john seigenthaler told me when we talked about this, the only thing that he wanted him to change when he saw john's manu script is he thought he slighted the what is known as the all of mexico movement. the idea during the mexican war when we were in lager heads. we'd gone all the way to mexico city but they wouldn't negotiate that we should take over the whole country. he believed that was a more serious movement that time than was in the book. and john went become and put it in. my research shows it was a certain byplay during the mexican war. i think john has polk exactly right. i think do think he would have gotten into the acidic politics of today. not so much in terms of face to fas confrontation polk was not good at that. he was very good at attempting to outmaneuver his rivals behind the scenes and he loved doing that. >> just for a moment. for those who say that today's politics are a lot more acidic, difficult, a lot more uncivil, what do you say to them than in the past? >> no. there were various periods in our history where politics are just as raucous and nasty and bitter

i'm john seigenthaler . >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >>> there are two million people behind bars in america. we open the gates. "lockup." >> don't be weak in prison. that's a downfall. >> i didn't like the way you allowed them to punk you. >> when they said 15 to life in prison, it was the scariest thing i ever had to go through. >> when i walked back here, it was horrifying. >> i want to be outside. i want to see some beauty, try to forget about this place. >> studies show that women are one of the fastest growing segments of america's prison population. since 1995, the total number of male prisoners in america has grown 29%. the number of female prisoners, nearly 50%. so what does it mean to society and to our justice system? we first visited valley state women's prison in california back in 2000, one of the largest all-female prisons in the world. we returned five years later to see if reforms made any difference to a system troubled by overcrowding and the inmates ca

. i'm john seigenthaler     in  chicago. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, my kind of town, chicago is. and the rest of illinois, too. that's the tune rick santorum hopes to be singing after tuesday's illinois primary. the obama team may like to see this bop race drag on, in fact all the way to tampa. they could be rooting for santorum to nail another hole in santorum's case. also, the war on women. to republicans, it is a democratic fiction. to democrats, it is the season narrative. catch this. the tie-breaker. arizona republicans are about to pass a bill that actually allows employers to require women getting reimbursed for birth control to prove they don't plan to use them for birth control. get it? we'll try to. >>> and republicans say the price of gas could come down if only we'll drill, baby, drill. democrats say we are already drilling and the price keeps going up. who's right? >>> as if things could

i'm john seigenthaler >> i have been hurt a lot and seek revenge for that. >> a convicted murderer seeks legitimacy for a religion that the prison suspects is a aryan brotherhood. >>> and we turn the cameras over to the inmates themselves. >> wabash, extended stay. welcome to the belly of the beast. >>> hate wabash, you know what i mean. they make sure that you know you are in prison eh day. >> who wants to be locked in a room with another man 19 hours a day. taken three and a half hours we come out is to go get the worst food you ever ate in your life? i don't know how they call it food. >> every day things that people take for grant wed cherish right now. >> wabash valley correctional facility. a maximum security prison on the western edge of indiana, the center piece of the rural town of carlisle. the inmate population of 2200 outnumbers local residents four to one. many of indiana's most violent offenders are sent here. >> the break down for offenders who have committed serious offenses against a person, murder, vehicular manslaughter, battery, assault is 35 to 40% of the population.

i'm john seigenthaler. there are two million people behind bars in america. we open the gates, lockup. >>> jail is hell. jail is hell. >> willie! can you come to the door, sir? >> a lot of the mental state hospitals have closed down and the only options to the police agencies are bring them to the jails. >> dirty. shower is dirty, toilet dirty, floor dirty, pointblank, dirty. >> anything can happen at any given time at any moment, very fast, very quick. >> head psz up, let's go. head's up. >> i'm not looking for shanks, i happened to stumble upon this. >> you never know what to expect all we do all day is sit like a time bomb waiting for something to happen. >> this is as close to living hell as i think i ever want to come. >> when someone breaks the law there is a distinct difference between going to prison and jail. prison is for convicted felon, many with long term sentences. jail is where suspects spend a short time either while waiting for trial or before being transfer to the another facility. it's also where convicts serve short sentences. but any time

i'm john seigenthaler. >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> america's prisons, dangerous, often deadly. there are 2 million people doing time. every day is a battle to survive and to maintain order. >> down on your feet. down. >> located in the deep south, holman correctional facility, where most are serving life sentences. we spent months documenting life on the inside, where the prisoners have nothing but time and nothing to lose. this is "lockup: holman, extended stay." it requires a unique set of skills to run a violent prison like holman. >> on this side, on this side. >> warden grant culliver embodies them. he's authoritative. >> you know you ain't going to win no academy award for that. [ bleep ] >> he shows compassion for the inmates he oversees, many of whom will never get out. but when violence explodes at >> holman. >> move it, lock him up. >> his zero tolerance policy is in full effect. >> lock down. we are under a lockdown. >> administrative segregation is home to roughly 200 inmates. confined to their cells 23 hours a day. these men often become d

thanks for up watching, i'm john seigenthaler.

i'm john seigenthaler >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >>> there are 2 million people behind bars in america. we open the gates. "lockup." ♪ 15 to life, doing 15 to life ♪ you've got the browns and the whites against the blacks ♪ ♪ the first rule of the game is to watch your back ♪ ♪ it's either kill or be ♪ killed if you're scared ♪ then make a knife ♪ and the next mother [ muted ] will ♪ find me some steel lay in a strap ♪ ♪ like a mercenary death trap ♪ because if i got to do time ♪ i would rather do it like a real mother [ muted ] ♪ >> who is going to stab who? who's going to kill who? who's going to beat who bad? >> guys stomping each other on the head, knocking each other unconscious. >> what we got over here, anything? >> escort! >> you have to join a gang. you have no choice. ♪ 15 to life ♪ doing 15 to life ♪ 15 to life ♪ doing 15 to life that's it. >> in an isolated part of california's central valley is corcoran state prison, one of the state's largest maximum security institutions, housing many of its most violent criminals. now, corcoran firs

i'm john seigenthale

i'm john seigenthaler

watching, i'm john  seigenthaler.  behind bars in america. for the next hour we open the  gates. "lockup." >> it's not our job to extract justice. it's our job to keep these people in these cells here. >> pretty rough, you know. >> you eat yourself. >> it's an adventure every day. >> you can't let your guard down for a second. >> you know where mommy is? and he says, yeah, in jail. >> nobody plans on coming to jail. i don't think they do. i don't. it just happened. >> how come you're all in there? are you having a party in there? >> as you can see, i've got concrete bars. i don't have any place to expand. i can't make another cell. >> i'm not a very violent person, but i can be violent when i want to. >> a lot of people in here with hiv. >> the first one looks like a wire shank. >> a stabbing. knocking a guy down and just kicking him until he's bleeding. >> these kids don't know how to act like proper gangsters anymore. >> los angeles county, california, has a population larger than 42 states in the nation. nearly 10 m