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At the cuyahoga county correction center in cleveland, some inmates are eligible for jailhouse jobs. these inmate workers are called trustees. >> i have about 75 kitchen trustees. probably about 15, 16 safety and sanitation and eight barbers and out of 2300 inmates, it is a privilege to be a trustee. >> trustees are not paid for their labor but are rewarded with time out of their cells, extra food, and possibly time off their sentences. >> it is all to the discretion of the judge. if he wants to give him good time. we have a lot of individuals who are sentenced to 180 days and get 90 days off....

Pass out dinner on that side for me. thank you. >> the kitchen staff at oakland's santa rita jail must prepare and deliver meals for 3,000 inmates, three times per day, seven days a week. it's a big job, but the end result rarely wins praise. >> this is very unappetizing, bland. >> we call it white dip because, uh, we don't know how they make it, and it might kill you, but it's all we got to eat. >> but for inmate workers like vincent del judas, chow time offers a break from an otherwise monotonous existence. >> i'm a pod worker. we get to stay out of our cell and clean our pods, help out with...

Now back to "lockup." at the fairfax county adult detention center, feeding the 1,200 men and women incarcerated here falls to inmate workers like rasheed conte. in this kitchen, they learn to do things big. >> right now what i'm doing is i'm just going to boil the potatoes first, for 45 minutes or an hour. then i'm going to take them over, mash them with butter and milk. most jails use instant potatoes. we're using real potatoes here. >> conte is part of a crew that serves about 26,000 inmate meals a week. >> they order approximately 30,000 pounds of food per week. 18,000 cookies, 10,600 ei...

Look at all that. look at all that money. >> yeah, buddy. >> look at all those chips. >> that's why i don't have commissary left. i play poker like crap. >> this is the first grab in the toilet tomorrow. >> that and a bag of chips, i got your number. >> the inmate workers housed in orange county's theo lacey jail are ready to bunk down for the night. >> oh! >> what you got, what you got, what you got? >> three of a kind right there. >> all right, hold on. let me go mortgage my house. i want to play again. >> but they're in for a surprise. >> so what's going to happen is we're going to have abo...

Every year, about 55,000 men and women pass through the booking department of the hamilton county justice center in cincinnati. >> can i get my panties, please? >> most will be released within hours. but for those who stay, the jail will become their home for an indefinite period of time. the job of keeping it clean falls to inmate workers, known here as porters, like thomas sheely. >> our day starts with empty trash cans, taking care of the walls, cells as they empty, and then on to the holding tanks. >> in jail, i am somebody. in here, i feel needed, i guess. i have a purpose.