I think they do not decay. I definitely know that inside the nucleus when neutrons are at the inner shells, they don't decay but I am concerned with the valence neutrons in nuclear shells. If anybody knows, please clarify this.
You are right. The nucleons are inside nucleus. The decay proceeds in many-body environment. That's the main point giving the grounds for quasi-particle picture, shell-model, pnQRPA e.t.c. Your observation: " I definitely know that inside the nucleus when neutrons are at the inner shells they don't decay " is true when (beta-unstable) nuclei are still relatively close to the beta- stability line. But the main criteria for beta-decay is always the same: positive decay Q value. Thus, a decay condition is defined by the relative energies of the combined neutron and proton quasi-particles. How different are the main oscillator numbers of the shells in which they are sitting depends, of course on N/Z ratio. In the most neutron-rich region of nuclear chart near the 78Ni, the decays from the completely filled neutron shell are experimentally known. Example: Ga isotopes with N>50 ( their half-lives measured up to N=55. Physical Review Letters, 2012, v. 109, 112501. ). One can find there both the Gamow-Teller decays from filled N=50 shell and first-forbidden decays from partially filled N=56 sub-shell. They give a competing contributions to the total half-lives. Also the delayed one-neutron and even two-neutron emission is possible in these nuclei. That is it about the beta-decay of the neutrons inside the nucleus. What Shad B. mentioned is for the direct particle-decay channel. For that we have to go to the neutron drip-line nuclei. Still in these hypothetical species we will also find the beta-decay from the filled N-shells. Look e.g to doubly-magic 176Sn which seems to be particle-bound system (at least in some versions of energy-density functionals).
You are right. The nucleons are inside nucleus. The decay proceeds in many-body environment. That's the main point giving the grounds for quasi-particle picture, shell-model, pnQRPA e.t.c. Your observation: " I definitely know that inside the nucleus when neutrons are at the inner shells they don't decay " is true when (beta-unstable) nuclei are still relatively close to the beta- stability line. But the main criteria for beta-decay is always the same: positive decay Q value. Thus, a decay condition is defined by the relative energies of the combined neutron and proton quasi-particles. How different are the main oscillator numbers of the shells in which they are sitting depends, of course on N/Z ratio. In the most neutron-rich region of nuclear chart near the 78Ni, the decays from the completely filled neutron shell are experimentally known. Example: Ga isotopes with N>50 ( their half-lives measured up to N=55. Physical Review Letters, 2012, v. 109, 112501. ). One can find there both the Gamow-Teller decays from filled N=50 shell and first-forbidden decays from partially filled N=56 sub-shell. They give a competing contributions to the total half-lives. Also the delayed one-neutron and even two-neutron emission is possible in these nuclei. That is it about the beta-decay of the neutrons inside the nucleus. What Shad B. mentioned is for the direct particle-decay channel. For that we have to go to the neutron drip-line nuclei. Still in these hypothetical species we will also find the beta-decay from the filled N-shells. Look e.g to doubly-magic 176Sn which seems to be particle-bound system (at least in some versions of energy-density functionals).
I believe that a further clarification may help this discussion. The question by Churamani involves the decay of a neutron inside a nucleus. When permitted, under the conditions outlined by Ivan Nick B., the process occurs spontaneously starting from the bound, though beta-unstable, ground state.
The spontaneous emission of a neutron by a nucleus, where there, if this is the case mentioned by Shady B., might well be permitted, provided, however, that the ground state, if we can still call it so, is unbound.