unspeakably cruel ways, so perhaps it was no accident that the architect who designed the kentucky state penitentiary more than a century ago, built a structure that resembles a castle where dungeons might have served as torture chambers. for even the most hardened criminals in kentucky today, the first sight of the prison can be overwhelming. during the next hour, we'll take you inside kentucky's maximum security prison, known as the castle on the cumberland.♪ the cumberland river winds through the western kentucky town of eddyville. looming around a bend is a virtual fortress. the kentucky state penitentiary, also known as the castle on the cumberland. >> i was really intimidated by this place. it's an intimidating place to walk into. >> this could be the worst place you have ever been in your life. >> the eddyville castle will get you. somebody will take your life from you if you come through here with that old chip on your shoulder, there's going to be somebody to take it off you. >> ksp is kentucky's only maximum security facility. a group of stone masons from italy teamed with inmates from vari

. >> we have never heard a more extreme account of gassing as the one described by kentucky state penitentiary inmate, fleece johnson. >> i asked everybody on the wall to [ bleep ] in a bucket. send it down to me. and i would take, two, three, light bulbs, put it in some toilet paper, step on it, break it in some little fragments, so when i throw it on them, they wipe it, it will cut into them and get in their blood. and i was standing there with a big old bucket of it and throw it in their face. they would just go nuts. and so the corrections finally made a law that made it a felony. and then that's when i stopped. >>> coming up on "lockup: raw." the most violent confrontations behind bars. >> they tell you to back up to the door. if you back up you're a bitch. >>> some of the most dangerous confrontations in prison happen when correctional officers are forced to extract an inmate from his cell. extractions are carried out by specially trained teams of correctional officers according to exact guidelines. >> i'm officer allen. i'm the number three man for the team. i'm responsible for controll

. >> we have never heard a more extreme account of gassing as the one described by kentucky state penitentiary inmate, fleece johnson. >> i asked everybody on the wall to [ bleep ] in a bucket. send it down to me. and i would take, two, three, light bulbs, put it in some toilet paper, step on it, break it in some little fragments, so when i throw it on them, they wipe it, it will cut into them and get in their blood. and i was standing there with a big old bucket of it and throw it in their face. they would just go nuts. and so the corrections finally made a law that made it a felony. and then that's when i stopped. >>> coming up on "lockup: raw." the most violent confrontations behind bars. cell extractions. >> they tell you to back up to the door. if you back up you're a bitch. ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? hi jamie. here's my activia video. love this stuff. i'm starting to feel a change no longer feeling slow. i can't belie

still, there are those inmates like alex bennett, at the kentucky state penitentiary, who don't always that's been in the joint all my life. i've been told i'm pretty hard-core. and i need a certain type of environment. you got something you want to say to me now? we can get it on national tv here. do you? >> everything about alex's mannerisms, his appearance and the words that he spoke said convict. alex just embodied that. >> bennett was 54 years old when we met him and had spent 33 of those years behind bars for armed robbery, kidnapping and murder. >> the system today isn't like the system that i came into 36 years ago. the system today has the majority of their inmates programmed to do what they're told when they're told to do it. and so, they get to the point where they expect that from everybody. well, there's still a few old dogs around, who like to do things their own way. >> bennett's way of doing things, however, has had horrifying results. after adapting to life in a single-person cell here, he was transferred to a lower security prison in 1998. he had more privileges there

as a group of inmates at kentucky state penitentiary explain to us. >> i don't fear none of these guysople, i know who they are. the rest of these guys i hope they watch this so they all know the ones that don't they probably do anyway. >> only thing i fear is the cigarettes catching cancer and kicking the bucket. >> i don't fear them don't mean they can't take me out. you don't have to fear a man to get hurt. if he fears you that is when you have to worry. a coward will get you. >> in here especially they sneak up on you with a knife or rock, choke. they will get you because they fear you. >> to me a coward will hurt you he's more dangerous than a stone cold killer he's squaredcared. >> that is his only way out. >> yep. >> no group of inmate ts field more cornered than sex offenders. rapists and child molesters are pat the pariahs of the prison yard. >> as far as i'm concerned they can die. when they get around me, they think it's okay to reveal they are child molesters every time they say that i'll smash them. >> most sex offenders choose between a life of constant threats, or to ser