“The Alabama Solution” documentary “should outrage the nation”

“Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman’s bombshell investigation of the Alabama prison system [which premiered at Sundance Film Festival] was screened in advance for press under strict embargo. Understandable, once you realize that the film’s key sources are inmates themselves. Much of ‘The Alabama Solution,’ which reports on inhumane living conditions, forced labor and widespread violence against the state’s incarcerated population, is comprised largely of footage captured by inmates using contraband cellphones, offering one of the most shocking, visceral depictions of our carceral state ever put to film.

One of the most shocking, visceral depictions of our carceral state ever put to film.

“The result, in which brave inmate activists Melvin Ray and Robert Earl Council leak vital information, and the filmmakers chase down leads with shoe-leather doggedness, should outrage the nation. And encourage us to reexamine our own backyards: As co-producer Alex Duran reminded me, California voters recently rejected a ballot measure that would have banned forced prison labor, and incarcerated firefighters were instrumental to the battle against the recent L.A. wildfires. …

“Kaufman: ‘The Department of Justice had put out a very in-depth report about their own investigation into Alabama’s prison system. But it’s a very different experience reading the facts and reading the findings, versus actually seeing it. There is something that makes you really understand what it’s like to live in that environment when you can actually see it. And I think that’s why prisons are so secret. That’s why we’re not allowed to see in. And we can only read papers about what’s actually happening. Because when you do see it, it becomes a lot less tolerable.’ …

“Jarecki: ‘It was kind of a beautiful thing about the film that you get to see the humanity in these people who are often seen by society through a very different lens. … These are men who had been working on their own for many years to get the word out on the crisis in this prison system. So when we first started talking, they were very clear — we were part of their agenda, in a way. It was very important for them to do this work. And so we were kind of there to ride along. So it was a symbiotic process. They’re very well known to the authorities inside, and they have been retaliated against in the past. So we’re concerned. We continue to be concerned about it. And there’s been an organization that’s created a defense committee to help them if that does come to pass.’”

Read the full story at LATimes.com.