nestled in the high desert mountains and a 40-mile bus ride north of downtown los angeles is the peter j. pitchessfter a former sheriff, the pitchess detention center is comprised of four jails set on 2,500 acres. south facility is an outside jail for low to medium security inmates. north facility is a modern-looking maximum security jail. east facility, or old max, is the oldest 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 jail doesn't really work for us anymore. and what we have here is 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 sugg