Kids Behind Bars | National Geographic

This young convict was sent to an adult facility, leaving him alone in a sea of predators and violent offenders.
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Lockdown: Kids Behind Bars : http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/lockdown/all/Overview/?source=4003

Kids Behind Bars | National Geographic
https://youtu.be/DII1uVbf83U

National Geographic
https://www.youtube.com/natgeo

- [Narrator] Ark Valley
is home to 1,000 inmates,

half of whom are violent offenders.

A few are juveniles, like
17 year old Lorenzo Chavez,

who has just arrived.

- I'd rather be in YOS.

From what I heard there's
more beneficial things

at YOS for young offenders.

- [Narrator] But because
of the nature of his crime,

Chavez wasn't eligible for YOS.

- I never thought I'd be here at 17,

in an adult prison.

It's just not a good environment to be in.

I have 19 more years to go.

I kinda try not to think about it,

'cause it does get depressing if

I think about how much time I got.

- [Narrator] Chavez has been in and out of

correction since he was 10.

As a teen, he was dealing
coke and heroin in Denver.

At 16, he was convicted
of second degree murder,

the result of a drug deal gone bad.

(ominous music)

But this is the big house.

Here, he has to constantly
look over his shoulder.

- You really gotta watch yourself and

what you say around people and whatcha do.

It just makes me stay on my toes and

makes me watch my every move.

- [Narrator] To survive in
prison, Chavez will have

to find inmates he can ally
himself with for protection.

But it's hard to know who he can trust.

- If you can't feel the
pressure then get out.

If you can't take the pressure get off.

- I seen somebody get beat up here.

Seen a couple of people
dragged out in handcuffs

and dogs brought through.

There's a million ways to
get in trouble, and more.

- [Narrator] If he's lucky,
one of the lifers will

show him how to keep other
inmates from preying on him.

A lifer like Eric Davis.

- He's just a kid, lost in a man's world.

- [Narrator] Eric Davis
was given a life sentence

for first degree murder and armed robbery

when he was just 18.

He says predators were waiting
to take advantage of him.

- Whether it's tricking you out of money,

or pressuring you for sexual favors,

probably was in 25
fights in the first year

that I was in prison.

There's no one here to protect you.

Staff won't protect you and
other inmates don't protect you.

You have to take care of yourself.

- [Narrator] Younger inmates
who are physically smaller

and more easily intimidated
can have a hard time

figuring out how to survive.

- And you're a boy,
taking care of yourself

in a pod full of a bunch
of men is unfathomable.

Because none of the rules
make any sense in here.

- [Narrator] Cross the wrong inmate,

and the results are fast and violent.

- It's full on brutal violence.

Guys trying to kill other guys

in the purest ways, y'know
they're face to face and

it's ugly and it's mean and
there's no one to stop them.

- [Narrator] Davis says
he has to stay away from

young felons like Chavez, who
other inmates may victimize.

- That's trouble for
me, all the way around.

I can't befriend him, because then I

stand between him and the knife.

- [Narrator] After having served 22 years,

Davis thinks adult prison is the

wrong place for Lorenzo Chavez.

- Throwing him in prison
to make him a bigger,

stronger, convict or a
bigger, stronger, predator,

or a victim to be taken and
turned into a monster maybe.

Makes no sense.