Alabama’s Prisons Face Scrutiny In Gripping New HBO Documentary

Alabama prisons are recognized across the country and even in other countries as having deplorable and inhumane conditions.  

“The Alabama Solution,” a new documentary that sheds light on the state’s prison system, is currently airing on HBO Max. It is promoted as documenting, "Incarcerated men defying the odds to expose a cover-up in one of the United States' deadliest prison systems."

Critics point out that the name of Alabama's Department of Corrections (ADOC) is misleading and claim it should be called the Department of Revenge and Warehousing, as very little rehabilitation takes place inside, and almost no one is granted parole.

Inside the state's prisons, inmates face danger from one another, drugs smuggled into the prisons, excessive force by guards, sexual abuse and more.

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For that reason, the facilities housing male inmates and the way they are treated have drawn repeated federal intervention over the years.

In December of 2020, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against what it called Alabama's unconstitutional conditions in state prisons for men. The suit alleges, "The State of Alabama violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of inmates by failing to prevent prisoner-on-prisoner violence and sexual abuse, by failing to protect prisoners from excessive force by correctional officers, and failing to provide safe conditions of confinement."

Alabama's solution, at the urging of Gov. Ivey and with the approval of the state legislature, is to build new mega prisons, financed in large part with COVID relief money.

The first of the new mega-prisons is in Elmore County and is due to open in the spring of next year, but officials are not sure they will meet the deadline.

The Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex has faced significant cost overruns of over $1 billion, and lawmakers are seeking to raise bonds to fund the second, similarly sized prison in Escambia County.

The film offers an unfiltered view inside the Alabama prison system where overcrowding, untreated addiction, and violence are routine, and where official oversight is almost nonexistent, according to the producers.

The problems were documented via black market cellphone video shot by inmates and interviews conducted by the filmmakers, Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman.

Gov. Ivey has repeatedly stated the issues with state prisons are "An Alabama problem that should have an Alabama solution." But critics point out that a massive new building doesn't rectify the problems within.

“ADOC cannot address and prevent recurring harmful situations if it is unaware of the scope of the problems within Alabama’s prisons,” federal investigators wrote.

Alabama's prison death rate is four times higher than the national average - 1,370 deaths per 100,000 inmates, compared to a national average of 330 deaths per 100,000. Also, drug use is rampant within prison walls, often provided by low-paid guards.

Alabama has a 'put them in jail and throw away the key" mentality, and it shows. The state has spent more than $53 million defending and settling lawsuits, and protecting officers accused of misconduct, the filmmakers found.

In an October 11th story by The Marshall Project, a non-profit journalism project about criminal justice, the filmmakers were interviewed about their work.

For more coverage of news in west Alabama and across the state, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.