The teens get a brutal introduction to prison life. They are put to work in the kitchen and laundry alongside real inmates. By the end of the first morning one of them is in tears, wanting to go home.
Two days into the behaviour programme, the prison officers ratchet up the pressure on the teens. They are put to work on the jail's chain gang, clearing rubbish in the baking Florida heat. Wanting to shock the teens away from a life of crime, Lieutenant Stokes puts them in a room with two young men, barely older than the teens, who have been charged with murder. One tells 17-year-old Tunde, 'You like to fight boy? Trust me, this ain't where you wanna be'. Sixteen-year-old Hugh turns a corner during the physical drill and is determined to see the programme through to the end, despite wanting to leave on the first day. The two girls, Whitney and Layla, fail their morning inspection which leads to an altercation.
Tensions between two teen rivals leads to an altercation. The inmates meet former gang members and see murder victims at the police morgue as they reflect on their spell in prison.