. >>> 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

. >> 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

. >>> indiana's wabash valley correctional facility houses nearly 2200 inmates.than one-third of them are doing time for serious violent crimes. unless isolated in solitary confinement, the vast majority of inmates live in two-man cells. pairings are critical and avoiding a volatile mix of cell mates a constant challenge. >> we try to not put people doing life with people who are going home next year or blacks with whites or white supremacist with somebody that might have a child molestation case. just to try to resolve the conflict before it happens. >> but even with careful screening conflicts can still arise between cell mates. >> there was a report we just had an assault. there is a guy in the infirmary with several injuries to his facial and head area. at this point he is saying he had a seizure. we will try to talk to him. he may have been assaulted with a hot pot. we're going to talk to him and see if he is willing to talk at all. >> the victim is curtis cash who is serving a 29-year sentence for burglary. >> cash? >> yeah. >> what's up with you, man? you

. >> wabash valley correctional facility -- a maximum security prison on the western edge of indiana. the center piece of the rural town of carlisle. the inmate population of nearly 2,200 out numbers local residents 4-1. many of indiana's most violent offenders are sent here. >> the approximate breakdown for offenders that have committed serious offenses against a person -- which may be murder, voluntary manslaughter, battery, assault -- is approximately 35% to 40% of our offender population. >> the most violent of these offenders are housed in single person cells, 23 hours a day in the secured confinement unit. >> 1205. >> few however are more notorious than lenard mcquay who has spent 16 years here. >> he still is escorted anywhere he goes by staff. a two-man escort. he'll be cuffed behind the back. his recreation is in solitary, by himself. he doesn't get rec with the other people. his activities are kind of limited. it's all by himself. that unit is designed for people like mcquay. everyone knows his history. >> the most infamous occurred when he was serving his time at indiana st

rural towns of america's heartland, it's changed the face of the inmate population at prisons like wabash valley correctional facility in southwestern indiana. but wabash also houses men doing time for far more serious crimes. men like jeremy blanchard. >> i have never been a drug abuser. i've never been 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, triple murder, and the moniker the local media gave him, kokomo slayer. >> it's telling you that's what i've done. that's who i am. that's what i'm about. yes. >> blanchard tracked down his former girlfriend, jessica berg, her mother and her mother's boyfriend when they traveled to kokomo, indiana, to attend a funeral for jessica's grandmother. blanchard broke into the house th

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 so many get 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 on the street. i wear my white t-shirt one time and throw it away and buy a new one. i'm in here rewashing this damn thing, sure. you make do with what you've got in prison, you know? the things you think you'll never do out on the street is like a luxury in here. this is everything, your kitc

. >> the first time i put on a stab vest was in indiana at wabash valley.t was definitely an uneasy feeling knowing i had to wear this to walk on to the unit an that the potential to be stabbed was higher here. it definitely makes you a little more on your toes and a lot more alert of your environment. >> we noticed that these vests said lock down. wile we're here we're going to slowly but surely change every stinkin' one of them. >> if i'm required to wear a stab vest, i usually just make light of it. i joke around about how it adds ten pounds to me and the color doesn't really go with my outfit. i just make it into a joke. >> and a sense of humor goes a long way in breaking the ice with many of the inmates featured on lockup. >>> coming up, the one "lockup" crew member inmates love to rib. >> sometimes i'll hear people say stuff through their cell, hey fat boy. i have to look at myself, really? >> and later, previously unseen clips there one of the more memorable inmates we've ever met. ting... 1, 2, 3, 4... ♪ ♪look out honey... ♪because i'm using technol

. >> the wabash valley correctional facility in indiana houses a large number of inmates who are, orally ill at the time of their crimes. when "lockup" visited there, we met two such inmates. they killed after their own minds turned on them. and their murders took on dimensions that were not only shocking, they were unimaginable. >> i'm frank street jr., i'm 38 years old. i've been down since 1993 for shooting my mom. >> during our first day of shooting at wabash, our "lockup" crew met frank street, an inmate housed in the prison's residential treatment unit. at the time of the interview, street was experiencing involuntary tremors due to his medication. >> i started having delusions that the people were out there hurting me. and i have this video cassette tape of a party showing people hurting me. and i showed my parents. they said no, no, there ain't nothing to that. i said well you guys are crazy. i'm watching it. they was thinking sane, i was the crazy one. >> a short time later street's delusions got the better of him. >> i load up the 30-30 because i thought people was coming a