pelican bay state prison was designed as california's new alcatraz, a single facility that would isolate and contain the state's worst inmates, inmates too violent and dangerous for any other institutions. >> i was involved in several fights on the tier. >> stabbings, beatings, pretty regular occurrence around here. >> up here, they killing people. >> i seen people getting their throat cut. i have seen, you know, people get rat packed, you know, five guys on one, get their head smashed in. >> you can get stabbed anywhere. >> i'll never get out of here until i have parole, or die. >> richard kirkland has worked at pelican bay since 1992. in 2004, he became warden of the prison. >> we have approximately in any year, particularly over the last several years, somewhere between 700 and 800 reportable incidents. we end up using force of some sort, whether that's pepper spray, physical holds or otherwise in probably some 400 of those. >> inmates are assigned points based on the severity of their crimes and propensity to inflict violence on other inmates and staff. pelican bay houses level four