county jail system. >> los angeles county jail is unique in the fact that every gang in los angeles countye. it doesn't matter if they're a black gang, an asian gang, a hispanic gang, or a white gang. if they're active in los angeles county and they get arrested, they end up coming to the los angeles county jail system. >> the osj unit must rely on communication to help prevent gang violence. >> solving crime is all about getting the information from somebody. it's not physical evidence. >> we ain't with nobody. it's just mainly a money thing. mainly we just doing our thing. everybody's doing their individual thing. >> you have had a history of feuding with who? blacks or hispanics? throughout the years over there. >> it's been a history of whoever stepped on our toes. >> knowing which gangs are fighting each other helps the osj unit decide who to remove from general population and where to search for weapons. >> we have found them with hacksaw blades, anything that -- a metal rod. in our ovens you have the grills that you put in the oven to cook on. they'll break off the rods on that. her

. >> so when we visited the los angeles county jail, it was no surprise that our cameras captured one the many drills that test the readiness of those charged with maintaining order. >> good job, guys. excellent. we had a lockdown in about a minute and 30 seconds. that's a record. >> the state of readiness, when they were doing that drill, was pretty intense. there was definitely tension in the air because a couple weeks prior, there was a significant riot that lasted about 45 minutes. and no one was killed, but someone was put in a coma from a pretty bad beating. >> the jail is completely than what it was 30 years ago. for up with thing, we have much more violence-prone inmates in our system. in the past, that was never a problem. we did not have armajor riots a the disturbances. we did not have the races fighting against one another in the jail system. >> l.a. county jail officials told us most of that violence stems from one source. ♪ it's tripping off these [ bleep ] ♪ ♪ tripping off this [ bleep ] i'm about my riches ♪ >> almost half of our jail population is street gang members.

jail in los angeles. and lastly, the crown jewel of the l.a. county jail system is the north county correctional facility, or nccf, which houses murderers, rapists, and drug offenders. >> we find that the linear style jail really doesn't work for us anymore, and what we have here is we have more of a podular design with the staff stations in the middle and then the inmates around the outside. >> a single facility comprised of five jails housing 3,800 inmates, nccf was designed in 1983. nccf first made headlines in march of 1990, when the first president bush helped dedicate the jail's opening. >> one of this nation's founding fathers said, "if men were angels, no government would be necessary." well, i'm sure that no one here would suggest that men were angels. and that's why there's government, to write the laws we live by. and correctional facilities, like this one, for the people who break them. >> for ten years this facility had no major incidents. then, on april 24th, 2000, violence erupted. >> everybody get out! >> it was 1:00 in the afternoon w

we found a very different atmosphere at the sprawling and constantly bustling los angeles county jail. >> stand up. spread your feet shoulder width apart. lift up your left foot with your toes. >> l.a. county, which is probably one of the largest jail systems in the world, is completely different experience. >> drop them. turn around. >> and inmate reception center is gigantic. you know, it's like 400 guys a day, 2,000 a week. >> head over. reach back. no talking. no laughing. just reach back, pull them apart. >> spread them wide. >> while intake can be a traumatic experience for new inmates, settling into the day-to-day routine of prison life provides a very different challenge. >> the time isn't hard if you keep yourself busy. you know, it's a point of managing. you know, you can either manage it or it can manage you. >> what al harper and his cell mate soccer wren have created ways to break the monotony with a few sparse items they're allowed in their cramped cell. >> the dice are made from toilet paper. >> we just mold them up. after that just draw them. that's basically it. you k

largest caretaker of the mentally ill is right here the twin towers correctional facility, los angeles county's jail. >> la district attorney heads the office that helped put them behind bars but today she is working to stop it. currently as many as 75% of mentally ill inmates in l.a. return to jail, compared to 60% who aren't mentally ill. in the criminal justice system it can feel like ground hog day. you see people in for the same low level offenses, the same nonserious nonviolence offenses. clearly due to them being in mentally ill and in crieses in the streets. and they are aretted and brought in here. >> you are a prosecutor have you had a change of heart? >> i became a prosecutor 30 years ago, because i wanted to do justice. and it seems to me, it is the prosecutor who must take the lead when we see injustice. >> l.a. county has the largest jail system in the country, with 19,000, more than 20% of them are mentally ill. and more than 1,000 are behind bars for nonviolence offenses. such as drug, petty theft. from her first day on the job, assistance sheriff felt there was something wrong with

had several incredible stories but one involved his attempt to attack a sex offender at the los angeles county jail. >> got this freaking child molester on the tier. he's actually in the van talking about what he does. you know, i like to keep myself, hey, i don't lose my temper. keep myself calm, cool, and collective. that dude made me snap. i get in the van and i tell him, i'm going to rip the toilet off the wall. i'm going to bust through this frickin' glass. i'm going to drag it down the tier, and i'm going to bust through your glass and cut you up your [ muted ]. you're a dead man. yeah, yeah, yeah. then all you hear is steel bending. i got behind the toilet, pushed the toilet all the way back. long story short, i ripped the whole toilet off, wrapped my hands up with my socks, smashed through the glass. he hadn't seen me yet. you know what i mean? get on the tier. now he's screaming. and i'm dragging -- finally get out. all the homeys on the tier are cheering. this dude's just garbage. he's human garbage. he's a serial rape chester. i'm dripping wet with sweat, blood on my hands, and i'm dragg

>> at the los angeles county jail, we encountered inmates who seemed impervious to tasers or anythinglse. to control these inmates, deputies had to resort to what's known as a four-point restraint. >> in the inmate reception center, there's a lot of incidences, these guys coming straight off the street. they're angry and they're very violent. and they often go off. >> everybody else sit down. >> sit down. >> one inmate in particular just couldn't deal with it anymore. he went completely berserk. >> move it. >> freeze! >> move it! >> have a seat. >> and they had to restrain him. and one of the ways they do that is these four-point restraints. and they tell him exactly what they're going to be doing. >> mental health staff has ordered you to be placed in four point restraints. you understand that? >> yeah. >> i need your cooperation. the more you cooperate, the faster you will be out of points. >> sergeant gilbert duran supervises the carefully choreographed restraint process. >> the deputies have already been briefed as to who will take the upper body, who will take the lower body extr

we found a very different atmosphere at the sprawling and constantly bustling los angeles county jail. >> stand up, spread your feet. shoulder width apart. lift up your left foot, wiggle your toes. >> l.a. county, which is probably one of the largest jail systems in the world, is a completely different experience. >> drop them, turn around. >> and the inmate reception center is gigantic. you know, they get 400 guys a day. 2,000 a week. hands up. hands over in place. reach back. no talking. no laughing. just reach back and pull them apart. spread them wide. >> while intake can be a traumatic experience for new inmates, settling into the day-to-day routine of prison life provides a very different challenge. >> the time isn't hard if you keep yourself busy. you know, it's a point of managing it. you know, you can either manage it, or it can manage you. >> waddell harper and his cellmate, sakha ren, have created ways to break the monotony with the few sparse items they are allowed in their cramped cell. >> the dice are made from toilet paper. >> roll them up. draw on them. that's basicall

county jail. >> for real? >> reporter: she was arrested last night in los angeles. >> oh, my god.o pay for what she did. she needs to admit it that "i need help." there's no excuse. >> reporter: just two days ago, with "20/20" footing the bill and the detective's okay, a back arrives at taylor's house. leilani and sonja sort through it for their stuff. and sure enough, the item that means so much to taylor. >> look what we got, ladies! >> there are the shoes that vee bought with my credit card and was wearing around in my house. >> reporter: but however vee might have preyed on their openness and vulnerability, these young women weren't afraid to make some new friends. >> we'll toast to vee for our new friendship. >> group hug. >>> well, vee has a hearing in los angeles this coming monday, and faces five felony convictions. >> have you ever been betrayed by a friend? let us know on twitter and facebook. >>> next, craigslist. watch what happens when we track down craig himself. >> you don't want to speak about these allegations at all? >> when we come back. i kept on top of things.

. >> missing bell was then booked into county jail and now he is facing trespassing and this faces two other profile broaches and flew to los angelesrled up inside the wheel well of a jet and it was a miracle he survived the five hour flight. >>> he is reportedly resigning today and president barack obama is expected to announce senator chuck hagel's resignation and sources say the decision to remove senator chuck hagel is due to the threats from islamic militants and that he does not have the skill set to deal. >>> we are officially on panda watch this morning. not the animal but pablo sandoval and there are reports getting action from fans. >> reporter: they are upset over the news that pablo may be going to the red sox. still conflicting news on whether he is going or staying and pablo said he would make a decision, john hay men was the first report that this was a done deal. ken rosenthal still in the works, and vasquez is denying that report but according to the reports, red sox in panda is close to $100 million and it is widely reported they were the giants or even the red sox reportedly gave them the highest monetary deal. a

county jail. he said before coming here he was a member of a los angeles street gang and a meth addict.f sorts with the young man who enjoyed reading novels and writing poetry. >> i like to read a lot. i like nicolas sparks. "walk to remember." "notebook." >> oh, so like romantics? >> oh, yeah, i'm a sucker for that. >> even cry when you read the sad part? >> yeah. most of the guys don't want to admit that because, hey, we're in jail. you know. but i don't care. >> but miramontes was facing the possibility of a lifetime in prison. >> been almost two years. my charges are special circumstance murder. big case. big case. >> miramontes had entered a not guilty plea and was still awaiting trial when we met him. the night of the murder, he says he was visiting friends in an orange county gang and that they were all drinking and high on drugs. while driving around their neighborhood, his friend stopped to confront a 19-year-old man who had allegedly flashed a rival gang sign. >> what ended up happening was the orange county home boys exited the vehicle, and a fight ensued which turned into a

county jail and he now faces charges of trespassing. this charges two others and a woman known as a serial stow away traveled to los angeles airport whereort fence and cureeled up under a wheel well and miraculously he survived that flight. >>> war is well tells us security breaches cannot be tolerated in a post 911 america. >> the number one target is aviation, so bringing down an airport, bringing down an airplane has high value for terrorists. >> they are pushing for an airport security system to detect motion a long airport perimeters. >>> we have new details about the death of a woman hit and killed while walking a long interstate 880 in caster valley. a woman may have been hit by as many as three cars. one may have been involved and there is still no word on why she was out there on the freeway. >> the important thing is, even if you are involved in a collision if you don't move off the freeway even... >> west of highway 280, they were closed and all of the drivers involved, they are cooperating with investigators. >>> they are trying to piece up to what happened on highway 101 in novato. the drive stopped at this jack in the box

jail. >> the feds say it's illegal. >> i'm not working. >> with that being said, i'll have no choice but to forward it to los angeles county, but los angelesrrest. >> they say that calls like this is just one example of a scam sweeping the nation and they are cracking down. >> we arrested seven people and cracking down. >> announcing criminal charges against georgia based william scott and associations, thieves posting as debt and local law storm. coaxing people out of more than $4 million, convinces people they owed money from a check charge. >> you think an 8 months woman wants to go to jail. >> i don't care if are you 9 months pregnant i have a job to do here. >> the scammers are on the loose. >> we shut down one company but there are more, and they victimize hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country. >> so how do you spot a fake. >> a legitimate debt collector will not lie or deceive the consumer into collecting the debtor call at inappropriate times or use other high pressure tactics. >> know the warning signs, threats of jail time or arrests. these are red flags. >>> well, as parents know sleep is often a delicate balanc

jail and prison expansion in california and right here in los angeles. so my question is, does the audience know that there's a billion dollars in jerry brown's new budget to delegate out to counties for new jail expansion? does the audience know that -- yes. do you know that $2 billion is being spent on a project for l.a. to expand the jail system, and what do you think of l.a. county getting a billion dollars over the four years of realignment and giving 90% of it to the sheriff's department and almost nothing to community organizations? >> well, i'd actually like to address that. i'm probably one of the most staunch person, people against building additional prisons or expanding our prison and jail system in any form. however, we have to focus on what's happened with realignment. with realignment we've pushed more people into our jail systems that, unfortunately, are mentally ill, that need rehabilitative and educational programs, and they're there are. so i don't know how many people who have visited our current jail system, the l.a. county jail, but it is horrid conditions that exist there. and so i'm okay with a situation where we are having better facilities to treat people

jail. >> reporter: it's a vicious call, and the feds say it's illegal. >> i'm not working. >> with that being said, i will have no choice but to forward it to los angeles countywever, los angeles county will issue a warrant for your arrest. >> reporter: this morning the fbi and u.s. attorney saying calls like this are an example of a scam sweeping the nation. >> we arrested seven people and shut down the business. you have to bring the hammer of the criminal law to bail. >> reporter: announcing charges against georgia-based william, scott and associate, alleged thieves who they say conned 6,000 people out of $4 million. tricking victims into believing they committed a crime and bullying them into paying up bogus debts. >> you think an eight months pregnant woman wants to go to jail. >> i don't care if you're 9 months pregnant. i have a job to do. >> reporter: but there are more scammers on the loose. >> we shut down one today. and there are a lot of companies that do this, victimize not just 6,000 people, but hundreds of thousands of people around the country. >> reporter: how do you spot a fake? >> a legitimate debt collector will not lie or deceive, try to