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i'm not going to be dealing with firearms. >> ready. forward, march! >> i'm done with the little hood rat scenario. it's time to be a man. >> left. [ chanting ] >> that's how we do it in here. >> one unit! >> to go back in. say good-bye to my old buddies. it will be the last time that i see most of them. i might see some of them again. but i'm glad to leave. three years is a long time to be locked up. i've changed myself. so i mean i'm out of here. so -- >> what time do you go home today, john? >> 12:00, sir. >> after spending nearly all of his teenaged years in detention centers in lockup in pendleton, 18-year-old john madden is about to be a free man. >> question, should we walk the line, sir?
their hands full interviewing other offenders who want a shot at being in the future soldier program. >> recite the pledge. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag -- >> 150 of pendleton's 300 inmates have applied for the unit. currently, there's only room for three more. >> it's a tight unit. we have to be very careful who we let into the unit. today is the selection interview process. we're going to do our best to screen out any people that might be detrimental to good order and discipline in the unit because we have to protect that. >> why are you requesting to join e-15? >> i would like to get away from negative peers. a lot of negative peers on the unit i'm on now. so i know that if i come here, i have an opportunity to go home. >> we get up at 4:50 in the morning. is that going to be a problem? >> no, sir. >> it's a very structured environment.
wasn't going to leave by myself. >> after hours of interviews and debate the team has narrowed its search but there's no guarantee all three spots will be filled. >> i could see him doing good on this unit. i'm concerned about a lot of the manipulation that's in his background. >> you look at the pool of recruits that we have, you know general recruiter on the outside, you know they go to high schools and recruit. we go to general population and recruit. a lot of guys are coming to e-15 they really want to improve themselves. >> we want the ones that really want to change. >> yeah. >> one, sir. >> the officers of echo 15 found their star soldier when madden walked through the door. before he can officially graduate from the program, he has one final step. passing his release interview with the pendleton staff. that's about to get a whole lot harder than he thought. >> is that your uniform? >> yes, sir. >> why aren't you wearing your jump boots? >> they are on the unit, sir. >> but that still doesn't answer
>> frustrated. this teacher won't let me go to school. >> initially what had happened was the student was upset that he wanted to go speak with the teacher that we have on the unit. >> why would they not want you to go to school? >> i'm supposed to be working on my ged. he said if i go to that school they will not -- and then the white student said, bring him in. >> so he was pulling the race card and was wanting her -- he wanted her attention right then and there and she wasn't able to give him that right then and there and he was wanting to act out. >> so we're hungry and feeling some racial tension. >> racism. >> okay racism and the teacher won't let you get educated? >> yes. >> but what was the first established point of interest here? >> i act, yes. >> you told me you're the biggest threat to this facility. >> i am. >> so he was kicking on this door asking for the care team
environment at pendleton segregation unit that can be a challenge. >> some days when these young men come in, they're going to fight with me and they're going do everything they can to disrupt. a lot of them are so used to adult figures fighting with them and if you push back and then they'll push back and then you're locked in a battle and i'm not going to win and they're not going to win and i think a lot of it has to depend with the kids, wake up. does that light bulb go off? >> i got some sacks for you. >> so we got a lunch. there's check one. >> milk. >> it's all in presentation skills. you get that, right? >> yes. >> so how you're presenting yourself might be with a little bit of an edge that they're kind of giving you back an edge. >> i saw it as a positive. >> i understand that and you've been very positive here and now. but if you're upset -- sometimes when i'm upset i got a little more edge than usual and they're hearing that and they may be giving that back. so can we get him some rec so he can work some of that? part of theunder lying problem is he's going a little stir crazy. >> okay i will work that in my schedule. >> but you need to continue to be compliant for him to give a little bit.
fool and expect to come over to our program because it's not going to happen. if we bring you back over here, are you going to batter somebody else on our unit? >> well, you might see me trying to make an excuse, but i don't have any problems with nobody over here. and that's my word. >> okay. >> it's a real good group of guys that we've got over there. working on team-building right now and it's coming along nice. >> it doesn't matter whether you get on this unit or not, eventually you'll have to learn how to handle your anger without fighting. whether it's here or in 14, go wherever. and once you do that, it's not going to matter what unit you're in and you'll be where you need to be. >> by midafternoon, the last offender of the day makes his pitch to get into the program. >> and why are you in juvenile this time? >> strong armed robbery. >> how long you have been in the department of corrections? >> since i was 12. >> my biggest concern is your gang affiliation. so how are you going to convince me that you're renouncing your gang and you're folding your flag? >> i did that before i decided to come over here.
>> walk the line. >> stay out of trouble. have fun, bro. >> have fun. >> one time. >> one unit. >> the question is, permission to walk the line, sir. >> walk the line. >> whose house is this? >> our house! >> ohh-wa. >> ohh-wa. >> i'll miss you all, man. >> yes, sir. >> let's go see. >> as madden gets ready for his final graduation ceremony, just steps away, his mom prepares to see her son for the first time in two years. >> it's very hard on your emotions. i hate to say it, but after a while you kind of get used to him being gone, but i could come across a sock that belonged to him or walk back past something that his favorite or something and just, you know, break down
go to bed at the same time. there's no horseplay, absolutely no horseplay. is that going to be a problem? >> no, sir. >> 2100 is lights out, taps. there is no talking. if you was to be caught talking, the whole room gets up and does p.t. >> p.t.? >> physical training. >> would you have any problems with that? >> no, sir. >> how are you going to be able to handle taking direction and orders from other guys in your position? >> well, sir, i would think to myself if i listen to them then maybe one day i'll be able to get up there and be able to be the one. >> great answer. >> even though this offender has all the right answers, the decision to accept him into the unit is complicated. >> these juveniles come from horrible backgrounds. i tend not judge them but we want to ask ourselves, do we think they're going to learn in this unit? >> the military team must weigh their personal feelings about the offender with the troubling events that brought him to pendleton in the first place. and competition to get into
echo-15 is tough. >> i wouldn't say i wouldn't let him on the unit. we have to weigh him out once we go through everyone else. >> he's always followed my orders. he's never questioned me. i was a new guy. brand-new on his unit, and he never gave me an ounce of trouble. >> as the interviews continue a familiar face walks through the door. >> pick your head up, man. >> i'm trying, you know. >> don't be nervous. you know us all. >> this impulsive teen was kicked out of the program once before. >> why do you want to come back to the unit? >> i can't do anything positive because of my actions and just getting mad all of the time. i was never mad over here. i just didn't feel that i was really ready to be over here. >> then why did you get taken off the unit? >> i battered somebody. >> why did you batter him? >> i heard some stuff that he did about me so i just took my anger out at that time. >> you got to earn it. you can't be out in gp acting a
these resources in the offender while he's at the facility and returning them back to the same environment that he was in before he came here, and the idea is that when they complete the future soldier program, they'll be released directly into one of the military branches. and leave here and go direct to boot camp. >> echo 15 -- >> housed in pendleton's echo 15 unit, 24 carefully screened offenders make up the future soldier's program. but getting their prison walking papers, and marching straight to boot camp, isn't so simple. there's still red tape. military requirements demand offenders be out of pendleton 30 days after their release before they can officially enlist and 30 days can be a lifetime for kids like madden, who returned to drugs and gang infested neighborhoods. >> what really makes me nervous is him returning back to his old environment and the situations that got him in trouble in the