. >> with more than 2,000 inmates, the wabash valley correctional facility in southwestern indiana has a larger population and more acreage than the rest of the small town in which it's located. >> carlisle is a very small community, approximately 1,200 is their population. it's comprised of a school. it has a grocery store. it has a gas station, a couple of little restaurants, a dollar store and that's really about all that's in carlisle. >> while carlisle might be a remnant of a simpler time, inside the twin security fences of wabash is evidence of how some aspects of society have grown harder. >> we're seeing a lot more offenders coming in much younger than they were before and much more violent than in the past as well. correctional officers are the backbone of the facility. they're the ones dealing with the offenders on a daily basis. they are frontline. >> i've been hearing about the correction setting since i was 8 years old. i grew up around it. so coming in here was actually kind of easy for me. i already knew what to expect. i've heard all the war stories. >> officer jarrod m

. >>> on the western edge of southern indiana is the wabash valley town of carlisle where main street conjures images of a bygone era, and except for the daily passing of the csx freight line, this one-light town might be all but forgotten. just a couple miles down u.s. 41, however, is evidence that carlisle is anything but forgotten. >> it's 2 1/2 hours away from everywhere. it's just the middle of nowhere. what goes on out here? prison. that's what goes on out here. >> surrounded by little else but big skies, the wabash valley correctional facility houses more than 2,000 convicted felons, including some of the highest security prisoners in the state. it is a fortress among farms. >> we have a total of seven towers blanketing the entire facility, including one tower that's in the center of our south yard. we've got the two sets of fences all the way around the facility. the inner fence is a stun fence, it's a nonlethal stun fence. the outside fence another 14-foot fence covered with razor ribbon. shaker alarm on the motion detector. motion detector in between the fences. we think our

at prisons like wabash valley correctional facility in indiana. but wabash houses men doing time for more serious crimes. men like jeremy blanchard. >> i have never been a drug abuser or a drunk. i knew what i done when i done it. i knew the heinous nature of what i done. i can still to this day remember nearly every blood spot that was in that house. i can remember the wallpaper, the way the bodies were laid. i can remember nearly everything that happened that night. >> blanchard has served a little more than one year of a 195-year sentence. but his facial tattoos will forever commemorate both his crime, the triple murder and the moniker the media gave him, the kokomo slayer. >> that's who i am and what i'm about. yes. >> blanchard tracked down his former girlfriend, her mother, and her mother's boyfriend when they traveled to kokomo, indiana to attend a funeral. blanchard broke into their home, hid inside and stabbed all three to death with a butcher's knife. >> a friend of jessica's told me that she had an abortion and that's what probed my ange

it's easy for me to do crazy stuff when i'm high. >> wabash valley correctional facility has unveiled weapon against meth dealers and addicts in its system. a drug rehabilitation unit called c.l.i.f.f. the program had only been open for a few months when our camera came to visit but was already operating at full capacity. >> clean life is freedom forever is what the acronym really stands for. they have to really work to be involved in it. they have homework. they're on the go from about 5:00 in the morning until about 10:30, 11:00 at night with activities, groups, education. and what i like about it is the individual that's here has to be here of their own accord. it's voluntary. they have to want to change and want to do something. because it does require them to make a lot of effort. >> i just wrote to my mother, who is my best friend. she's the one that's been there for me more than anybody in the world. i love my mom a lot. and i just -- i'm thankful that i got a program like this now and hopefully i can get something out of this so i can show her that i -- that i can change and i

now he's one of more than 2,000 inmates at the wabash valley correctional facility in southwestern indiana. >> yeah, i had a great home, a great mother. you know what i mean? but by the same token, when i step outside my front door, it's the jungle. coming home from school, you may get into a fight, you may get jumped, you may get shot, you know what i mean, may get harassed by the police, but when you grow up around that, it becomes normal. you get accustomed to it, and some may make it out of the neighborhood, if you can see an alternative lifestyle. but a lot of people leave consumed in a lifestyle that leads to prison or death. the street don't give you too many bright endings, man. i ran the streets, man. i did the street life. i'm in here washing clothes by hand and eating bull [ bleep ] chicks, like that, you know what i mean? on the street, i wear my white t-shirt one time and throw it away and buy a new one. you make do with what you've got in prison, you know what i mean? the things you think you'll never do out on the street is like a luxury in here. this is everything, your kit

when we visited indiana's wabash valley correctional facility, officers in the security housing unitest in a string of violent incidents involving convicted burglar, douglas mccombs. >> since he's been inside the shu, he's been on strip cell. when you see the offender coming out wearing his underwear, on strip cell, for resisting staff or trying to assault staff before. we have had trouble with him on about every range we've put him on so far. >> i can't get along with people too much. especially when they're evil. >> one of the people mccombs claims was evil, officer sachen. >> an average day in the shu can be pretty mundane. you have rec and showers to do. you have chow to serve. md sick call. so on, so forth. some days like today get a little more exciting. we had an offender who became belligerent in the shower. >> the offender was mccombs who told us he had good reason to be upset. >> try to get me to take a shower. but they don't have no soap or nothing. i said, ma'am, i just came from the other side, it was nasty where i come from. i need something to wash, a bar of soap. she'

. >> mcquay is not the oinl inmate at wabash valley that has had an awakening. marcus murray is the self-proclaimed priest of a dramatic pagan religion. >> it's the prechristian religion of northern europeans. >> it's proven popular among inmates nationwide and discovered it 12 years earlier. he is serving a 60-year ent sense for beating another man to death. he says this has helped him come to grips with the murder. >> it's a large portion of the viking age history. members have been able to hold meetings but they are using the services to have their gang meetings within the services itself and it's been quite disruptive at these other facilities. >> murray has decided to file a grievance to appeal the ban. >> it is not a gang. it's a religion based on a virtue and knowledge. >> his latest, williams jones junior. >> he's been treating me about what the hammer means and what the different gods and goddesses are. >> jones, who also denies being a white subpoena prem mist came here 3 years ago at age 18. he was sentenced to six years for burglary. >> i was hanging