>> during our shoot at kern valley, inmate george johns, serving eight years for being involved in a high speed chase while on parole, started a fight in the cafeteria, and was hit in the head by a wooden block. we met him the following morning. >> tell me the story. tell me what happened. >> i had a personal problem and i ran over and handled it and i didn't make it all of the way. i was in the chow hall eating, you know i just got irtated and finally decided i don't like this guy. so i'm going to bite him. that's it. >> next thing you remember? >> they're dragging me out. telling me i got hit in the head with a block. >> let me see your head. >> the shooting left johns with seven staples in his head and a wound still caked with dried blood. he says the scar running toward the back of his head was the result of getting run over when he was younger. >> so you knew the other guy that you got into a fight with? >> yeah, kind of sort of. apparently i didn't like him. >> i was eating my dinner, eating a baked potato at a table which was way down the corner of the chow hall and i guess th

a fact dramatically illustrated during our visit to kern valley state prison in california. >> it's all we got, work, work, work, you know. >> when we met james randall, he was working his prison job helping officers serve food to his fellow inmates. when we sat down to talk in his cell, randall seemed to only have one concern. how his shaved head looked on camera. >> there's no lint on my head or nothing? >> no, you're fine. >> i'm cool. i got a gang out of it. i don't want to be shining. i'll be shining like money. >> when you interview people in prison, you know they are in there for a good reason. and when you meet them, sometimes they're very likable. they might even be somebody you think you could be friends with. but sometimes you end up hearing a jaw-dropping story. the day we met james randall, we heard a jaw-dropping story. >> originally i came to jail february 21st, 1981, convicted in san bernardino county for murder/robbery. >> given a sentence of 34 years to life, randall was 18 at the time of his conviction. but his rap sheet started much earlier. >> i have been gang bangi

happen in prison before, an officer brought out the rule book. >> okay, hamilton, this here is kern valleyional procedure, number 222. >> and set it down in front of dennis and said, look, here's what it says. >> in a nutshell it says that every inmate will accept a cellie except if he has -- see this little thing? it's called an "s" suffix. that means single cell status. if you have that attached to your cdc number, then we'll never, ever try to house you with another inmate because you have gone through all the hoops, whatever it takes, either you committed battery on your inmate -- or cell partners or you've, you know -- >> murdering, battery, i know. >> or a psychiatrist says. >> yeah, but i'm not crazy. >> well, that's your answer. that's it. call the governor. that's pretty much it for me. >> hamilton was sent back to the hole. but a few days later, we heard of an alarming new development in his case. he had assaulted an officer. >> sometimes you anticipate your moves as far as what inmates are going do and their capability, and sometimes you are just surprised. i didn't think he was

. >> we met earl hymer at california's kern valley state prison. >> i have a 37-year sentence, lewd actsn a minor 14 years old. >> this was not his first time in prison nor his first sex offense. >> my wife deemed it necessary that i be arrested for attempted rape of your wife and not of a -- as weird as that sounds. you come home drunk and try to take it and she doesn't want it, that's still a criminal offense. >> hymer shares a cell with another convicted child molester, ray rowe, who is serving a 230-year sentence. even though he is in protective custody, rowe rarely leaves his cell out of fear for safety. >> i don't know whether someone is going to take me out before the day's over with. every time i go to chow. any time any sex offender goes to chow or goes out of their cell. and sometimes even in your cell. can i go to sleep with this person in here? you're pretty vulnerable when you're sound asleep. >> hymer and rowe have worked out an uneasy trust if not a friendship. >> we've managed to read or stay out of each other's way. >> yeah. i draw in the afternoons sometimes and general

. >> aaron yost was 11 years into his latest sentence when we met him at kern valley state prison in california. he says his problems stem from a near lifelong abuse of drugs. >> i grew up with drugs. my parents were quote, unquote, hippies. both my parents dropped acid. my mom's dead now from a dug overdose. when i was 9 years old, i was rolling joints for mom and dad. >> yost's life is now largely confined to this cell, which he shares with another inmate. >> i'm not comfortable like this. i don't like men. i like women. and to me it's disgusting. i'm still irritated. if i wake up in the morning, i'm agitated because i have to live with another man. >> now the closest yost comes to female companionship, through his tattoos, some of which are too graphic to show on television. >> that's all i dream about. that's all i got. >> i remember when we met aaron, the man was absolutely tattooed. just incredibly inked. if one word describes him, it's intense. just full of energy. i remember when my producer asked him, what's the daily routine. he started right in on telling us what it was al

. >> at kern valley state prison in california, we met inmate aaron yost.ho participates in another illegal, yet very common, practice behind bars. tattooing. >> mine's artwork. i mean, i did this myself. >> where. >> huh? >> where. >> in a cell just like this. >> how? >> how? see this cassette player? got the motor out of it. attack a pin to it with the needle. spin a needle on the can, go back and forth. i'll make the ink. i'll burn plastic and baby oil. soot will come up. i'll collect the soot. mix it with shampoo until it's thick, black ink. >> tattooing in prison is illegal and poses a variety of health risks. but we've met countless inmates who have gotten their ink both on the outside and inside. many tattoos represent gang affiliation and are documented by prison officials. most of the rest have a meaning all their own. >> what my trip is is physics. my tattoos represent it. on my back of my legs it says quantum physics. i got an atom on my hand. i study what the ultimate nature of reality is. it soothes me. it soothes me to try and figure out what

. >> we met officer epperson at the kern valley state prison in california.d a baton, he's the lone officer responsible for supervising the inmate kitchen staff. >> i have six, seven inmates back here now. i've got one sitting on the line. granted, i got four, five cops outside that door. that door's locked. there's only one dude out there with the key. you have to trust them to a certain extent. they have no reason to assault me. unless they're totally pissed off or i disrespect them. >> among the inmates epperson places his trust in is the number two cook, carter hill. >> tell me what your sentence is. >> murder. >> you're here for murder? what's your sentence? >> 51 to life. >> you know, it's interesting. sometimes there's this dynamic in prison when you're interviewing somebody, if there's a corrections officer and an inmate together, they'll pretty much watch their ps and qs. they'll tell you into the camera what the other guy wants to hear. but when we met carter hill, we got some real brutal honesty that day in the kitchen. >> i don't know if y'all are