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Divulge everything they know to the prison authorities, they then get the protection of being put away from the prison population. >> give up information on the organization and other individuals were involved. they're trying to build up some credibility with you, are you being honest with them? or are you trying to be a sleeper so you can get out there and stab one of these people who has disassociated themselves from these gangs. >> for a gang member, it's probably one of the toughest decisions they'll ever make in their life. >> it's easy to get into the gang and start doing stuff with the ...

They are, puppet masters. i'm not a puppet. >> one of the things i noticed in the transitional housing unit, there's a real mix of prisoners, people that previously on the page yard would have been trying to kill each other. now we're all mixing -- there were books, there were counseling sessions. a much less tense atmosphere from the rest of the prison. the irony, though, is that some of them still carry this weight of being quote/unquote snitches of having divulged information of prison authorities. >> i just seen a lot of the people that were involved with the nazi low riders starting to de...

When your whole environment is nothing but drive byes and gangland slayings. the thrill of surviving every single day is a merit badge. >> even for some of the most hardened prison gang members, the dues of belonging came at too high a cost. >> people would be put in the hat -- meaning the hit list for any agenda. for any reason. i didn't want is that to happen to me. >> when former gang members decided to leave gang life behind, pelican bay had a place for them to go. a protective housing unit. but admittance came with a price. >> one of the areas we filmed at pelican bay was a transitional h...

>> some prison authorities see all this added muscle as a potential security threat, but others see benefits to having weights on the yard. >> i think the important thing for inmates is to keep them occupied. that's what we try to do here at the institution. >> john ault was warden at anamosa state penitentiary at the time we shot there. >> any time you can have inmates participate in some type of meaningful activity it makes their time easier and staff's time much easier. i would much rather have them participate in something positive than talking about how to do a better armed robbery or plo...

They're playing people as a puppet and that's what basically they are, puppet masters. i'm not a puppet. >> one of the things i noticed in the transitional housing unit, there's a real mix of prisoners, people that previously on the main yard would have been trying to kill each other. now we're all mixing -- there were books, counselling sessions, a much less tense atmosphere from the rest of the prison. the irony, though, is that some of them still carry this weight of being snitches, of having divulged information to the prison authorities. >> i just seen a lot of the people that were involv...