'They don't want you to see the slave labor': a new film goes inside Alabama's prisons
Floors streaked with blood, rat-infested cells, flooded hallways and routine beatings by officers – these are but some of the degrading conditions within Alabama state prisons revealed by leaked cellphone videos in a shocking, galvanizing new documentary that premiered at the Sundance film festival on Tuesday.
The Alabama Solution, directed by Andrew Jarecki (The Jinx) and Charlotte Kaufman, reports on the inhumane living conditions, forced labor and rampant officer violence against the state’s incarcerated population, as told by inmates who served as confidential, covert sources. The two-hour film, made over the course of six years, also documents prisoners’ longstanding efforts to improve conditions deemed “unconstitutional” by the US justice department in a 2020 report, under constant physical threat from prison management. Despite federal calls for prison reform, Alabama’s prisons currently operate at 200% capacity, the film notes, with only one-third of the required staff. The state’s prisons have the highest rates of murder, drug addiction and death in the country.
“This film is a lot to take in. It’s difficult to watch,” said Jarecki to a braced, impassioned crowd, including the families of incarcerated Alabamans, at Tuesday’s premiere. “I hope you feel as emotional about it as we do.”
Jarecki and Kaufman began the project inadvertently, when Jarecki visited Montgomery, Alabama, with his family. There, he met a prison chaplain who offered to bring him along to an annual revival and barbecue at Easterling correctional facility – the rare event permitting a camera. The Alabama department of corrections (ADOC) is legally allowed to bar journalists access to state facilities, in effect making the state’s prisons, which house close to 20,000 people, a black box of information.
Once inside Easterling, Jarecki was approached by incarcerated people – overwhelmingly black and brown men – asking to speak off camera about the dire state of affairs at the facility. “This ain’t fit for human society,” says one. “They don’t want you to see the slave labor going on inside,” says another. “We’re at a humanitarian crisis level.” Before Jarecki was forced to stop filming, the camera records men calling for help from behind bars, forced to endure sweltering heat and filthy conditions.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/29/alabama-solution-documentary-review
Alabummer....what more can be said?
= new reply since forum marked as read
