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Would throw you in there butt naked. >> tired of the overcrowding and abuse inside the prison, inmates reached their boiling point on february 2nd, 1980. what ensued was one of the deadliest prison riots in u.s. history. inmate carlos cervantes saw it all happen. >> it was like a bomb exploding, it just went off and the whole prison system was taken over, the whole facility. >> for 36 hours, the riot raged out of control. finally, when national guardsmen entered the facility, they found the interior in ruins. 8 officers and over 100 inmates were injured. 33 prisoners were dead. cell block 4 is...

>> the prison's history is notorious. many of the most violent events took place in a facility called the old main. >> inmates had to prove themselves just to survive. >> you had almost 1,200 inmates in that facility that was built for 750. >> you have people living on top of each other, pushing each other. and i mean, there was a lot of tension. >> carlos cervantes was first brought to this prison in 1975. >> there was a lot of harshness as far as punishment. back then you had a hall, which they called the hold, which was a prison cell with nothing but a hole in the middle, and they would thr...

Not because it's my mentality, but it's necessary to survive. >> respect is a very big issue in prison. as i know it is in many of the communities on the streets where these men come from. >> you give what you want. you give respect, you get respect back. >> you can say the wrong word and that can start a whole big melee. >> when an inmate of any race is deemed to be disrespected, pelican bay's powerful gangs band together by race. the slightest of rifts can trigger an institution-wide race war. >> the level of violence is not, you know, overly extreme at the moment but that can change any day...

Next, a look inside one of the deadliest prison riots in u.s. history that forced drastic changes at pnm. >> guys being stabbed and heads cut off. >> it was a madhouse. it really was. playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when things are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy?

>> you can say the wrong word and that can start a whole big melee. >> when an inmate of any race is deemed to be disrespected, pelican bay's powerful gangs band together by race. the slightest of rifts can trigger an institution-wide race war. >> the level of violence is not, you know, overly extreme at the moment but that can change any day. i can't say that it's on a downhill slide, uphill slide, just takes one thing to trigger it off and it's gone. >> next on "lockup," a look back at one of the worst prison riots in u.s. history.