they had the big riot i was in this exact spot. >> on that rainy day joshua voss, a newcomer to pelican bay was in the recreation yard with scores of other prisoners. many of them were wearing rain gear, not only as protection from the elements but to hide dozens of homemade weapons. >> i noticed over here some people started stabbing each other. >> this surveillance footage reveals a group of southern mexican gang members unleashing a vicious coordinated attack against a group of black inmates. the beginning of california's worst prison riot. >> i had looked around and all over the yard there was fighting, stabbings going on. >> doug and dozens of his officers tried to subdue inmates with pepper spray and tear gas. every time it seemed the staff had the situation under control, another fight broke out. >> looked like the movie "brave heart" but it was the real deal. >> they started firing shots, so everybody that wasn't involved in the riot laid on the ground. >> even the gun fire raining down from security towers did not quell the riot until one of the inmates was killed. 15 others were w

. >> at pelican bay we saw the definitive inmates guide to distilling white lightning.and drawn illustration confiscated in a cell search. >> i found that in an inmate's cell. it explains to other people on the tier and whatnot how to manufacture pure alcohol. >> they're actually making like -- >> the 150 proof, that's not your regular pruno. a little bit more sophisticated. >> this is the final result. this here is about the equivalent of grain alcohol. whoo. extremely potent. >> how does this stuff taste? talk to me about the taste. >> white lightning tastes exactly like whiskey without the cut. some guys in prison will cut it with say probably kool-aid or something because it's too strong. then you have other inmates who are what we call radicals, they just down it, okay, just raw. a lot of these dudes that make this stuff though they fail to realize that the bacteria in the stuff they're drinking doesn't give them diseases because it's nothing but rotting fruit that the stuff is made from. >> since drunken inmates can lead to big trouble, correctional officers are c

prisiÓn pelican bay, california. el tristemente celebre patio "b"...ltan una cerca ansiosos de participar en otro enfrentamiento racial. esta vez son blancos contra afroamericanos. >>tenemos muchos problemas de pandillas. llegan de la calle con asuntos pendientes y esos problemas no terminan aquÍ, porque los traen a la prisiÓn. narrador: gases lacrimÓgenos son lanzados desde las torres, pero los bandos en guerra no se detienen. los oficiales deben correr el riesgo de entrar a pie. >>nunca sabes si tratan de matarse unos a otros, o si hay armas involucradas. narrador: cuando los guardias forman un perÍmetro, un interno en el medio intenta rescatar a su amigo. inmediatamente, es atacado por mÚltiples oponentes que lo golpean y patean en la cabeza. >>se lanzan sobre otro individuo. dos hombres lo golpean y lo arrojan al suelo. los oficiales usan gas pimienta para reducir a los que estÁn en el borde del tumulto, pero los que estÁn en el centro siguen golpeÁndose hasta el amargo final. finalmente los combatientes son separados y el lugar es controlado. much

. >> when we first met ivory taylor at california's pelican bay state prison he had to be flanked by two officers for his interview in a security housing unit called the shu. >> okay, you got it. look at our man right here. he's got this rambo camera. where they from? >> msnbc. >> nbc? >> msnbc. >> what's your name? >> they call me double life because i got two life sentences. and they call me godzilla because i got more points than anybody else in the prison system. so i fight everybody. i fight anybody that fight with me. and i've been in the hole 19 years straight. >> taylor spent all those years in the shu because of a list of violent infractions rivalling any inmate we've ever profiled on "lockup." >> i had my nose broke. hip broke. shoulder broke. and foot broke all in a conversation with the police yard extraction, pod extraction, hospital extraction, shower extraction, any place you can get into a fight i got in a fight with. >> when our crew later visited taylor's cell he felt compelled to let the producer know that nobody is entirely safe around him. >> the last fight -- tw

she's also going to be the author of a forthcoming book about pelican bay.welcome to all of you. [applause] just to start, i'd love it if you could give me a, give us a sense of what you made of the news today. was the optimism misplaced that things were starting to change in a fundamental way? >> i think for me what i began to see, it was twofold. so there was some optimism that dwindled just because we want to see constant declining numbers, but i think there was a new optimism that arose in me which is targeting of the second strike within our two strikes law. we've built a huge campaign for the third strike within our three strikes law, but the second strike doubles the amount of time that people actually get once they commit a second strike bl offense -- tykeable offense which what's happened now in california has increased the length of time that each inmate is actually spending in our prison systems. ask so i think that -- and so i think that because of these numbers, we'll be able to open a dialogue on how do we now reform the second strike as well a

she is also going to be the author of a book about pelican bay. so welcome to all of you.applause] just a start, i would love it if you could give me a sense of what you made of the news today. misplaced thatm things were starting to change in a fundamental way? , for me, what i began optimism thate wendell just because we want to see constant declining numbers, but i think there was a new optimism that arose in me, which was the targeting of the second strike within our two strikes law. theuilt a huge campaign for third strike within our three strikes law, but the second amount ofbles the time that people actually get once they commit a second strike has --offense, which what happened in california, is that it now increases at the length of time that each inmate is actually spending in our prison system. so i think that because of these numbers, we will be able to open a dialogue on how to we now reform the second strike as well, and continue to take these incremental steps to see real reform, because one of the things that the numbers pointed out is that california and t