i'm john seigenthaler. >> 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! >> among the nation's most notorious institutions, san quentin state prison. our cameras spent months documenting life on the inside where gangs, drugs, and sheer boredom make up a violent mix. this is "lockup san quentin: extended stay." >> san quentin is home to more than 3,000 inmates ranging from the most violent offenders in california. >> i'll rob you in a minute. >> i pulled a gun on this man and shot him six times in his chest. >> to the all too common parole violators flooding the system. >> i do drugs. that's my violation. >> the overpopulated san quentin serves as the reception center for 17 counties in california. >> there's 384 inmates in this gym. right now i have six members. >> it's forced to house a dangerous mix of high and low risk inmates. >> you got the drugs, you got the inmates to manufacture alcohol, you got the gangs, the weapons. so it ca

i'm john seigenthaler > due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. > due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> an inmate causes chaos in the housing unit after accusing staff of abusing him. and he explode in anger when a valued possession is taken from his cell. >> from what i was told they found the head and like a field away from the body. >> accused of a vicious vigilante-style murder, another inmate said jail saved his life. >> i was 437 when i came in. i am now 265 pound. >> you looking at me? i say you, looking at me? >> the inmates in two female housing units square off against each other. >> you shut the [ bleep ] up. >> and one of them will soon learn her fate after a heinous act of violence. >> i did a terrible, horrible, horrible thing to my son. ♪ >> behind the seven-story high walls of san antonio's bexar county jail there is an ever-changing drama that is played out daily among the 3,500 men and women incarcerated here. >> life in the county, baby. >> the majority of them have only been charged with crimes and here awaiting trial on the r

for msnbc investigates, i'm john seigenthaler >>> 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, now! >> among the nation's most notorious institutions, san quentin state prison. our cameras spent months documenting life on the inside, where gangs, drugs and sheer boredom make up a violent mix. this is "lockup san quentin: extended stay." >> probably next to an inmate's release date, visits are the most important things in their lives. keeping in touch with their loved ones. >> i don't like coming here, but i have to so i can see him. >> for some, visits are rare moments of intimacy. and for others, a business transaction. >> a lot of drugs come in through the visiting room. a lot of drugs. >> you don't want to be here, man. >> and then the hustle just like the bona fide, hustler with the web and then with the two hands, like you said. >> the money. >> money in one hand, dice coming out the other. >> it's going to be hard. make sure that i do it, though, because if

i'm john seigenthaler >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >>> msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons into a world of chaos and danger. now, the scenes you've never seen. "lockup: raw." over the years, lockup crews have ventured inside some of america's most dangerous maximum security prisons. and they have all encountered one absolute certainty. we film in extreme environments. most people would never want to step inside a maximum security prison, yet we send our crews inside some of the most dangerous facilities in america. >> [ bleep ], [ bleep ]. >> yeah, i love pain! >> you can't let your guard down. you have to keep your eyes open in the back of your head. the hairs are constantly up on the back of your neck. because they're violent places, and violence can and does break out at any time. >> [ bleep ]. >> our cameras have been there to capture these dramatic life-and-death conflicts. now we take an even closer look at them through the experiences of our field crews and their raw encounters with violence behind bars. califo

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." >> jail is hell. jail is hell. >> willie, will 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. >> it's dirty. the shower's dirty. the toilet's dirty. the floor's dirty. pointblank, dirty. >> anything can happen, any given time, at any moment, just like that. very fast, very quick. >> let's go, let's go, let's go. >> i'm not even looking for shanks. i just happened to stumble upon these. >> you never know what to expect. all we do all day is sit here like a time bomb waiting for something to happen. >> this is as close to a 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 felons, many with long-term sentences. jail is where suspects spend a relatively short time, either while waiting for trial or

i'm john seigenthaler. >>> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >>> there arelion people behind bars in america. we open the gates. "lockup." >> get on the ground! put your hands behind your back! >> prison is not a nice place. >> he was a big-time football player at lsu. in his life i guess it went in a different direction and ended up here. >> i wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. >> you act like you so high on a pedestal. you so much better than everybody. >> one count of rape, three kidnappings. >> aggravated sex offense. >> 21 years for manslaughter. >> robby is not trained to kill. he is trained to help apprehend. >> i'm comfortable out on my lines. i got my horse, my guns. >> because you never know what could happen. >> the judge says in her final summation, "you are nothing, mr. baker, but a pebble in the pond. you're nothing but poor white trash." >> in rural louisiana, halfway between new orleans and baton rouge, is the second largest prison in the state, the elayn hunt correctional center. although the facility is relatively new, it opened in 1979,

i'm john seigenthaler. >>> there are 2 million people behind bars in america. we open the gates.cketeering, police brutality. i charge pelican bay with racism, promoting inmate-on-inmate violence. how it was in the beginning it shall be in the end. the righteous shall live and the wicked shall perish. >> ever since it opened in 1989, pelican bay state prison in northern california has always had a reputation as one of the most violent and volatile penitentiaries in the nation. when we first visited the institution in 2000, it was under lockdown, still reeling from one of the worst prison riots in u.s. history. five years later, we went back inside pelican bay, where the staff has worked to curb gang activity and prevent violent outbreaks. but in an environment simmering with bitter rivalries and racial tension, finding any long-term solution is a never-ending battle.

i'm john seigenthaler we open the gates. "lockup." >> the whole setting is like out of a movie, something i've never seen before, something i never thought i would be a part of. >> it's kind of depressing. this is prison. this is the first time i've ever seen it, so i'm kind of nervous about it. >> if somebody who commits premeditated first-degree murder tells you they have remorse, they are a liar. how are you going to be remorseful about something you intended to do? >> i lived my whole life as a criminal. i just finished a 12-year sentence in the northeast. i wasn't out a month and got new charges. >> i escaped from a secure compound, northeast correctional. i packed myself up in some boxes and shipped myself out. >> i got nothing to lose. they would rather die trying to escape than stay here. from. >> best thing to do, keep your eyes open. all facilities working at all times. because anything can happen at any time. >> if we see anything whatsoever funny, that inmate's not going out. we don't want what happened to one of