LILLY RODRIGUEZ: A lot me just because of my size. [music playing] Even with my own family
they see me like, are you really doing this? I just have to prove myself. [music playing] Yellow, por favor. Count time. [laughter] [music playing] LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Ms. Rodriguez
or Officer Rodriguez. INMATE: Officer. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: I
want them to see me as a CO, not just as a female. And they need to respect
me just like any other CO. AARON BELL: The gang
members once they first see Lilly and her
physical stature, they're going to
probably think right away they can intimidate her. It's going to be up to
Lilly to really do her job and write them up and make them
accountable for their actions. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Not yet. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: No. [music playing] If you want to
just lay them out. [music playing] I'll be right back with the dog. We'll let him search it. If he shows any kind of
indication or whatever, we'll go from there and we'll
check whatever we need to. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: OK. All right. Here. This is Jimmy. He's pretty friendly. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. He knows that we're going
to work so he's excited. [music playing] Check. Check. Check. Oh. He took a second whiff. There's odors. If you want to go
through some of these to see if you can see anything. Hold it up to the light. You can see that there's
nothing back there. Can you see it? LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. I've always wanted to work
with STIU because in the prison system, they're
like the detectives and they also work with the FBI. When I was a kid I remember
I saw this movie about an FBI agent and she went undercover. And ever since I saw
that, I loved the idea and I wanted to be an FBI agent. So suboxone is probably our
biggest-- our biggest issue. But suboxone's so
little that that's why these guys do it over here. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. They replace the heroin. Our gang culture has a
greater influence because they have controlled suboxone. Depending on
what season it is, like around Thanksgiving there's
a lot of orange envelopes so it's easier to-- for them to hide it. On the edge. Oh yeah. That's a party. Is this our folks? LILLY RODRIGUEZ: This one. He's an SNM-er. Oh, there it is. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Now I
know where to look for it and what it looks like. I'd say about
four strips total. A good one. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: There's a
lot of drugs inside the prison already. And we can't stop all of it. But just finding a little
bit at a time, it-- it feels good. [music playing] It's a good day today. You have the phone? LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Se
we're missing one. [music playing] ADOLPH ARAIZA: We need
to find the phone. If they're keeping
that phone hostage, you don't know what that
inmate could be doing with it. [music playing] INMATE: If we're trying
to get something done, we have to sometimes
take the phone hostage. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Just the
fact that they're inmates, I don't want to treat them
like they're bad people. I mean, my dad was in prison
so I try to give them a chance. But this is really bad. They could be trying to make
deals outside of the prison. [music playing] AARON BELL: The con
games that inmates play, it's an ongoing evolution
of cat and mouse between officer and inmate. If you forget where you
are, you become complacent. They can get one over on you. You make that mistake, guess
what, you may not go home. LILLY RODRIGUEZ:
I didn't see it. ADOLPH ARAIZA: I advised
the officers to disconnect all the phone lines. So that way none of the
inmates can use the phones until that phone comes up. [music playing] Yes. Thank you. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Really? LILLY RODRIGUEZ: I asked him
straight up if he had the phone and he said no. Hey, I got the phone. Yeah. Yeah, I know. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: He
probably lied to me just because I'm a rookie. I should've known better. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Now I know
where to look next time. It's my first time working as
a control officer on level six. I carry the weapon with me and I
watch out for my other officers and make sure nothing
happens to them. You have to act quickly
and decisively because I'm responsible for their life. [door banging] [screaming] I think I see blood. It is scary to deal
with an inmate who self-harms because you
never know what they're going to try to do next. LILLY RODRIGUEZ:
[inaudible],, Rodriguez. Yeah, there's blood
on the window. Yeah, they're taking him to
medical right now though. It helps me grow. It helps me learn and
just get that tough skin. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Yes, sir. Count time. Count time, let's go. Ever since I started, I don't
really have my own unit and I, like, move a lot. But since I'm always here in
3A, it feels like my unit now. They try to test me. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: You
had all day to do that. I've noticed how I've changed. INMATE: We always have to
wait to the last minute. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: You're not. You guys did have all day. INMATE: You're acting up. LILLY RODRIGUEZ:
You're acting up. When I first started
here, everybody thought I was quiet and shy. Come on, count time. I remember the first
day I got there, I thought to myself, what the
hell did I get myself into? But as time goes on,
I see myself, like, more confident than before. [music playing] Sir, can you step out, please? INMATE: Sure. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: You're
the lucky one today. Right now, because they
know it's a shakedown, there's a lot of tension. With all the gang
activity in this facility, I don't think any CO could
let their guard down. They're always finding
new ways to hide things, especially drugs. OK, we have to go
to the other part, so I guess that's
good enough for here. AARON BELL: With the take down
of the SNM still going on, it's more dangerous
now than ever. If a rookie officer
overlooks something during a shakedown, a knife,
or a weapon, or a shank. Obviously that can
lead to a major-- major assault or a murder. LILLY RODRIGUEZ:
Yeah, I put it here. It was some sticks. They had it all connected
through his vent to the next door's vent. They could probably
pass things with this, especially drugs,
contraband, and weapons and that could be dangerous. AARON BELL: Lilly Rodriguez,
she was an X factor for me. She's 4 foot 9", 5 foot,
all 100 pounds soaking wet. She's a small natured
very young female. Ultimately, I thought
she was going to fail and she's proved all
of us wrong here. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: Keep
your comments to yourself. LILLY RODRIGUEZ: I guess
to prove everybody wrong. Because I do get a lot of
stuff that I'm too small, that I'm too girly girl. But it does feel like
I'm finding my voice. [music playing]
