due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. follow "lockup" producers and crew as they go behind the walls of america's prisons and jails. the scenes you've never seen. "lockup:raw ". >> i tell all the kids, don't come to jail. >> a lot of people don't realize that "lockup" has been on the air since 000. over the years we've filmed in well over 250 prisons and jails across the u.s. and the world. and we're now over 200 episodes into the series and i like to say that someone in my company is usually in a prison or a jail every day, and that's a good

thing. >> look at that sky, good-bye, los angeles! here come the boys. >> every new season of "lockup" begins at the same place -- the airport. >> when we're traveling whether it's to the facility or from the facility, it's kind of a big ordeal. >> eight equipment bags. >> i would say gearwise we probably check in over 300 pounds of gear. we get to a jail or a prison and we go to the first phase of the security. sometimes they'll let us take all the cases up to where they have an office for us and then they'll do the check there. just making sure we don't have weapons and stuff like that. other times, they'll open each and every case and then run each and every case through the x-ray. >> we're preparing to mic up our escorts for the day. >> the biggest thing that gets banned is the tweaker that the audio techs use to change freak sis on their mike. they're like the perfect size

for handcuffs or a shank, so they used to flat out say, you can't bring them in or they would say, i need a visual on them when they enter the facility and when we wrap for the day, i need you to show that to me. >> today is the first day at the tulsa jail. this is ryan, setting up the audio equipment over here. we have the camera getting ready and all our gear getting all prepared to shoot "tulsa lockup >> when we step foot into a new facility, and start to film, it's daunting. when we're finished with a series, we have between 350 and 400 tapes. so when you're putting tape 001 into the camera, a lot happens over the course of four months. so to start and meet brand new people and a new staff, a lot can happen. >> we're filming "lockup," it's a documentary series about life inside jail. >> when we enter a unit, tracy

learns about different people's situations and stories. i've had people come up and approach me and say, that' like to talk. >> go, go, go. >> sometimes, some event will occur. and as we cover that event that leads us into what's going on with those particular inmates. >> so we all have different ways of engaging with people, and from that generates all these different stories. >> all right. thank you. my name is tracy. >> we interview many inmates and staff before we narrow down who makes it into each episode. sometimes the inmates approach us. and they often use one particular technique to tell us about themselves. >> very good. >> there's a tendency for inmates to approach us, wanting to rap for us on camera. ♪ 10 to 20 to life

>> it's a constant theme wherever we go. and oftentimes we're happy to hear people rap and sometimes put them on camera and sometimes not. >> we hear a lot of rap music going into a jail for "extended stay." it could be the banging on the wall in the cell of someone making a beat. ♪ >> it is important to take the time to listen. it reveals things about them. sometimes they're rapping about their personal life. not life inside. it's like they're sharing their story with us through their music ♪ if i had if i had 100 grand ♪ lord that's all i need for one good chance ♪ ♪ i don't blow it all be damned ♪ ♪ it might be enough to take me out of the gutter ♪ ♪ keep the law off my back and get me out of trouble ♪ ♪ and if i don't bubble i don't know how to hustle ♪

♪ you can stay up in the hood or you can ride in your terrain ♪ ♪ you can keep on hustling ♪ but i'm going to follow my dreams ♪ ♪ don't you want to live a casual life ♪ ♪ the type of living that will do you right ♪ ♪ it's up to you to do your thing ♪ ♪ yeah >> then there were the two inmates we met at the santa rita jail near oakland. not only eager to be on camera, they also kept a fellow inmates entertained whether we were filming or not. especially when we were filming ♪ alligators and horses ♪ alligators and horses ♪ lamborghinis and porsche >> ellis williams, when went by the name e.w., and on the left, daniel robinson, known as drew down, were two of the more memorable rappers we've ever encountered. ♪ i smell like a bunch of money ♪ ♪ they think it's coal lon ♪ we don't get along

>> and their rap, alligators and horses, made an impression on one of us. >> it was the most entertaining songs i'd hear while filming "lockup." it was clever and it really stuck with you to the point where i find myself singing it quite often. ♪ alligators and horses ♪ alligators and horses ♪ alligators and horses ♪ lamborghinis and porches >> robinson served as backup this time, his alter ego drew down, was a well-known member of oakland's rap scene. he was a recording artist and appeared in numerous videos and movies. when he came to jail on a dui conviction, everyone seemed to know who he was. ♪ let me show you what a fella can do ♪ ♪ down girl, my first name is drew ♪ >> drew's celebrity status also took on a different tone. all the inmates who thought they were rappers or wannabe rappers,

kind of want to audition for him. >> what you got? what you got? give me a song real fast. ♪ i'm going to get it right eat my paper ♪ ♪ struck me eat with me play with my nose ♪ >> when i come to jail, everybody rap, you know what i'm talking about? you know? my time -- i take my time out to listen to everybody. you know? but everybody ain't good. all right? all right, all right, all right. i'm going the give you lunch for that. >> how often do you get hit on? >> all the time. if it's an artist that wants to rap and he knows it's me, he's going to walk up and he's going to want to spit but i'm going to hold back my tongue. >> one day he held court and basically gave his critique. ♪ i got loud and i stand down like a white boy in an all-black crowd ♪ >> it's all about practice. do you know how to count bars?

>> it's four. >> okay that's four? >> one, two, three -- >> it was a little bit like watching the rap version of "american idol" but with one judge. ♪ i got stories to tell ♪ when i see cops crack me on the spot ♪ ♪ i'm getting fights i get my criminal ♪ >> drew, he was fairly kind but he was also honest. he wasn't quite simon cowell but he was pretty good with his constructive criticism. >> when it's a beat, you got to be on beat. you feel me? you wasn't on beat. >> all right, drew. coming up -- >> you'll hear three, two, one -- all right? >> a "lockup" producer takes one for the team. but first -- >> the only bags of chips you're going to get while you've incarcerated. you cannot get them on the out. >> the unofficial potato chip of jails and prisons everywhere!

>> it just looks like -- what's the carton. that's what it tastes like. >> i would say, food is paramount in a jail. it means everything to inmates. and it last signifies who has money and who doesn't. there are people who don't have a lot of resources, so they have to eat the trays that are given to member. other people are able to get a lot of commissary, and that's a big deal. also, a lot of these inmates use this as a business. >> this is the store. this is the bodega. this is bo bodega, 7-eleven. open 24 hours. >> inmates pay for snacks from the commissary through debits funded by friends and family on the outside.

some like this, who we met in hackensack, new jersey, create their own jailhouse economy. >> i got that, that's nine. >> they give out their commissary now in exchange for repayment with interest later. >> i give them one of these for two of these back. i might give them two of these, sometimes i'll be like, just give me three back. like $52, just offer me $30. >> biggest items we hear about constantly? ramen noodles and honey buns. the inmates can make all sorts of recipes out of ramen noodles. >> and the same with honey buns. food is money in jail. and those two items are, you know, the gold standard. >> i've never seen so much ramen in my life. everybody knows that in jail or prison, ramen ends up being currency, and if that's the case, this is pretty much the ft. knox of the jail. >> the inmates who work the commissary loading dock at san

antonio's bear county jail see it pretty much the same way. >> this is the bank. and i'm the treasurer. >> a haircut costs you a soup, two soups. if you want to buy something for somebody else -- >> we do like a layaway. >> people don't get any money in their books, so they get creative and they start drawing on envelopes. >> let me know the next one, i might cut you a better deal. you know what i'm saying? >> they sell them, they survive and they get to eat. >> i guess you can call them armored trucks. but we drive these carts around and inmates look at us like, wow, we had all that? >> this is the noodle train. >> on it while ramen noodles and honey buns are classics, we've discovered the emergence of a new contender. and it's one that can only be savored by one that works or does time. >> we kept hearing about shabang potato chips and there's this

kind of mystique around this and we're told you can only get them in the jail and they taste better than any potato chip you've ever had, and it kind of build up this myth. >> shabangs is the only kind of chips you can get while you're incarcerated. you cannot get them on the outs and only get them through the commissary and they're like the best chips ever. >> these chips are only sold in prisons. you can't get them anywhere else. they're really, really good. >> better than any chip on the street? >> better than any chip on the street, yes. >> when i first had them, they was nasty. >> but they grew on you? >> you get addicted. you can eat like one bag a day. >> somebody will want a bag of these and i'll give it to them. it cost $2. they give me back $4. so two more bags of this and that's how i keep buying phone cards and that's how you do it. you got to find the hustle when you're in here. got to. >> everybody try it. >> the one and only time i tried a shebang potato chip, frankly, i was pretty hungry so

everything would have tasted good. it was a tasty potato chip. i'm not sure i would rate it far above others, but, it was good. >> but not everyone in our cleveland crew agreed. some had a different take. >> what's shabangs. >> man, i love these chips. >> commissary snack foods and the creative steps inmates take to turn them into feasts, they typically call spreads, make them way into the many "lockup" story lines but they're at the center of our off-camera interactions with inmates. >> more often than not inmates like to offer us some of their homemade concoctions. >> a lot of times when they offer, it's difficult for me because i know how how commissary and how important that is to an inmate. i know it's costly. >> this meal here cost me about $10.50. >> and i feel a little guilty taking any of their food.

>> but like any chef, most inmates are eager to share and want to see our reactions to their creations. when it comes to sampling, our production teams have a code. don't take too much and always finish what you're given. >> i'm going to try it, but that's a lot. i don't want to take everybody's food here. >> production assistant steve capri was still learning the code when he joined us in san antonio where he was offered his first spread. >> this was made from ramen noodles and other things in the commissary. it was pretty good. it was delicious. i got a lot of flack for it because i sort of set mine aside because i was working and i had a lot of things to do and i took a taste and set i aside. jake told me i shouldn't have done that. that that was a disrespectful thing to do. that i wasted some of the inmates' food by setting it aside. i had intended on eating mine but in the end i might have been a little disrespectful of that cook. >> a year later at the jail near oakland, the teacher would once

again become the student. when jake hector made the mistake of sampling the spread soon after a big lunch. >> when we were filming in oakland, there was a group of guys and claimed they made this huge burrito they called the three iguana. >> they wanted to give me the biggest portion. i just ate lunch and there was no way i could eat it all and i didn't want to disrespect them by throwing it away. >> you ain't going to take it? >> i can't eat it all. >> i'm not that hungry. >> can you cut a piece off of it? i don't want to waste it. >> so i told them, cut me a little piece off. >> we should jump his ass. >> and they were joking as if, like, i was disrespecting them by not wanting to eat this huge burrito but they were good natured about it and they wanted me to try it, and i did. >> hold it. now you know. >> woo!

>> you seen his face change? his whole face changed, y'all. >> that's good. really good. >> if i bought this at a burrito stand, i'd be happy. >> right? >> this is probably the best thing -- i've tried spreads all over the place >> this is the best one? >> this is the best. >> i told them it was the best burrito i ever tried in the jail and it was the truth. it was actually the best thing that i've had that was created in a jail. >> best cell made meal i've ever tried. >> we get that. >> don't even buy that -- >> that's on the record. >> that's on the record right there. number one, santa rita, baby. a real burrito! >> coming up, we travel to belgium where a corrections officer shows a young "lockup" production assistant how real football is celebrated. and absolutely it's an ice-breaker. >> our version of television camera diplomacy.

this is a first on "lockup." rarely do you go to a jail that's so big that you have to drive a cart around.

>> covering the activities of hundreds of inmates and officers in jails so big, it's sometimes necessary to traverse them in golf carts. every member of a "lockup" field team plays multiple roles. director of photography, brian kelly, for example, is both cameraman and ice breaker. >> this is what you deal with every single day. it's tough on the outside but this is what we have to deal with every single day. >> one of the ways that brian engages with people, inmates and staff, is through his camera. he's always walking around with a camera on his shoulder and nine times a day we hear, boy, that camera must be heavy. every once in a while brian will say, yeah you want to try it? >> hold on. >> don't drop it. >> i have a rule inside my head. if i hear people talk about the weight of the camera, i'm just going to take it off and whoever asks, i'm just going to show them how it is. >> relax i got it. i got the camera. relax your hand. >> absolutely it's an ice-breaker. >> we might have a new "lockup" shooter.

i don't look for that opportunity but when i hear people, how much does that weigh, hey, man, that has to be heavy. how's your back? your shoulder? it's got to hurt. i'll say, here you go. check it out. >> brian gets lazy in his shooting so he turns it over to a detention officer. >> heavy after a while. to be carrying this around, man, it's probably pretty heavy. >> everything that goes along with the camera, the audio, the batteries, the microphone, it comes in around 26 to 27 pounds. >> that's not comfortable for like for hours and hours and hours like that? >> i've been doing this job for almost 20 years and it's not really the weight of the camera. it's holding it steady. >> you need some steadying thing, too. >> spread your feet a little bit. >> there you go. >> when you hold a camera steady for one and a half, two hours, you're locking all of your shoulder muscles and upper back muscles, you're sitting there rock steady. it does start to get sore and affect you.

field producer susan likes to remind me, jokingly, it is my job. i signed up for it and that's fine, too. i get it. it is heavy but it is my job and i love it. >> i can't take this camera anymore. i'm good. i'm done. oh, my gosh. >> you feel that? >> i could probably count on one hand the number of inmates that i wouldn't allow to hold that camera. i mean, we ask a lot of these guys, and there's a trust issue there. they open their homes to us. it may not sound like that but their cell is their home and they allow us to come in and they answer very personal questions. we ask them a lot. so, i don't have any problem allowing inmates to hold the camera. >> right there. >> focus. >> what do you think? >> you better look up. the camera does wonders for you. >> once the field crew has completed shooting, a team of producers and editors spends weeks turning raw footage into finished episodes.

"lockup" lead editor curtis mcconnell sometimes finds inspiration can sometimes come from something as simple as someone's voice. >> a while back i was working on the santa rosa prison in florida and we're dealing with hundreds of hours of footage. and every once in a while something will jump out. there was an inmate there, jack hill, who was just talking to the camera about life in prison. not really anything in particular. >> nothing changes here. every day is just like yesterday. tomorrow's going to be the same as today. >> but he spoke in such a way that it had a certain cadence of like, a poem or a spoken word. and it really kind of struck a chord with me. and i decided to take that and just create a little vignette of the prison. and it ended up becoming a webisode, and so this is the result. ♪ >> nothing changes here. every day is just like yesterday

and tomorrow's going to be the same as today, you know? about the only thing that changes here is the faces. after a while, even the faces begin to be the same, you know? ♪ >> you know, that's one of the things about doing time. nothing changes. >> the special jail meal designed to be eat be through a straw is sampled by our production assistant. >> it literally tastes like vomit, i'm not kidding. >> and this "lockup" producer will soon receive 50,000 volts right after the phone stops ringing.

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a "lockup" field team consists of five people. a field producer, an associate or segment producer, the director of photography, the sound mixer and the production assistant, or p.a. the p.a.'s job is to set up and carry gear. >> that's a workhorse right there. >> manage paperwork,

occasionally shoot second camera and to look after the rest of the crew. >> snacks, check. everything else, check. >> cart conductor, check. >> they become family. usually figuratively but sometimes, literally. >> there's a bit of a tradition on "lockup" to have my family members work on the show. my sister was a producer. my sons have worked on the show. my middle boy, tommy, was a production assistant on "lockup: orange county jail." >> tell me what happened in there. >> i just got hit on by a bunch of men. >> men? >> women -- or women. it was a very new experience. >> welcome aboard. >> yeah. >> my oldest son, michael, graduated from college and went straight to work on "lockup: world tour" going to scotland and ended up in belgium as a production assistant. >> when we were in belgium a particular officer seemed to kind of create a joking relationship with our production assistant, michael.

the officer was a strong guy and always talking about his strength and prowess. >> got to get low. >> mike played football in high school so he was trying to teach him how they celebrated big plays. three claps and you jump into each other. i don't know. i think there was something lost in translation. >> oh! oh. >> i could see that it probably hurt, but he was laughing along with the rest of us. >> one, two, three -- >> come on! >> so as this thing started to unfold, it seemed to get more and more dramatic. >> you can't kill him before the week is up. >> oh, we're doing it again? all right. >> come o michael! you're 23. >> one -- >> come on, man! >> one, two, three -- down you go!

down you go! down, down! >> i'm somewhat protective of michael. he's a young man. he's our production assistant. he happens to be the boss' son. i could see he was in pain so i was getting a little worried about it. but it was kind of a guy thing. where the -- you know, guys aren't going to admit defeat, and then all the other guys around were laughing about it. i kind of came on a little bit like a mother hen because i was worried about him. >> you wanted to play with him. >> oh, man. >> you okay? >> yeah, i'm good. high-five. maybe next time. >> you're older than me. and wiser, obviously. >> doing this work can sometimes day take an emotional toll on everyone involved. a lot of times when we're filming "lockup" one of the coping mechanisms we use is humor.

>> always about the show. it's always about the she. >> we like to bring some levity into the situation at times with the staff, with each other and even with the inmates. >> the production assistants like jeremy stark often find themselves at the center of the levity. >> two hands. >> our production assistant in san antonio, texas, steve capri, also learned the value of having a good sense of humor. >> you meet a lot of inmates and a lot of people sort of get to know you a little bit, but i'm a fresh face. i'm a young looking guy. i'm maybe not the toughest looking guy on the cellblock, so a lot of the guys when they -- almost instantly would see me, would assign me nicknames. >> what kind of stuff have you been called here, steve? >> since i've been in jail i've gotten the name shaggy from scooby-doo, harry potter. my hair was a little longer when i first game. a little bigger. >> that was the most offensive one.

that hurt my feelings more than the other. >> and then mclovin' is the one i got from "super bad". >> a skinny guy with glasses but funny and he's the best part of that movie so i can't complain much about that one. had when these nicknames started coming at me, it didn't bother me. it was funny. it made me feel like those guys and i had a connection. and it made me feel more comfortable that be if i had no name and they called me, hey, guy, hey you. >> sometimes the production assistant's duties extend beyond the usual tasks. >> we're in the kitchen where they're making food for the inmates and they're cooking up a blended meal. that's for inmates with broken jaws, jaws that are wired shut. >> broken jaws, cookies, bread, the meat, whatever they're making over there, we put in a blender, milk, and we blend it all up, all up good. >> they take whatever's on the menu that day, put it all in a

blender, and that includes the dessert and the beverage and the meat and main course. and they feed it to them through a straw. >> have you ever tasted it? >> no, i don't want to. smells like [ bleep ]. >> so, y'all doing this somebody got to taste it. >> our producer asked if i would give it a try. i decided to be a trooper. >> steve's going to taste it. >> you want to taste this? >> no, but i'm going to. >> steve's going to taste it. >> i don't know how much you want. >> tell me what's in it. >> everything from the serving line. i don't know how much you want. >> not that much. all right. >> see if you can tell what's in it. >> for just a moment it wasn't bad. it didn't taste like almost anything, i thought, okay. this is best case scenario. it just sort of tastes like a bunch of food. no big deal. but about three seconds later, it hit me, all different flavors all at once.

oh, i'd rather have a broken jaw. oh, no, no. it tasted like i was about to throw up in my own mouth. >> it literally tastes like vomit, i'm not kidding. >> that's exactly what it tasted like. like i had thrown up in my own mouth. >> now, jesus! >> you taste it. >> no way! no way! that's what we -- no! >> but it was at the cuyahoga county correction facility in cleveland where our p.a., boggs, would have an unforgettable encounter with the jail's warden, eric ivey. >> warden ivey is a confident guy and he is the best-dressed man i think i've ever met and his clothing and accessories meant everything to him. >> he was stylish. i'll tell you. many occasions where inmates and staff alike, would comment about, you know, how he's looking good. >> i appreciate the compliment.

>> i grew up very poor. i'm always this guy from the inner city of cleveland, you know, raised in cleveland. that's who i am. i remember walking to school some days and i would have holes in the bottom of my shoes, you know. my mom would make me wrap my feet in plastic, you know, and i would walk to school like that. i didn't like that. i kind of vowed to myself, man, i don't like this thing. >> warden ivey really took pride in his shoes. he had so many pairs and names i had never even heard of before. >> what's your most expensive pair of shoes you've ever bought? >> about 600 bucks. alligator. >> like them wheels? >> what are they? >> can't tell you that. >> i'm going to see what brian's wearing. >> the bomb right here. >> let's see your wheels. >> best shoes on the market for walking. >> and what are these for? styling? >> walking and then there's strolling. i'm not walking. i'm strolling.

sometimes i even float. >> one of the days we were filming with warden ivey, we had gotten onto an elevator and our production assistant was pushing our production cart. it's a heavy cart. it goes with us everywhere. and as we got onto the elevator all of a sudden i heard some kind of exclamation from warden ivey. >> i hear behind me, oh, oh, oh, you know and i'm like, what? and come to find out, the production assistant rolled over warden ivey's shoe. >> oh, wow, that is a good scuff. >> what happened? what happened? >> i pulled the cart into the elevator and the warden's foot happened to be under it. >> oh, wait a minute. >> it's the warden's fault? >> the issue with this isn't my foot because my foot is fine. the issue is the ferragamos were scratched. >> warden ivey was kind of joking about it and other staff members were kind of laughing about it, but the fact is, there was a tension there.

>> as you can see here, slightly on the tip there, there's a coat of polish that's been -- i need to go home immediately and correct is that. >> first and last time, boggs. >> do you know how much those costs? >> how much do those shoe worth, warden? >> i can't tell you. >> they are very expensive. very expensive. >> clearly more expensive than what he makes. >> many paychecks. >> he was a correction officer, you would be getting a crappy detail every day. >> in the end, i was thinking, a little bit of shoe buff could probably solve the problem, but for the day, yes, he did have a scuff on his shoe and for that day he had to walk around the jail with a scuff on his shoe. >> you're killing me. >> when we returned to the jail the next day looking for a fresh start, we discovered the shoe saga wasn't about to go away. >> boggs rolled the little card here over the ferragamos. >> oh, no.

you can't mess up the shoes. got to get treatment and everything. i'm sending those out. coming up -- >> this is the deodorant. >> the 1400 series is what we call it. >> tighten it up. >> the ingenious steps inmates take to make jail feel a little more like home. and -- >> i'm nervous. i mean, i'm not going to lie. >> jake hector will be shocked. we promise.

this is my little abode. >> in a world where existence comes with only a few simple possessions, ingenuity reigns supreme. >> the toothbrushes in the vent are for like when i wash my socks out, i hang them up there. that way they dry faster because. heat. >> lip care and m&m. put in a little bit of water and there you go!

>> some of the ingenuity we've seen in jail is quite extraordinary, actually. >> this is a thermos, homemade thermos. mt. dew bottle, some cups, keep your hot water warmer longer. >> we'll show you how to make the recliner and it's just a kick it lounge, or barka lounge. >> i think most people crave creature comforts a lot of those don't exist in jail. so inmates will come up with ways to try to replicate those as best as possible like creating shower heads out of deodorant bottles. >> shower is a real -- they spray out real wide with a fine mist and you will freeze your ass off. so we take these here from a deodorant, with we knock the ball out and take a string and cut this right here off and then you got your shower head. >> want to see us make one? >> we have a personal saw here. we have real saws here. >> it's a nylon string. we pull it out off our mattress.

>> see, it spreads out, man, we don't like it like that because you got to stand to the side and you get cold. we put that one on and this is the ghetto one. just like that. and then it helps you clean a little better. >> we have one that pulsates, screw it back up and goes to straight mist. >> we have the 1400 series, as we call it. i don't like it. tighten it up. then it gets different. but i like mine. >> i make these. i get all the empty ones from everybody because i don't get commissary, and that's how i make my commissary. i get soups and candy bars and stuff like that and give them away. do what i possibly can. we got to eat. >> usually, inmates learn their tricks from other inmates. but at the tulsa county jail, pam hamm told us she learned some of her most useful ideas from watching "lockup."

>> you lift weights with them so i learned how from "lockup." and i learned how to fish, i learned how to do it from "lockup" with the fishing line and the little soap. that's how i learned to make the fishing line from "lockup." >> glad our show can be educational. >> the staffs at most jails consider these homemade devices to be contraband. sometimes they will confiscate them and other times they might just look the other way. but when inmates attempt to improvise one other comfort from home, it will be confiscated and destroyed immediately. >> homemade wine or hooch is one of the most common things we encounter when we're in jails. >> they're always trying to make it, and, of course, staff is always trying to find them making it. >> i was just walking around the unit and i happened to run across him making some hooch, so i'm going to take it from him and let him go about his day.

>> how did you make it? >> an orange, fruit punch kool-aid and water. it usually takes about four days for it to be real strong. it just takes the edge off. it makes your day a little bit more pleasant. >> how does it taste? >> it tastes good. you want to taste it? >> no. i'm afraid i'm on duty, so i can't. >> coming up -- >> we felt pretty confident that they had been through this enough they would keep him safe? >> because pretty confident is a good thing. when you're about to get 50,000 volts through your body.

the vast majority of officers working in the jails we visited are completely unarmed. in many cases they are assigned to a desk by themselves in housing units with well over 50 inmates. >> this is not the psych della era. go get on your shirt on. >> some officers are authorized to carry less than lethal weapon. the most common are tasers, which can deliver a debilitating

shock of 50,000 volts. and the chemical agent known as oc, or pepper spray. >> could you wipe my eyes? >> the officers carry these weapons are required to be exposed to them at part of their training. they need to know the impact they will have on inmates and in the case of pepper spray, they will almost certainly be exposed to it themselves. >> sometime or other you're going to be in an altercation with an inmate and one of your coworkers will come to your aide and one of them will pull out a can of pepper spray and they will spray everybody in sight. so if you know it's coming, there are things you can do to protect yourself. >> we've covered these staff certification drills at various locations. >> you got it, you got it. you got it. >> why are you coughing? >> i can't hear you. i got a whiff of the pepper spray. >> mack, you still good? >> yeah, good. >> once you get down on the ground and you put your hands behind your back, do it now.

taser, taser, taser! stay down. >> let her go! >> that's when the associate producer on the shoot, jake hector, made a declaration. >> i want to get -- i want to get tased but i'm not going to get sprayed. >> i told them one day, i'll get tased and ever since then, a lot of the crew members are asking me, hey, jake, when are you going to get tased? you said you were going to do it. >> he always wanted to get tased for some reason. i can't figure out why but every facility he would visit for whatever reason it didn't happen but when we went to shoot fairfax we were able to fulfill that dream of his. >> it's a weird thing somebody wanting to get tased. what's the philosophy behind that? >> i don't know. i've been sprayed before. i've been around that and i've watched people get tased. i want to -- i eat a lot of the foods that are here and i want the full experience without being locked up. >> a lot of times, some of the

people that i meet, we don't have much in common. we're from two different worlds. but while i'm in there, if i can kind of walk a mile in their shoes, whether it be by eating what they eat, playing the games they play -- it's not your traditional game of monopoly -- or even something as far as getting tased, i don't mind doing it if it's going to bring me closer to them and let me know more about their stories and feel what they're feeling. i'm nervous. i'm not going to lie. >> one of your teammates has decided to take a voluntary exposure with the electronic control device. we use this to take the fight out of the subject. this is what is considered less lethal. it's not considered nonlethal. there's always the possibility of an issue happening. >> this guy's crazy. >> the cert team went through all their procedures. they had a mat laid out. they had guys to hold them up. >> i want the holders to have it and if somebody is going to be in front -- >> we felt pretty confident they had been through this enough they would keep him safe.

>> not many people stupid enough to do this. that's for sure. >> i'm going to pull the trigger, take my finger off of it. it will go ahead and run for its 5.1 seconds. that was a quick 5.1. no big deal. and then we'll go ahead and remove the probes and help him to his feet. >> this is kind of routine for them. in their training they all get tased and they're very responsible about the way they handle the gear and all the experience. >> it's one of the things i opened my mouth about and always said i wanted to, which i have, but until you're standing here waiting for it, it's like, what was i thinking? >> going into it we had joked around had he gone to the bathroom. >> only one time i've seen someone urinate themselves, but not saying that doesn't happen. usually before any voluntarily exposure, we tell everybody to go ahead and take care of whatever they need to before they're exposed. do you have any preexisting injuries? >> do not. >> okay.

do you have any questions? >> no. i voluntarily give you my consent to tase me and i'm holding no one liable. >> you did take a battle crap before? >> i did not. i'm good. >> any questions? >> do you think i'm an idiot for doing this? >> i've done it. >> bring it in here like that. you'll hear three, two, one -- all right? >> in that time waiting, that was probably the most tense i've been in a long time. right about when he was about to call out one, two, three -- >> i'm going to ask you if you're ready -- >> one of the deputy's cell phones started ringing. >> all right. >> so he puts his phone away and we start going begin. get ready to do it -- >> all right. >> -- and his phone rings again. >> you want to take care of that? >> shut the phone off.

>> at this point i'm thinking it was a joke. >> you're delaying the inevitable. >> luckily he put the phone down and counted down to three. >> three, two, one. >> okay. good job! >> stay right there. >> it felt like i got hit by a truck. i can't describe the feemg. it's like nothing i ever felt before. >> just go ahead and stay where you're at. >> i'm good. >> going to take your probes out. >> it felt like rolling waves of electricity throughout my back. i could feel the shaking and it was scaring me to think that my body was shaking in such a manner, but there's really no residual effect. after the five seconds passed i felt completely normal. i was shocked at how normal i actually felt. >> how do you feel? >> i feel good now that it's done. >> that was a quick five seconds, wasn't it? >> that was five seconds, really? >> yes, sir. >> it did not feel like five seconds. >> okay. so you're going to have two marks there for the next couple of days. go ahead and help him up.

>> memories to last a lifetime. >> i can't say that i get any satisfaction out of any trigger pull, but this was an enjoyable one for me. >> how did that feel? >> i mean, that was bad. it was debilitating. i mean, there's nothing like it i've ever experienced. i definitely wouldn't want to experience it again. i've watched many inmates tell me they won't do certain things after doing that. i've always wondered that. now i know why. that is not fun. definitely effective. >> but it is amazing how quickly you recover. >> it is. now that i've had this to experience i understand as an officer how important every second is, whether it be to handcuff the person or just to detain them because when that five seconds is up, they're fine and they can come at you real easily. >> okay. who's next? >> should we do one more for sound? >> the sound is good. >> we weren't rolling. damn it! >> no, no, we're good. >> are you tired? >> this is helping.

due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons to a world of chaos and danger. now, the scenes you've never seen. "lockup: raw." the day we arrived at colorado state penitentiary, a super max prison at the base of the rocky mountains, we found a sterile environment, steel doors behind austere environment, steel doors behind which inmates are locked up 23 hours a day. but despite his surroundings