1 of 3 | “The Alabama Solution,” on HBO Friday, investigates Alabam Prisons. Photo courtesy of HBO
Directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman say investigating the Alabama prison system in their documentary The Alabama Solution, premiering Friday at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO and streaming on HBO Max, raised more questions than they could fit in one film.
The Alabama Solution, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, includes footage captured by prisoners with contraband cell phones. The inmates documented overcrowded, filthy living conditions, and physical abuse by some of the guards.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Kaufman said there were many different stories they could have followed in the film. In editing, they structured the feature around the death of inmate Steven Davis, which overlapped with some of the stories of abusive guards.
“Prior to Steven Davis, we had been investigating a group of abusive officers,” Kaufman said. “We had created a database of lawsuits, of pro se lawsuits that had been filed by men and we started seeing patterns of abuse.”
One of those guards, Roderick Gadson, was involved in Davis’ death. Gadson’s deposition is included in the film and Kaufman said there were more individual investigations they could not include.
Two of the inmates leading the activism for inmate rights and prison reform are Melvin Ray and Robert Earl Council, aka Kinetik Justice. With their cell phones, even while in solitary confinement, they founded the Free Alabama Movement, including a Facebook page, to raise awareness about the situation amongst the public and activists on the outside.
Both Ray and Council are serving sentences for murder, and are pursuing overturning their convictions. Kaufman said, however, that she and Jarecki had to focus the film on how incarceration is failing prisoners.
“Our film is about a failing system that is supposed to keep us safe, create healing and return people to society in better shape but is actually perpetuating the cycles of harm, addiction, abuse and violence that they should be correcting,” Kaufman said. “There are plenty of people in the prison system that are there for robbery or burglary and they’re all being subjected to the same abuses and conditions.”
Jarecki added that most of the inmates are not serving life sentences. He pointed out it is shortsighted and counterproductive not to prepare them for potential release.
“If you are trying to damage or break people, you’re going to end up with a damaged or broken cohort of people that are living in society rather than people that are able to rejoin society,” he said.
Jarecki explained the smuggling of cell phones into prisons is connected to the drug trade inside. Jarecki added that there is more contraband inside than could be attributed to civilian visitors.
“Given the scrutiny that they give to people who come in to try to visit their loved ones, that happens very little,” Jarecki said. “The drugs are coming in with the officers and the cell phone trade, which has become very lucrative, is also coming in with the officers.”
The willingness of guards to sneak contraband into prisons is also tied to the factors that lead to abuse, Kaufman said. She acknowledged that many guards join the system with good intentions, but the system itself wears them down.
“A lot of them are being asked to work 16-20 hour shifts,” Kaufman said. “Their pay is not equal to what they’re being subjected to. So when you’re dealing with that, all of a sudden, your ability to react calmly to situations isn’t as high.”
While speaking with Council and Ray, Kaufman and Jarecki follow Davis’ mother as she tries to get answers about how her son died in custody. This investigation coincides with Alabama Governor Kay Ivey proposing to build three new megaprisons in the state.
$100 million for this construction would come out of the state’s education budget. A Department of Justice report cited in the film also recommended investing in improving the existing prisons rather than building new ones.
“I think the primary consideration is not overcrowding,” Jarecki said. “The primary consideration is let’s have a construction project that we can rally around and we can spend some money on.”
The activism of inmates like Ray and Council is raising awareness for an environment most people never see. Jarecki said it is up to journalists to question politicians who propose being tougher on crime.
To counter the example depicted in The Alabama Solution, Jarecki also cited other states that approach incarceration more humanely.
“The Maine State prison with around 800 residents, their system is humane,” Jarecki said. “It is designed to educate people. It is designed to prepare people for life.”
The filmmakers called Council and Ray during Sundance Q&As for the film and remain in touch. Because of the inmates’ participation in the film and their activism with other outside groups, they are targets of authorities who wish to silence them.
One for Justice is organizing a whistleblower defense fund for Ray and Council.
“There are reasons to be in touch with them as closely as possible,” Jarecki said, adding that it is a positive that One for Justice “have prepared lawyers to try to address any kind of retaliation that might come their way.”
