The Alabama Solution

When filmmakers Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman went to an Alabama prison in 2019 for an officially sanctioned filming of a religious revival, inmates approached them off camera to alert them to something else: the brutality and corruption of prison officials that characterized inmates’ daily lives. What followed were years in which incarcerated men literally put their lives at risk to share with the filmmakers stealth video recordings of the wretched conditions that are endemic to Alabama prisons—drug overdoses, brutal beatings, intense overcrowding, solitary confinement, and suicides. Since reporters are not allowed inside Alabama prisons, this documentary provided the only accurate accounts of the horrific plight of prisoners, including the death of inmate Steven Davis, fatally beaten by guards. The Alabama Solution not only exposed the hellish conditions but also led to legislative hearings intended to improve them. For its powerful truth-telling that showed the public the atrocious conditions and official corruption that thrive inside America’s prisons, The Alabama Solution wins a Peabody Award.