system. >> pelican bay does have a high quantity of very assaultive inmates. due to our mission at pelican bay, we are tasked with housing the worst inmates in the state of california. >> we house inmates that had problems programming in other institutions. they have disciplinarians, staff assaults, inmate assaults, conspiracy to commit assault, drug trafficking, you name it, and then we get them. >> pelican bay houses the most dangerous individuals in the state, yet the majority of the violence that occurs here can be attributed to a predatory phenomenon that permeates california's entire correctional system, the prison gang. prison gangs are estimated to be responsible for up to 75% of all violent assault and drug trafficking within the prison system. pelican bay's mission is to break the stranglehold of prison gangs throughout the state. in california, most convicts who are affiliated with prison gangs or are suspected of being affiliated with prison gangs are banished to pelican bay. inside this world, racial labeling and profiling is a commonly accepted p

teda boyle is a retired lieutenant from pelican bay. she was a watch commander on the day of the riot. >> the kind of people that were there were guilty of some of the most heinous crimes. murder, strong-armed robbery, rape. >> within the 275-acre penitentiary is the security housing unit known as the shoe. a prison within a prison. shoe inmates spend about 22 hours of every day in solitary confinement. locked up in an 8 x 10 windowless cement cell with little human contact. inside the shoe are about 1,000 level-four prisoners, what boyle calls the worst of the worst. inmates that other wardens don't want or can't handle. dangerous gangs founded within the penal community. >> because of their gang leadership, they have the authority to authorize other people in the community to commit these types of crimes. >> and on that day two alleged gangs go to war. it's sunday, and it's raining. 200 shoe prisoners are released into b yard for exercise. boyle says that the entire prison is on edge dating back to a smaller racially charged riot six

that violence could be against other inmates or against officers. >> it was here in pelican bay's most secure unit that we came across perhaps the prison's most dangerous inmate. >> my name is scanvinski hymes. i got the name from my mother. she wanted me to have the name no other black man in america would have. >> hymes was originally sent to prison for possessing a weapon in a youth facility. at the time our cameras profiled him in 2000, he had been locked up for more than 12 years, almost half his life. >> everything is the same. nothing really changes too much. i mean, wake up in the morning, eat breakfast, go to the yard. when i get bored, i got -- i got to get into stuff, you know? >> the stuff hymes most frequently gets into is provoking officers to extract him from his cell. each inmate is assigned a security risk classification score based on his disciplinary record. [ bleep ] the average score ranges between 19 and 27 points. >> i probably have the highest classification score in this prison system, i'm over 2,000 points now. i have caught over 30, almost 40 felonies in pris

that violence could be against other inmates or against officers. >> it was here in pelican bay's mostecure unit that we came across perhaps the prison's most dangerous inmate. >> my name is scanvinski hymes. i got the name from my mother. she wanted me to have the name no other black man in america would have. >> hymes was originally sent to prison for possessing a weapon in a youth facility. at the time our cameras profiled him in 2000, he had been locked up for more than 12 years, almost half his life. >> everything is the same. nothing really changes too much. i mean, wake up in the morning, eat breakfast, go to the yard. when i get bored, i got -- i got to get into stuff, you know? >> the stuff hymes most frequently gets into is provoking officers to extract him from his cell. each inmate is assigned a security risk classification score based on his disciplinary record. [ bleep ] the average score ranges between 19 and 27 points. >> i probably have the highest classification score in this prison system, i'm over 2,000 points now. i have caught over 30, almost 40 felonies in prison

i charge pelican bay with racism, promoting inmate-on-inmate violence.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 think that's what pelican bay is about. only the strongest are the ones that are going to make it, you know. >> while leon refuses to disavow loyalty to his gang, the prison sees a slow but steady flow of inmates who do through a process called debriefing. they not only break the code, they smash it to bits. >> it's basically when existing gang members want to get out of a gang inside a prison. and in order to do that, there's a whole debriefing process they have to go through. and it basically entails the inmate coming in and confessing everything's he's done with the gang and sometimes even, you know, throwing some people under the bus and confessing against other people. so it's really a deadly thing for someone to do inside a prison. >> when inmates debrief, they must write a lengthy account of their criminal history both in and out of prison. the review process can take months. but if accepted, the inmates will be allowed to live in the safety of a protective custody unit and be granted many more privileges than they w

inside pelican bay.est maximum security prison. >> i don't care if you're a peace officer, if you're the governor, if you're the president. if you do something to me, it's on. >> heims is a career-inmate with 19 of his 37 years spent behind bars. >> turn around. officers in several california prisons have gotten plenty of opportunities to document his bad behavior on video tape. while most inmates try to deal with prison life the best they can, heims has fought the system all the way. >> it's going to be like starting a whole new life. i can go nymph. i can get a pass port, i can do anything, if i want to. i'm not under the supervision of law enforcement, you know, at all times, like i have been. basically, i can do anything i want to. >> although he, ms has reached the end of his sentence, the stakes are gensz him. >> i think he is aware that if he kmits another crime and is prosecuted for that, it could very well be a third strike, which he would be looking at 25 to life. >> i'm too old now, you know.