but at hillsborough county, they spend their shifts on the floor in the open.s a system known as direct supervision and it has been proven to reduce violence in other problems by allowing deputies to build a rapport with the inmates. >> if you like dealing with people, this is a great place to work. i love dealing with people, that's why my degree is in sociology. >> but pressey and every other deputy in the jail knows that violence can erupt suddenly, as an incident two years earlier dramatically illustrated. a 64-year-old deputy was working at his desk in the housing unit just as inmates were finishing lunch. suddenly, inmate douglas burden rushes him and puts him in a potentially fatal choke hold. as several other inmates jump into the fray, one of them reaches in and grabs the deputy's radio. >> the radio call that came across was unlike any other, because it wasn't a deputy signal. the inmate stated "emergency, 911," and deputy moon was on the floor being attacked by mr. burden. >> deputy lorie garcia was among those who responded. >> there were a number o

both have been serving time in the hillsborough county jail.cently had a court date and expected to be released on probation. >> i don't know if he's been released. i put him down for visitation. because he told me to put him down for 2:00 today. i'm so excited. >> i know. i'm so excited, too. >> i know i'll be so crushed if he doesn't come. i'll probably cry if he doesn't show up. just because i didn't know what happened. you know? >> waiting for you right now. i'm nervous for you. i'm excited. >> the visit is even more important than katie knows. chad plans on breaking some life altering news. >> i want to tell her face to face that i came up positive for hepatitis "b" and "c" and she needs to go to the clinic in jail. >> both chad and katie know that any number of factors could prevent their visit from happening today. >> it could mean he's not released yet or couldn't make it here. i mean, he doesn't have a car, so i mean, if he doesn't show up it's probably just he's not released. that's about all i can think of. he won't just blow me off.

the hillsborough county jail consists of two sprawling facilities located four miles away from each other. combined they can house close to 5,000 inmates. most of the men and women here have recently been arrested and have not been convicted of a crime but are awaiting trial or settlement of their cases. some inmates have been convicted but are serving short sentences. usually less than two years. either way, time here is no vacation. >> jail is a pretty awful place. this is by no stretch of the mile some kind of spa. you're here for a reason and you have to make the best of a bad situation when you can. >> 31-year-old sheree dean is trying to do just that. dean is serving the last 30 days of a 6-month sentence for cocaine possession. she says she developed an addiction from a lifestyle that included working in strip clubs and prostitution. >> i started out being a topless stripper. i was like, oh, my god, i would never dance nude, i would never do that. then i started dancing nude and started meeting customers for money. it's like a whole lifestyle. i always worked at high-end clubs and

but life of hillsborough county is a world of extremes. another young man confined here faces the possibility of never seeing home again. >> all i can do is use this time as best i can and hope i get out. >> 19-year-old kendrick morris was found guilty on two counts of sexual battery with a deadly weapon. he is awaiting sentencing. prosecutors are asking for 120 years. >> a young lady was going to the community library. she was assaulted, drug behind the library, beaten within an inch of her life and brutally raped. >> after morris had been taken into custody for the library attack, authorities connected him to another assault that had occurred ten months earlier. >> it actually had been the assailant in another rape of an elderly day care worker. >> morris was also convicted of that crime and is now in jail awaiting sentencing. he still claims he's innocent. >> they say anything else, armed robbery or something like that, maybe i will say i'm capable of it, but rape, no. attacking a girl, no. hitting a girl, no. at the end of the day, tha

the hillsborough county jail is actually comprised of two sprawling facilities with an average daily population of more than 3500 men and women. >> falkenroad jail is somewhere between 135 acres. it has housing for up to 34 inmates. it takes a little bit to get from one point to another so we like to utilize golf darts. depending on where i'm going and what my function is if i have to be there in a hurry, i use the cart. it's smarter. if i'm going two housing units down, i'll usually walk and get some exercise. >> four miles away is the orient road facility where up to another 1700 inmates can be housed. both facilities are run by a former secret service agent determined to bring the experience he learned guarding a vice president to the job of overseeing thousands of inmates. >> traveling around the world with vice president cheney really taught me more than anything a lot of the self-discipline qualities that i need to succeed here, and much of what i learned there helped me in running the jail we run a pretty orderly operation here. the inmate behavior is not to a level that cause

. >>> bad behavior caught on camera in hillsborough county, florida. a county inmate, you see him there with the red shirt on. look what he does when an officer of the court walks by. that was sergeant tracy wallace. he grabs for her gun. go right back in. >> did he really think he was going to get it. he was shackled, and handcuffed. >> the two guys on the bench just say we're not part of this. >> we have another video from hillsborough. this is a car wash and those are coin machines. you see a guy getting out of a car, and then you're going to see a flash. he is lighting a torch. he has used it to break into several coin machines. >> get your cash back, man. >> going to be buying a lot of vending machine merchandise. >> it has been well over a minute, the change is in a bucket, and he drives off like it's nothing, like he went to a drive through. >> all that change in his pocket you would hear him coming. >>> for starters i didn't want to do this video because i know i'm going to get laughed at on the internet, but there is a problem, people are hung

this happened in hillsborough county california. he was charged with obstructing an officer.cers quick to respond. now he faces further charges. >>> mere tragedy strikes a coney island new york amusement park. a 5-year-old boy jumped off of a roller-coaster while it was still moving leading many to wonder how this was allowed to happen. robert moses is live outside of the hospital in new york city where that little boy is recovering this morning. good morning, robert. >> the 5-year-old was brought here to be treated for a fairly serious leg injury. he is expected to make a full recovery. paramedics took him away from the amusement park on a stretcher. the co-owner of the wonder wheel amusement park where it happened said last night the boy did meet the height requirements for the roller-coaster which is known as the sea serpent. as the ride was moving he got scared climbed out and became wedged in between one of the cars and the track. >> the investigation is showing the lap bar was securely fastened and he just wiggled his way out from underneath it. was frightened. >> this

hillsborough police say the victim in this case was lucky. no money was lost. but a couple of months ago, someone in san mateo countycammed to the tune of $14,000. while the d.e.a. is trying to figure out if hackers are getting personal information from drug sites, hillsborough police say under no circumstance will someone from law enforcement ask you for money over the phone. they say this particular scam can throw people off at first. >> there is that small bit of real information that the caller's providing the victim. in the initial stages of the phone call, the victim drops their guard a little bit. they may have made purchases over the internet. >> reporter: impersonating a federal agent is a violation of federal law. you get a phone call of one posing as one and asking money, refuse the call and call police. you can call the number of the d.e.a. had set up for that situation. you can also find this number on our website, nbcbayarea.com. >> george, thank you. >>> now, to another scam snaking its way around the bay area. someone posing as an animal service officer, looking for snakes. a con man tricked a woman