2025; 1h 57m
Directors: Andrew Jarecki, Charlotte Kaufman
Website
Inside one of the nation’s deadliest prison systems, incarcerated men defy the odds to expose a cover-up.
In 2019, filmmakers Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman (HBO’s The Jinx) visited an Alabama prison, where, off camera, incarcerated men whispered a message: terrible things are going on and being kept secret. This reveal sparked an immersive six-year investigation to discover the reality behind one of the nation’s deadliest prison systems. With unprecedented access and video shot on contraband cell phones, the directors learn of a suspicious and violent death, which wasn’t an isolated incident – and that the official version appears far from the truth. A shocking story of brutality, corruption, and a system in collapse, The Alabama Solution shines a light on the inmates fighting for their survival who, against all odds, embark on a powerful campaign of resistance.
“With vastly overcrowded prisons that are grossly understaffed, the men speak of brutal violence, drug addiction, years spent living in filth and decades of laboring with no pay. Some of this became better documented in the news media during the years covered in the film — the Department of Justice sued the state of Alabama in 2020 — but the issues continue and the constitutionality of the state’s “involuntary servitude” work release programs is being challenged as well.”
The New York Times
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