Lockup

Maricopa County: Extended Stay - Chain Reaction

Located on the top floor of Maricopa County's Fourth Avenue Jail Facility, are the highest-security male housing units. These inmates have either committed violent acts in the jail or have been identified as gang members. And like all inmates at Maricopa, some are awaiting trial while others have been convicted and are appealing their verdicts or sentences. They are isolated in very stark cells 23 hours a day and get one hour of rec time in an empty concrete room with a skylight located right next door to their cells. Without the distraction of television, radio or a cellmate, even the most hardened criminals can break under the pressure. One gang member makes a desperate cry for help by putting a noose around his neck, then says, "I just need somebody to talk to." And on the other side of the jail, completely isolated from other inmates, Maricopa's four most dangerous women form a notorious sisterhood