerated at the sheriff al cannon detention center's known as the charleston county jailile some have been convicted, most are only accused of crimes and are awaiting trial at the resolution of their cases. >> communication is the biggest thing, i feel, when you're dealing with a whole different variety of inmates. you got the to talk to them. the more i talk to find out what the problem is and learn how to deal with the problem, you get less resistance from them. no, you get into a fight, you hit one somebody who's got something, you don't know. >> officer skipper is a six-year veteran with the jail. most of that time has been in unit a1a, disciplinary segregation, where inmates with major rule violations are confined 24 hours a day. they lose most of their possessions and privileges, as well. >> they got to have us shackled because we in disciplinary. i been wearing these shackles so time, it's like sometimes it don't be there. it's just the normal routine. >> hey, mr. gathers. >> how you doing? >> did you have a bad day today? >> kind of. >> what happened? i been deali

for others, it means a revolving door for jail with seemingly no end in sight. in charleston south carolina, at the detention center, eugene foster fell into the latter category. >> have you been arrested before? >> my rap sheet about as long as your arm. just a drunk [ bleep ]. >> foster says his rap sheet dates back 30 years to when he was 18. he's been convicted of numerous crimes. >> he's usually not a problem. comes in, does his thing. he knows the process. >> foster? >> step up here, sir. >> how many times can you estimate you've probably seen him since you've been working here? >> at least 30, 40 times. >> do you drink any alcohol today? >> yeah. as much as i can get. right up to where i got arrested. >> this time, foster was brought in on a probation violation for urinating in public. >> did you urinate in public? >> no. i went behind a wall. i wouldn't do that. i do have morals. >> how much have you had to drink tonight? >> oh, maybe i equivalent of four quarts, something like that. off and on. i didn't do it all at once. >> what i'm going to do, if you stay here, i'

. ♪ oh yea >>> charleston south carolina is rich in civil war landmarks including the old city jail. peration between 1902 and 1939. the occupants included prison of war between the army and pirates. today, the charleston county jail is the sheriff al cannon detention center. it houses about 1300 men and women. >> selling some cookies for some noodles, man. got to keep their stomachs full because they don't get [ bleep ] in here. >> most are awaiting resolution of their cases. tilghman kronsberg is only a few days away from his one year anniversary here and his stay isn't likely to end soon. >> it's been horrible. i'm not used to this. you know, there's a lot of guys who come in here and it's no big deal to them. they're content with it and i just can't seem to find that mentality. this is my cheese dip, consists of different kind of potato chips audiotape crushed up. add pickle juice and water. mmm, so good. i grew up actually pretty privileged until i was about 12 years old. my parents had a lot of money, but my father, he had a drug problem and so i went from living in a mansion to

became too much of a liability to accept medications from the outside. >> like jails and prisons across the country, charlestonrising health care costs and an ever-increasing number of inmates suffering from mental illness. the problem began decades earlier with the start of a systematic shutdown of psychiatric facilities throughout the nation. over the years, more and more of the mentally ill have found themselves in jails unable to address all their needs. >> how you doing? >> you all right? >> i'm doing all right. everything good with you? good man. >> thanks, man. >> al cannon has been the sheriff of charleston county for more than a quarter of a century. he's witnessed the problem from its early days. >> you go back to the late '60s, early '70s, the psychiatric community was of moving away from institutionalization. and so what was supposed to follow along with that was community-based funding for community-based programs. and those programs did not follow. and so you've got some real challenges there. and a lot of it has to do with, okay, you're not putting people in psychiatric facilities like you used

jail provides three hots and a cot. the sheriff al cannon detention center in charleston, south carolina, is no exception. there are about 1,300 men and women incarcerated here. most are only charged with crimes and are awaiting trial at the resolution of their cases. keeping them all fed requires an inmate kitchen staff to work nearly around the clock preparing 3,900 meals per day. mohammad be a call abdullah is a cook on the afternoon shift. >> seven days a week, eight hours a day. we go in at 1:00, get out at 8:30, 9:00. the benefits of that are you don't have to lay around all day. your owns aren't getting achy. you're constantly working. working in the kitchen keeps you alert and aware of things going on around you. you get to eat good, you know. make sure the food is hot and warm. that's the rice right there. gourmet. professional, i cooked it. that the patties there. i cooked those, too. they're going to want seconds of those, i guarantee you that. >> although abdallah takes pride in his work, he may be overestimating its appeal. >> the food sucks. >> i can't wait to get pizza when i get out of her