(intense music) - I hate this unit. How do you open
any of the doors? - Sometimes, I don't
know what I'm doing. Oh, [beep]. - [Award Commentator]
Officer Charles Miller. - My dad, he works at the
prison as a lieutenant. It's a lot of pressure. I do get anxious, or
nervous, to do a good job. - He lied to me. Just cause I'm a rookie, I should have known better. - My partner and I were
assaulted by an inmate. The incident could've got
a lot worse than it did. - [CO] Ok guys get back
to your unit! (intense music) - Inmates don't walk
through our prison gates because they have a history
of following the rules. - Sorry [beep]. (inmates howling) - They've either got
the right mindset to work in here or they don't. - [beep] the police! - You can pretty much
tell right from the gate. - The first year in their career is the make or break point for
a state correction officer. - Survival of the fittest. You can't show you're weak. - At the end of the day, these young rookie
corrections officers know deep down inside, do I want to go to
work tomorrow or not? (intense music) - Driving to work, I
start sweating and, like, I'm thinking, oh my God, what am I getting
myself into today? 'Cause I don't know
what I'm doing. I'm kinda lost right now. - Sign in, get to work, be safe. Guys, be careful. - The Western New Mexico
Correctional Facility is a medium custody
level prison. It is a step towards
reality of what life looks like outside
those prison walls. - This is a privilege unit. They have a lot of freedom. I constantly have to
be watching these guys. Constantly have to be on them. It's hard. My family all expect me to
earn respect with the inmates. (laughing) - But I don't think
the inmates respect me. - When they look at me, they just see a little kid
telling them what to do and they're not gonna do it. All the things on
the windows you guys need to take down too. - It gets to you sometimes. - Fabian Abeyta kinda doesn't
really know what to do. So he's trying to like do
his job and act kinda tough. - Let's go. (laughing) - I thinks people
kinda pick on him because he's a little bit
smaller and looks kinda younger. - Honestly, it just
makes me feel bad because I feel like
I'm not doing enough to control these guys and
to have authority with them. - But I'm still learning,
so it'll get better. The unit is right
next to the highway, which is a pretty scary thing because people throw
things over the fence. We have the most contraband
in the entire facility because it's so easy to get. Right now, I've gotta
do some cell searches. You're constantly
looking for their drugs, you're constantly looking
for all their stuff they shouldn't have. Drugs are a huge deal down here. That's how they
control each other. I have to be able to find that so it's not passed
to the other units. - Inmates have access
to outside parking lots, outside resources, so shakedowns are very, very important
part of their job to keep contraband out. - Their bathroom's what I
really try to check for most because this is where they
do most of their bad things. Oh, [beep]. This is bad. - [Training Officer]
Left, right, left! - [Together] Left,
left, right, left! - [Training Officer] Left,
left, left right Left! - [Together] Work
your body body! - One, two My name is Javier Cazares, I was born in El Paso Texas and I'm twenty years old. As a kid I would
always tell myself, I wanna be in Law Enforcement, I want to be in Law Enforcement, I want to be in Law Enforcement. The whole way. - Class 331. - [Together] Yes, sir! - Every day, somewhere
in the United States, some correctional
officer gets assaulted. It's quick, it's fast,
and it's very violent. Don't let that be one of you. - [Together] Yes, sir! - This academy is
a filtration system for what we put
in our facilities. Ready, go! Everybody should be
facing the same direction. If they're not at our
level then they're gone. Squad two, go! - You're here for
a bigger reason. To be a leader. - [Trainer] Ready, move! - My family, they
always say I'm crazy. Everybody says I'm crazy. Gimme the other hand. Gimme the other hand! Because of the things that
I have planned for myself. They're some pretty big goals,
but I'm not gonna give up. - [Trainer] Ready, Move. - Get down! I don't want people to
look at me and be like, he's just part of
the regular people. The ones that just do what
has to be done, and that's it. - [Trainer] Start walking. Keep walking. Focus on the sound of my voice. - I wanna do something bigger. I wanna become a better leader. - [Trainer] Let's
go, hurry up, go! - So that people can
see me and be like, yeah, he knows what he wants, and he knows what
he's going for. - You've got to be strong. If you're not, you're
not going to make it as a correctional officer. Get on the port bar, show
me what you got, Cazares! - Growing up, people did
have low expectations of me. They would say I wouldn't
do anything in life and instead of letting
it bring me down. - Give me two more. - I told myself I was never ever gonna let anything
bring me down again and that I was always gonna
do something to be productive. - [Commanding Officer]
Give me another one. (grunts) Not bad. Come on. (exhales) (grunts) - [Commanding Officer] Come on! - [Commanding Officer]
Come on, now. Come on! - I can't. - Javier Cazares,
he's really motivated and he's starting to try and
become the leader of the class. [The Group Of Trainees]
Come on, come on, come on, come on now! Trainee: (Grunts) - [Together] There you go. - We're gonna push you every day to where you wanna give up but we're gonna make
you earn the badge, we're gonna make
you earn the job. If we make you earn it, then at the end of the
day, you'll respect it! - Lets go ready,
one, two, three, go. - [Together] One, two, three... - [Commanding Officer]
No, no, no, no. Are you ready to quit? - Quitting is the last thing I would say would cross my
mind, in anything that I do. Whenever you quit on yourself, you're just letting
yourself down, and not allowing
yourself to grow. - Until I see six inches
underneath everybody's heels, we will stay in this position. - [Cazares] Lets go guys! - Do you have what it takes? - Come on guys, why
can't you guys do it? (intense music) - The new COs, a lot of them, will never have their
eyes really opened. Until they see somebody
taken out on a stretcher. They need to see that. - [Lilly] It is scary. The SNM, they're known
as the rule breakers. - New details tonight about
the death of an inmate at the Southern New Mexico
Correctional Facility. Authorities tell
us Javier Molina was attacked and murdered by
fellow gang members last night. - These inmates now are
on lock down status, do to the fact that they
committed a homicide. We isolated all the SNM
to live with themselves, because they were causing
chaos within our institutions. Committing violent crimes. Committing assaults. Committing homicides. So now that they are all
combined with each other, we will start trying to
integrate them back out to where they have some
kind of inmate movement on the tiers, this unit
is a very dangerous unit. - [Lilly] Cause they're SNMers, a lot of the officers
don't want to work here. - Yeah, Please. It's my first time working as
a control officer, on level 6. I carry the weapon with me, and I watch out for
my other officers and make sure nothing
happens to them. The risk in this unit is they could just turn on the
officers in an instant. (inmates yelling) I have to act quickly
and decisively because I'm responsible
for their life. If something were to happen, I will just blame myself. - Got it? - [Commanding Officer]
Go head, go head. Go, go, go, go! - We have a bunch of gangs here. They're tryna make a
name for themselves or told to do something
to get ranked in. You have to be ready. What's going on?
- [Miller] Dad! - My dad started to suit me up. With some big ass gear. - Just jumping into cold water. Just seeing how it feels
for the first time. - Stack up, stack up... - [Lieutenant Miller] Ok,
right hand, left hand. Right leg, left leg. - I was pretty excited,
a little nervous. - [Lieutenant Miller]
Let's go guys. - My mind is going a
hundred miles an hour. What if I get hurt, or what if this dude
gets hurt next to me? (energetic music)
(stomping) (intense music) Um, this is bad. I found screws in a
communal part of the pod, but I couldn't write
anybody up for it. I'll just save me a
whole lot of trouble, throw it away for now. Just dispose of it
myself in the dumpster. - You don't follow protocol,
you're deviating policy. It could have huge,
huge ramifications. - It gets to you sometimes, but I can't let these
inmates get inside my head too much to where it wears
down on my job performance. Okay. There's so many little
places they can hide things. Uh-oh. These are dangerous. They can use these to make
a shank or cut somebody. (toilet flushes) - It's not up to an
officer to decide to deviate from policy. - The guys in here
mess with me all day. They don't try to
make my job easier, so I definitely target people. (upbeat music) Where did it go? I just seen like a
rolling paper type thing. Come out of there. Maybe I was just seeing things. I guess I was. (intense music) Since I know this
guy is a smoker, I'm gonna check him
more than others because I feel like this guy
has more than just tobacco. Look at that. Some good old weed. He's gonna get in a lot
of trouble for this. A lot. - You really never
know what to expect when you're coming to work. It could be a good day, it could be a bad day, it
could be your last day. Violence can erupt
at any minute. - [Officer] Keep him restrained. - Last week, my partner and I
were assaulted by an inmate. (yelling) I could've really been hurt. The inmates are
capable of anything. You always have to
be on high alert. It's very stressful. (door opening) It's a little nerve-wracking
being back here. We have new inmates, new faces. (muffled chatter) There's this one inmate, he keeps calling me
by my first name. - It's not appropriate, so I told him to
call me Miss Montoya. - [Ariel] Montoya. - He just doesn't listen. - [Ariel] Montoya. (whistling) - Being here just sucks
because at any given day, any time, any inmate can flip
a switch and assault you. - [Inmate] Ariel. - [Ariel] Surrounded by men, you never know when something
is going to go wrong. - The first time a correctional
officer is assaulted, either he or she decides, this is job for me or
I'm not coming back. How are you doing, hun? At the Level Five now, I see. - Yeah. - How you like it over here? Working with a good crew? - I'm getting used to them. - I heard you were
involved in an incident. - Yeah. - What happened? - We escorted an
inmate to the yard and on the way back, he tried to kick
my partner and I. But the first responders came
and handled everything, so... - How'd you deal with that? - I don't really
know how to react whether to be really angry
or just be glad that I'm ok. - It's overwhelming. - Kind of. - [Bell] I used to
hate coming to work and knowing that you've gotta
put up with the same guy, and it's even more
magnified for you, you know, you've gotta sit
there and deal with a guy that tried to kill you. - Yeah. - Well, I want you
to be safe, alright? I'm very proud of you. If you ever need anything, my door is always open to you. - [Ariel] Alright, thank you. - Alright, God bless, be safe. - Bell is great and I know
everyone has your back here, but, eventually, the prison
just starts to wear on you and you just don't... You just dread coming
to a place like this. ic music) (inmate chatter) - We have SNMers. They killed one in this
unit not too long ago, for being a snitch, and so they've been on
lock down ever since then. They came out one day, and not even five hours passed
when they started fighting, trying to kill another one. (muffled chatter) It's scary knowing what
they are capable of doing, and knowing they
could do it again. Everybody's here? - You're welcome. - [Lilly] I'm in charge
of opening the doors. It's very important for
my officer's safety. - Yes, sir - If you're a control
center officer, you have to be able to
multi-task and be proficient. - [Lilly] Where are you going? - [Bell] You open two
doors at one time, you're gonna have a fight. - [Lilly] Alright. - If you're putting your feet
up and not doing your job, and someone gets
attacked in the unit, guess what? One of your brothers or sisters is not going home that night. - [Lilly] Sometimes everything
happens at the same time. - [Lilly] Red? - [Officer] Yes - [Lilly] Okay. - [Lilly] You need blue pod? - [Officer] Yes. - [Lilly] Alright. - [Lilly] I just have to
keep an eye out on everybody. It's kind of hard. I have to be ready with the
shotgun in case of anything. Can we close? (muffled chatter) - [Lily] From up here
we have to be aware of the inmate's body language. If they're all tensed up,
you know something's up. (upbeat music) - Would you look at that. Some good old weed. He's gonna get in a lot
of trouble for this. He's gonna lose the
chance to go home on time. He's gonna lose his
visits, his commissary, he's gonna lose a lot of things. I'll take this back to my unit. It's really
unfortunate when guys who are supposed to
be getting out soon, do stupid stuff like this. They know what they're
doing in the moment. They know that they shouldn't
be doing things like this. This little tiny
hit of marijuana, it could be used to
control somebody down here. If somebody has
any type of drugs, people want it and they'll
do anything to get this. You gotta have some sort of
control over the inmates, and when you actually find
some contraband on the inmates, that's, that's your
key to that control. It made me feel proud
to catch this guy and actually have some
authority over him. I didn't know I
could do this before. I didn't know how to
manipulate these guys and have control over them, but now that I'm learning
through my experiences, I'm getting more control
and respect over these guys, which is great for me. I'm actually doing my job. I think I did the right thing. (laughing) - Go, go, go, go, go. My mind is going one
hundred miles an hour. What if I get hurt, or what if the dude in
front of me gets hurt? - Alright guys. (intense music) - When it comes to
extraction training, the element of surprise is key. You have to be on your toes. - To dismantle these
organized prison gangs. It's like poking a
snake with a stick. Things are gonna get a
little bit more dangerous, and so we have to be
more prepared than ever. - It was really fast pace. I got in I just see the
shield man, jump up. - They kind of had just
made us go in blind. - Then they was telling
us to cuff him to the bed. I was looking for the hooks, then I only had
one set of cuffs. - Said we hurt his arm. He felt it in his back - I felt bad for the guy. I don't think anybody wants
to see anybody get hurt. - Practice makes
perfect I guess. - Alright guys go ahead,
go back and go dress up. Thank you. - I like learning new things, and that was something I
got to learn new today. Out of the ordinary. It wasn't a walk in the park but once you make a mistake, it's better to just
leave it behind you and try to do more good
than you did bad that day. (fast paced music) (muffled chatter) - [Mangin] What's up, Pedro? (inmate calling out) - [Mangin] Today I got called
in to work overtime over here. - Ariel Montaya hasn't been
here the past two days. - I got pulled to work her post. - [Mangin] I don't know. She's just not here. - I heard that recently
she had been attacked by an inmate in the yard. I hope that this
isn't affecting her, and if it is, then
we're here, you know, to work her post until
she's ready to come back. (phone ringing) - [Recording] Your
call has been forwarded to an automated voice
messaging system. Ariel Montaya is not available. - The first time being
assaulted for any officer is definitely a turning
point in their career. It's hard to judge
how these assaults impact these officers
on an individual basis. I hope that it
doesn't impact her so significantly
that she feels like she doesn't want
to do this anymore - Have I seen officers
have a major level incident and never come back, yes. It's part of the job, and that's the
downside to this job. It's very dangerous. (intense music) (phone rings) - 1B, Rodriguez. Oh, we're getting
someone else right now. - Before count? - Right now? - When you're in
prison, routine is key. - [Lilly] Are you ready? - When you're introducing a
new inmate into a housing unit. (shouting) - It can throw everything off and it can lead to a
major level incident. (shouting) (door slam) - [Lilly] As the
control officer, I'm watching them from afar, but that isn't enough to really
know how they're feeling. (yelling and banging) Is that blood? (intense music) (yelling and banging) - I think I see blood. Can one of you
come check on, 107? Is that blood? - Yeah hold on. - It is scary to deal with
an inmate who self-harms, because you never know what
they're gonna try to do next. I did fall back on my
training at that moment. (phone ringing) - 1B, Rodriguez. Yeah there is blood
on the window. Yeah, they're taking him to
medical right now though. You're welcome. This incident boosted
my confidence. Now I know what I
need to watch out for. I need to see what's,
what I hear around me. It helps me grow,
it helps me learn and just get that tough skin. - [Lilly] Yes, sir, alrighty. - You guys have a seat. Today when we're
doing the searches. The cadets are going to be
paired up with a CERT member. Ask questions so you can learn all the nooks and
crannies of these cells. Where the inmates
like to hide things. Alright you guys line
up in the hallway. Let's go, move! (energetic music) - At a young age, I did take
a lot of responsibility. I had to always be
looking out for my mom, looking out for my sisters. - [Trainer] Forward,
left, right, left! - My dad was actually in prison. That had a really big
impact in my life, because my male role
model had been taken away, but it made me what I am now. My dad told me when
you're in there, they're people too, respect them just like
you respect anybody else, but then I also got to
come in here and do my job. - [Trainer] Alright you
guys find your partner and get with them. - I've never been in prison, so marching over there
I was little scared. I was wondering what are
the inmates gonna do, how are they gonna react? (yelling) - It's very, very
easy to miss something if you're not paying
a lot of attention. I expect good, thorough
searches from you. - When we stepped in
front of that cell, I could just see
him looking out, and he looked like he
was a trouble maker and I thought to myself. What is this guy gonna do? - After we made sure that
he was ok to go outside, we started searching his cell. Grab that mirror. It's easier just
to see like this. - How long do you guys have, usually when you do a shakedown. - Take your time. You don't want to rush it. - The officer that
was assigned to me was actually really good. - Once you've already searched, your gonna put it right there. - And he's like take your
time and search right. I think that's one
of the mistakes that I would have made
if I would have gone in there by myself. What about these
that are taped up? - There's a wire. - Oh okay. Check these real good. - [Cazares] Oh man! - [Officer] Just go
ahead, take it out. - What is it? (upbeat music) - [Officer] Just go
ahead, take it out. - What is it? I was going through the seams because some of them were
torn and some of them weren't. I started working that
thing up to the top and when I pulled it out, I saw that it was a syringe. It looks like it's made
out of a sewing needle then like they melted
something on it. It's actually pretty crafty. It's a good start man,
a really good start. - If we find a syringe in here, we'll probably find
something else. - Where gonna have to take
a little bit more time, to look through his
shoes and stuff. - [Cazares] Ah this
guy's gonna be pissed. - What I don't understand is
how they know all these rules and things but they
still break them. You know what's right
and what's wrong. - Alright.
- Yup. When he came back in that cell, I think he was pretty pissed. We had a couple of things
that we had to take away, but he knows the rules
and he's breaking them. He knew what he was doing wrong. - Some of these inmates, they've been through
almost the same situation that my father was in. If they're breaking the rules, that means, they're
comfortable in here. I don't think that's right. They need to be out there spending time with
their kids and family. I don't wanna be like
that with my son. So I try to do my best,
to be there for him. That way my son can have that male role model,
that I never had. - Unfortunately, I
went against the rules. I did something that
I shouldn't have and I was forced to resign. I am embarrassed, not to be
like, emotional or anything, but it kinda broke my heart. Having to lose that job is like losing a
part of your family. Working at a prison is
probably the most stressful job you could ever work in. You're working with
these convicted felons, who just wanna make
you feel belittled, they wanna make you mad. That can get to
you after a while. I just wanted more power and
more authority over them. I messed up, but it was completely my fault and I do take full
responsibility for breaking the rules. I'm sad that I can't
work there anymore, but I'm glad I did,
and it taught me a lot. - Fabian Abeyta did
not follow protocol. You can't manipulate inmates. That's a whole different level of just not being
prepared to do this job. (emotional music) Working in a prison
is probably one of the hardest
jobs in the world. This job could break a person, and for some of these young,
rookie corrections officers, this is not the place for them. - No one's heard from Ariel. We're all really
worried about her. (knocking on door) - They jumped him. They were trying to kill him. - It all happened so quickly. - This environment is
not a safe place to work. - I'm getting stuck at
boring posts all day. I'm not sure if I actually
want to work this job anymore. - [Cazares] They're walking
around with equipment that could be used as weapons. - We have an inmate refusing
to come out of his cell. - Hey! (coughing)
