The Alabama Solution (2025)
Director: Andrew Jarecki, Charlotte Kaufman
Plot: Incarcerated men defy the odds to expose a cover-up in one of the United States’ deadliest prison systems.
* * *
The Alabama Solution (2025) | Transcript
[squeaking]
[volunteer]
Mic check, one, two, three.
One, two, three.
Mic check, one, two, three.
[drum beat playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Well, today, they, um, they’re here doing a revival… and everybody’s just joyful.
[woman singing indistinctly]
[man] We’re gonna have fun and food and everything.
Everything’s gonna be a good day at Easterling Prison.
[pleasant music playing]
It’s a day that you really don’t get in prison…
[woman talking indistinctly]
[man] …because there’s not a lot of hope inside an institution.
And it has to be brought in.
[laughing]
[chaplain] I want to pray for Alabama.
I want to pray for our system.
[man] Yeah.
[men] Amen.
[man] Yes, sir.
Amen.
And we walked through them hoods, man.
And we made a difference.
I am my brother’s keeper.
[men] I am my brother’s keeper.
I am my brother’s keeper.
[men] I am my brother’s keeper.
[man]
[producer] Why do you say that?
Because they don’t show you the meat that we get.
It’s not nothing like this.
[volunteer speaking indistinctly] They should let y’all go inside the dorms.
You think it’s hot out here?
Right now just imagine sleeping in a tin building with 120some other people.
[man 2]
Y’all see him?
[dramatic music playing]
[man 3]
[man 1]
[man 2]
[man 3]
[man 4]
[man 5]
[producer]
[man 5]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[man]
[prison official]
[producer]
What are we finished with?
[prison official]
[producer] Why?
[tense music playing]
[correctional officer]
[prison official]
[dramatic music plays]
[cicadas chirping]
[phone line ringing]
[ringing continues]
[answers phone]
[producer] Raoul?
[producer] Hey.
Hey, how are you?
[producer] I’m good. How are you?
I’m okay.
[producer] Do you mind if I record our conversation?
[dramatic music plays]
[inmate yelling indistinctly]
[producer] Good. Ah.
[producer]
Thanks for talking with us.
[tense music playing]
[man]
[Robert Earl]
[man]
[Robert Earl]
[man]
And the atrocities and the corruption.
[man]
[indistinct yelling]
[Robert Earl] When you hear “Department of Corrections,” you think about an institution where people are going to classes, people are getting treatment, people are doing things towards correction. But that’s nothing close to what’s going on behind the walls of the ADOC.
[man]
[Robert Earl]
[man]
We’re at a humanitarian crisis level.
[dramatic music playing]
[man]
[Melvin] Okay.
[producer] Melvin?
[Melvin] Can you hear me?
[producer] Yeah.
[prisoners yelling] Hold on a minute.
Police in here.
[producer] Oh. Okay.
[indistinct yelling]
[Melvin]
[producer] Would a regular phone call be better?
No, because it does not allow us to just be ourselves.
You know, when we present our stories, we want to present our whole self, not just our voice.
[light music plays]
We’re in these walled-off secret societies. These are state institutions. But it’s one of the only state institutions that the public or the media has no access to. How can a journalist go into a war zone, but can’t go into a prison in the United States of America?
[tense music playing]
Like, I can witness a murder—we could be all sitting here and witness a murder—and the media can’t even come on the state property.
[man]
[alarm blaring]
[Melvin]
…and if we don’t have these cell phones, we don’t have a way to capture these incidents.
[siren blaring]
[Robert Earl] The public is already conditioned not to believe a person who is incarcerated.
I’m in prison.
I’m supposed to lie.
I’m supposed to make up excuses.
I’m supposed to exaggerate.
That’s why the administration hate the recording.
[Melvin]
[foreboding music playing]
Contraband continues to be a deadly problem that plagues Alabama’s prisons. We’re talking about cell phones.
[Robert Earl]
…instead of the incident that was recorded with the phone.
It is a fight every day.
And we continue to struggle with it.
But there’s a lot of work still to be done to defeat cell phones inside the prison system.
[Robert Earl]
[birds twittering]
The reality is, Alabama doesn’t have an incarceration problem.
We have a criminal and a crime problem.
[siren blaring]
[Melvin] It’s a continuous cycle of violence, a lack of accountability. And without us being able to inform society about what’s happening, these incidents are not even reported.
[cicadas chirping]
[dings]
[suspenseful music playing]
[producer 1] We’re looking for Steven Davis.
We think he’s in the ICU.
[clerk]
Go up to the ninth floor.
[elevator rings]
[tense music plays]
[producer 2 whispers]
[producer 1]
[producer 2]
[producer 1]
[producer 2]
[nurse] If you could…
If you could go out to the wait room, or I can help you by calling, but I’d prefer you not stand in front of the room.
[producer 2] Okay, sure.
[nurse] Thanks.
[producer 2]
[ambient traffic noises]
[birds twittering]
[wind chimes gently tinkling]
[man on TV speaking indistinctly]
[Sandy’s friend] I know.
We’re here for you.
[sobs]
Don’t…
He didn’t deserve this.
[Sandy sobs and sniffles]
[Sandy’s friend] You’ve got to take care of yourself.
You’re gonna wind up in the hospital.
[Sandy] He’s telling me, “Mama, I’m gonna get out of here.
I’m going to get out.
I’m going to get out.”
Hey, Stevie.
Well, when I got the phone call, I didn’t know what really happened.
And the first thing that went through my mind is, Steven done got stabbed, he done got beat up.
That’s the only two things it really can be.
I mean, you’re in jail.
You’re in prison.
You walk back in the ICU, and they had him in the very, very back of the ICU, in a different part that had a room so the security guards could, you know, could monitor who come in, come out.
[Sandy] That one guard asked me, “Do you know what happened?”
I said no.
I said, “Do you know anything?”
“Nope.” He knew something.
I could tell, he was a liar.
He knew something.
People could come in, but only two at a time, and we were not to bring any phones or anything like that.
[Sandy] Oh yeah.
When we seen him, we knew what they were hiding.
Him.
They didn’t want a picture of him to be out there.
[producer]
Because I didn’t know if we’d get the body or not.
You’re talking about me taking a photo in ICU when you wasn’t supposed to have your phones in there?
But I took it in there when the cops were out back sleeping?
[laughs]
[producer] Mmhmm.
Because I didn’t know if we’d get the body back.
I didn’t know how the rules and stuff was, you know, with…
‘Cause Steven was the state’s responsibility. Incarcerated.
I didn’t know if we’d get the body and have a proper funeral.
So I wanted to take a photo for evidence.
[objects clattering]
[somber music playing]
[grunts]
[Sandy] Every last breath, I’ll never get that picture out of my face of my son. As many pictures as I hang… of him being happy, laughing and stuff… that picture of what they done to him overrides all the good.
[Brandon]
I would just like to know, how. I would like to know, why.
[somber music swelling]
[silence]
[wind chimes gently tinkling]
[phone ringing]
[Sandy] Hello?
[man] Hey.
[Sandy] No, I ain’t got Birmingham news. What?
[Steven’s father]
They said that Little Steven, they opened his cell and he rushed out, attacked the guards.
[Sandy] Really? They had to subdue him and beat him to death? Somebody pull it up.
[reporter] Inmate dead after trying to attack a corrections officer with shivs.
Steven Davis died after attacking corrections officers at the William Donaldson Correctional Facility.
Investigators say they tried several times to get him to put his weapons down before resorting to deadly force.
[somber music playing]
[Sandy] Because
[Sandy]
Because I called the warden, and she has not called me back.
[family member]
They’re disconnecting theirself, I guess, from it,
by saying that
[family member] They can do what they want.
Y’all don’t understand.
They can actually do what they want.
[Sandy’s friend] I’m so sorry.
[cicadas chirping]
[cell phone ringing]
[Sandy] Hello? I’m sorry. I’m-I’m on oxygen, so I had to take a minute there.
[official] Okay. Well, I understand. Uh…
[Sandy] Who’s this?
[official]
Don’t, you know, I’m just… I know you’re grieving and mourning, and I… but I just… I wanted to tell you that your son was beaten to death by an officer.
[tense music playing]
That was a murder. You know, they sweep stuff underneath the rug all the time about this.
[Sandy] I called the warden this afternoon.
An hour later, there was a statement on the news that he rushed out of his cell with two homemade weapons and attacked them.
[official] A plastic knife. They always come up with something to justify the excess brutality and use of force.
Right.
You can’t beat a man to death. Those guys have pepper spray. And if somebody rushed at you, then you could have sprayed that person. Yeah, they broke every bone in his face.
[official] I’m not going to say that everybody in there is a Sunday school choirboy, but the very fact in all of it is, is nobody deserves to be beaten to death. You got to get an attorney to look into this thing. I appreciate you so much.
Thank you.
[cicadas chirping]
[birds twittering]
[producer]
[producer]
[producer]
[Melvin] Okay.
That day, I had went to a service out in the chapel.
And the dudes were saying that the officers had whupped somebody.
Later on, everybody go to hearing that this guy’s dead.
You know, but a lot of them are really scared to really say something.
I mean, you know… to watch them kill somebody?
[somber music playing]
[producer] And they actually said those words?
[Terry] Amen.
[cicadas chirping]
[vehicle approaching]
[Robert Earl] It’s clear that a bunch of crimes are being committed and covered up by the Alabama Department of Corrections. When you’re dealing with all these inequalities, it’s easy to get caught up in the vindictiveness, the vengefulness, and lose sight of who you truly are.
[indistinct yelling]
Hold on one second.
[yelling continues]
[banging]
[yelling and banging stops]
[indistinct yelling]
[somber music playing]
I came to prison young. I was hustling in the streets being a crack dealer.
[tense music plays]
[gentle music playing]
[music fades out]
[contemplative music playing]
Halifax County was a selfhelp program that was created by inmates, for inmates.
[Melvin]
These were incarcerated men who were students of the law and teaching the law.
They were part of a legacy of jailhouse lawyers.
You know, there was a lot of brothers amongst us who had lived throughout the ’60s and ’70s and had been imprisoned for their activism in that era.
And, you know, we didn’t know that you were sleeping next to a guy who was at Selma on Bloody Sunday.
[dramatic music playing]
Training up under those men, you know, people say it’s a law class, it was so much more than a law class. It was like a rites of passage of coming into manhood.
From boys to men.
A lot of us didn’t even know how to balance a checkbook.
We didn’t know how to buy groceries.
Some of us didn’t even have social skills, etiquette.
[Robert Earl]
We just was blessed to be surrounded by some older brothers who wanted to prepare us to be Black men who could defend themselves intellectually, and not just physically.
You are given seven days to learn the Constitutional amendments, and recite them. That’s your introduction to being a part of Halifax County.
We had to learn the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Alabama Rules of Evidence.
This is how I met Robert Earl.
This is how we became friends, this is how we became brothers.
[Robert Earl] Halifax County brought a spark of hope, a spark of life. We all we got, but we all we need.
[Robert Earl]
This ain’t nothing new, that they’re using excessive violence against us, you know, excessive force.
As they saw us filing grievances and filing lawsuits when our rights were violated, then it became, “Oh, the library’s closed today.
Y’all can’t go in there today.”
I mean, the Department of Corrections was opposed to Halifax County in every way possible.
There came a point where we had enough and we had to do more. We had to take our cases to the court of public opinion.
[keyboard clacking]
Free Alabama Movement, inside Alabama’s Department of Corrections.
Uh…
This is the movement, y’all.
The movement is official.
We are addressing the issues of mass incarceration.
[dramatic music plays]
[Melvin]
I could never have created Free Alabama Movement without Kinetik. It took both of us.
[Robert Earl]
The combination of both of us is like a perfect algorithm. The same thing you can say in two sentences, Melvin can turn into a fivepage report.
Very thorough, very analytical. Kinetik, he’s the guy that you need to deal with the prison environment.
In a sense. [chuckles] My background is dealing with street dudes, so I began organizing. We have to come together and make a stand that our life is worth something. We gotta take our power back.
[inspiring music plays]
[Melvin]
[crowd cheering]
They couldn’t get us out of the news.
A movement is growing from inside prison walls here in Alabama.
[crowd cheering]
[Robert Earl]
You know, we were a force against the administration.
[music stops abruptly]
[Melvin] So what did they do?
[foreboding music plays]
They attacked us for it.
[correctional officer] Cuff up.
Cuff up!
[officer yells]
[tense music plays]
[dramatic music plays]
And then they put Melvin in my file as my enemy.
We can’t be around each other in the same institution.
One of us had to be transferred.
[Melvin] We did about five years each in solitary confinement. Because we had the thought to be free, they punished us for it.
[Robert Earl] ADOC tried to hold us incommunicado. But it was too late. We got through to the federal government.
[suspenseful music playing]
Right now, the U.S. Justice Department is launching an investigation into conditions within Alabama’s prison system.
[Robert Earl]
[Melvin] When they showed up in the prison system, we didn’t look at them like knights in shining armor. We was looking at them like, “Okay, what y’all gonna do?”
[Robert Earl]
Our hope is that the government, the United States government will come down here and hold Alabama accountable.
[clapping hands]
[indistinct chatter]
[line ringing]
[voicemail] At the tone, please record your message.
When you
[phone clicks] [Sandy] The frustration’s just overwhelming. It’s just been walls.
I called the Department of Corrections.
They don’t answer.
So I keep calling.
I called I & I, got disconnected.
Or hung up on, probably.
They’re the ones who are supposed to be investigating what happened with Stevie.
But then I realized how it was all put together.
I & I, Department of Corrections, they’re all within… they’re within the same building.
I mean, they’re all together.
You’ve got to have someone totally independent investigating.
I mean, it’s corrupt.
That’s all you can say.
[birds chirping]
[traffic passing]
[Hank] Sandy came to me after her son Steven was killed. What she wanted most of all was for the folks that killed her son to be held criminally responsible, which is what happens when you murder people.
The DOC hasn’t shared the information with Sandy. It’s a black box. So I’ve set up lawyer calls with inmates…
[phone line ringing]
…so they can speak freely about what happened.
[ringing continues]
[witness 1]
Hello. My name is Hank Sherrod.
I represent the mother of Steven Davis.
[witness 1]
Right, butIs there
Is aAre you by yourself?
[witness 1]
So this is supposed to be an attorney callThere wasn’t supposed to be an officer in there.
[tense music playing]
Nobody can make you talk to me…
Let me ask you this.
[hangs up]
[line disconnects]
[witness 2]
[witness 3]
[witness 4]
I can totally understand why somebody wouldn’t want to get involved.
I mean, there’s no benefit to them.
But hopefully somebody will speak.
[phone beeps]
[witness 5]
[ominous music playing]
[Hank] Are you comfortable saying who killed him?
[witness 5]
[tense music plays]
That’s crazy.
Thank you so much.
Take care.
Byebye.
He seems credible to me.
Um… He seemed to really care.
I mean, I didn’t hear anything that set off any alarm bells, you know, regarding what happened.
Now, if there are seven or eight people who pretty much say the same thing, I think it’s the Department of Corrections that’s going to have to answer some questions from Sandy Ray about what happened to Steven Davis.
[witness 6]
[witness 7]
[witness 7 scoffs]
[witness 8]
[cicadas chirping]
[Robert Earl] In prison, shit rolls downhill. The officers oppress us, so we turn around and oppress someone who we feel like is weaker than us.
[indistinct yelling]
…officers took this as a license to beat and kill him.
[indistinct chatter]
[Hank]
I spoke to many witnesses. The gist of what everybody said is that Steven was wanting to put on a show of aggression. But when corrections officers told him to stop, he got on the ground, and then the beating commenced.
That’s the gist of what everybody said, except for Mr. Sales.
[foreboding music plays]
[Sales]
His demeanor?
They were tied to his hands?
With what?
[Hank] What was Gadson doing during the incident?
[Sales]
He provided aid and assistance.
Uh…
Whatwhat do you mean by that?
[Hank] I don’t.
[Sales]
Where… where’d you learn about that?
[Hank]
Well, let me ask you this.
[Sales]
[Hank]
Yeah, that’s not too far away
[Sales]
[Hank] You got… you’ve got a lot at stake, don’t you?
[Hank] So you’ve been
[Sales] So you’ve been pulled out by I & I six times?
Listen, I can’t imagine looking at having freedom and being asked to jeopardize that.
And nobody should be put in a position where they have to choose between
[Hank]
So once you get out of prison, you would talk to Steven’s mother?
[Hank]
I’ve heard what you said today, and I will share with his mother your willingness to speak to her.
[Sales] Alright.
You take care and be safe.
Yeah. Wow. Um…
So clearly he’s being fed the… the officers’ narrative.
They just need one inmate backing up their story to keep this from ever going to court.
[somber music plays and stops]
[cicadas chirping]
[Terry]
They’re like a gang.
They really are.
They’ve broke some of these dudes’ arms, they’ve stomped their teeth out.
[solemn music playing]
[Quante] I worked at Alabama Department of Corrections for eight years, and I feel like no person should go through the situation that’s going on in the prison right now, asas we speak.
Correctional officers should be the most reliable, trustworthy.
You really want people that will do the right thing when nobody’s watching. But in Alabama, you don’t have that.
[Stacy] Sometimes, we have one officer for 200, 300 inmates. With the low staffing, and the mandatory overtime, you’ve got officers that look like zombies.
[man]
[man]
[Stacy] Because they’re so desperate for officers, they just hire anybody that’s going to do this job. So there’s a lot of people that seek these jobs. They’re wanting to be controlling and dominating.
[Quante]
[indistinct yelling]
[indistinct yelling and clamoring]
[Quante]
And that’s what they did.
Beat their ass.
[clamoring]
This is supposed to be rehabilitation.
What you rehabilitating?
You can’t rehabilitate a man by beating the hell out of him.
[indistinct radio chatter]
It’s not just a couple of bad apples.
This is a norm.
It goes on in every prison.
[dramatic music playing]
[Melvin]
There is an extensive history of pro se lawsuits we filed for decades against the same officers. The “pro se” means “for self.” We’re filing it ourselves, without assistance from attorneys. They’re not taking up this litigation. We are. That’s what we were taught at Halifax County.
[Melvin] There is enough paperwork done for people to understand just how wide of a scale this is. All you have to do is go to the federal courts and look for the pro se litigation.
[music fades out]
[attorney] Twenty lawsuits filed against you.
Pro se lawsuits.
It’s like a pattern there.
You see that?
I see what they’re alleging.
[attorney] Do you recognize that document?
No, I don’t.
[attorney] Can you read that?
[Gadson] “These officers then used open hands, closed hands, feet, sticks, and a shield to beat me. Stomping, kicking, punching, slapping, and hitting me with a stick, and shield. I stated several more times that I was not resisting. Once again, my pleas were ignored.”
[attorney] That doesn’t ring any bells for you?
Doesn’t help you recollect anything?
No, it don’t.
I ain’t finna tell you that I ain’t never used force ’cause I’d be lying to you.
I ain’t never used excessive force.
[attorney]
You never used excessive force?
No, sir.
[attorney] Another man was put into a medically induced coma based on the beating that you and your squad gave him.
You’re saying that’s necessary force.
You can be placed in a medically induced coma if they’re doing surgery on you.
I’m just ask
I’m just saying.
[attorney] “Officer Gadson grabbed me, picked me up, and slammed me into the concrete floor while in handcuffs.” That doesn’t mean anything to you?
I mean, what…
That’s all them allegIt’s allegations. I mean…
[attorney] So you’re a victim of frivolous lawsuits?
[scoffs]
Hey.
If that’s what you call it.
[somber music playing]
[Quante]
Every lawsuit that I’ve been involved in, an inmate ain’t never won.
[attorney] But you settled some of those lawsuits, haven’t you?
Who, I have?
Or your attorney on your behalf has settled those lawsuits.
I don’t know which ones they settle.
Have you ever personally had to pay a settlement because of one of these lawsuits?
I haven’t.
[Melvin] The state pays their legal bills. If they lose, the state pays the settlement.
It’s a whole state apparatus that we’re litigating against.
It’s not just the COs, or the sergeants, or the lieutenants. It’s the captains, it’s the wardens, the Commissioner’s office, and the Attorney General’s Office. Understanding that the state is settling one lawsuit after another.
Beating someone, beating someone, beating someone.
And these people did not get fired.
They did not get suspended.
An inmate got more rights than I got.
[attorney] How so?
You know.
That’s why you’re defending them.
[attorney] Somebody’s defending you too, right?
Right.
[ambient traffic noises]
[radio host] Welcome back to The Jeff Poor Show on FM Talk 1065. I want to kick it off with the prison problem. The Department of Justice, kind of keeping an eye on them, watching it very close. Here’s how it works, guys. Federal government could say, “You can’t get this problem solved. We’ll solve it for you.” What if that happens here? New tonight, the Justice Department files a lawsuit for conditions in state prisons.
[reporter 1] A Justice Department investigation found conditions throughout the entire Alabama prison system are unconstitutional. Alarming new report from the Justice Department details horrifying conditions and regular occurrences of murder and rape.
[reporter 2]
According to the DOJ, an excessive amount of violence, sexual abuse, and prisoner deaths occur on a regular basis. ADOC appears unable to prevent drugs in its prisons. And unlawful uses of force are common. During a beating, nurses heard an officer yell, “I am the reaper of death, now say my name.” This comes more than four years after the DOJ opened investigation into the state’s prison system.
State officials are pushing back.
[reporter 3] Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. Let’s leave no doubt behind.
What the Department of Justice wants to do is to be able to take over the Alabama Department of Corrections.
That’s not the remedy that we believe is appropriate.
We’re going to defend Alabama’s interests.
[cicadas chirping]
[phone line breaking up]
Hey there.
We’re celebrating the fact that the DOJ filed that lawsuit.
Like, this is what’s actually happening. This ain’t our version, this is a third party, independent investigation.
[Robert Earl]
[intriguing music playing]
[birds chirping]
Everything that Alabama has done in regards to justice and equality, they were forced to do it by the federal government.
From the Civil War, to ending chattel slavery, to stopping segregation. You know what I’m saying, “We gonna have an Alabama solution.”
It’s got to be an Alabama solution.
We cannot tolerate the alternative, which is having the DOJ take it over, turn folks loose.
It’s our problem, we got to own it, we got to fix it.
[cicadas chirping]
[Raoul] Hey.
[somber music playing]
[reporter 1] Records show the number of paroles granted in Alabama has plummeted to a new low.
[reporter 2]
In just three years, parole rates have fallen by a staggering 72%.
[reporter 3] Alabama’s parole rate is so low, it doesn’t offer any hope to prisoners.
[thunder rolling]
[rain falls] If you’re an officer that’s willing to bring it in, you know, it’s not like a free market enterprise.
It’s more like a monopoly.
[producer] So you could bring in drugs.
Oh, easy. Very easy.
There’s no checkpoints out at the front. There’s no dogs anymore. So they’re not even going to be paying attention. I just wonder if they’re afraid they’ll catch somebody too and have to fire them, because we’re so shorthanded.
So which is worse, somebody bringing in drugs?
Or that person not being there anymore?
[indistinct chatter]
[slow dramatic music playing]
[man 1]
[man 2] Hey!
[man 1] Hey!
[man 3] Hey, hold him up.
Hold him up.
[Raoul]
[man]
[Raoul] We got a laundry cart, we’ll run them to the infirmary. We’ll be the ambulance. And some of them make it and some of them don’t.
[chokes up]
[cicadas chirping]
[string trimmer buzzing]
[producer]
So is there anything we can say about the nature of criminal behavior?
I think there are evil people in the world, and I think there are individuals that have absolutely no regard for human life.
[producer] Is the prison system close to working?
Does it require a massive overhaul?
I think we have a strategic plan in place.
There’s an argument that there is some systemic problem within all of our facilities, and I wholeheartedly disagree with that.
“We dare defend our rights.” That is a motto of this state that I think matters. We have the opportunity to push back against what we think is an overreach of the Department of Justice.
We don’t necessarily embrace the fact that Washington, D.C., has all the answers. We want to be able to do it ourselves in ways that we think make sense for Alabama.
And in fact, the governor’s plan demonstrates that.
Her Excellency, Kay Ellen Ivey.
[applause]
[reporter] A lot to tackle. Lawmakers are under an edict from the federal government to solve ongoing issues in the state prison system. Here now, the governor, live from Montgomery.
[applause peters out]
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
Please be seated.
You heard me say this before, and I’ll say it again.
This is an Alabama problem that must have an Alabama solution.
I look forward to working with each of you to solve it.
[applause]
[applause peters out]
I’ve asked Commissioner Dunn to build three new prisons that will transition our facilities from warehousing inmates to rehabilitating people.
[intriguing music playing]
[reporter]
The governor’s plan calls for replacing 11 major prisons with three regional megaprisons. That’s the best you can do in the state of Alabama and people are dying?
People are being killed?
And the best you can say is, “We got new prisons coming.”
[reporter] This won’t address the state’s overcrowding problem.
[legislator]
There’ll be the same issue since there will be the same number of beds in the Department of Corrections. Is that correct?
Uh… Pretty much.
[applause]
[reporter 1]
The governor estimates the cost for the new prisons would be around $900 million.
[reporter 2] $900 million.
[reporter 3] $900 million.
[tense music plays]
It’s strictly about issuing out contracts to people to build these new prisons.
There’s a lot of people with their hands in the pot. So the building of three megaprisons is a big, big, big money scheme. We’re gonna build those prisons because we need those prisons.
[music fades out]
[stream whooshing]
[birds squawking]
[Sandy] No one around here understands. He was beat to death in prison by a guard.
[indistinct chatter]
By a guard?
He was with a couple and the guy that was with him shot someone.
So Steven was with him, so he got charged with murder too.
Yeah, it’sAt a time, they’ve all done it, you know?
[Sandy]
A lot of people are cold. They say “They deserve it. They’re in prison. What do you expect?” They don’t care how they’re treated. But, you know, I never thought I would be in this situation, that I would have to care how someone was treated in prison. I’m just waiting for Stevie’s roommate, James Sales, to get out so we can talk.
Because right now he’s just too afraid, which I can understand.
Steven’s not the only one that’s been beaten.
He’s not the only one that’s gonna be beaten.
Theythey deserve to be kept safe.
[cicadas chirping]
[man talking indistinctly]
[cicadas chirping]
[indistinct yelling]
[clamoring]
[tense music plays]
[man coughs]
[music stops]
[man]
[coughs]
[somber music playing]
[man coughing]
[sighs]
[sniffles] He hit him with the stick across the face, he’s on the ground.
He hit him again.
When he was already down.
[sniffles]
I’m standing in the door.
I watched them drag him out by his feet…
[chokes up] …with his face on the ground, just leaving a trail of blood all the way out the door.
[exhales]
[rumbling]
[kid screaming]
[man]
[woman talking indistinctly]
[voicemail] Sorry. There is no operator available at this hour. Record your message at the tone. They won’t let you know how your kid’s doing.
You’ve got to go to bed and sit there and just wonder, “How is he doing?”
They wouldn’t tell nobody nothing.
I want to know what’s going on.
I want to know how can we stick together and help and give him the justice that he deserves?
[somber music playing]
And if anybody ever cared about Robert Earl, this is the time for them to stand up. This is the time for them to protest for justice, for the injustice system.
There’s nothing right about this.
[protesters chanting indistinctly]
Alabama legislators!
[protesters] Enough is enough!
DOC!
[protesters] Enough is enough!
DOC!
[protesters] Enough is enough!
[Ciara] My dad was locked up since I was a baby. But he’s been the most impactful person in my life.
[sobs] Prisoners are humans too.
And he deserves better treatment.
All the prisoners deserve better treatment.
[applause]
[protesters] Enough is enough!
Enough is enough!
Enough is enough!
[reporter 1] Protesters calling out what they describe as the prison system’s inhumane treatment of inmates.
[reporter 2] While the demand for action is happening outside of the statehouse, a meeting to address those concerns was happening inside.
[reporter 3] Governor Kay Ivey created a study group to examine the issues. That group met today. Now that we’ve outlined the rules of this meeting, let’s begin.
Now, of course, the way to assure absolute and total protection of the public upon conviction of crime would be execution of all who are convicted.
However, conscience and the limits of the U.S. Constitution do not tolerate such extreme consequence of wrongdoing.
So we live with the reality that most of those who are convicted of crime will someday again walk the streets.
With that, it’s time to get the program underway.
Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn is here.
[people murmuring]
[tense music playing]
[Sandy] That’s my son, Steven Davis.
I have still yet to hear from the prison system to find out what happened to my son.
All I’ve heard is what they have released in the press, that he was beat by officers.
I hope you will do justice and give me answers.
Somehow or another.
[applause]
[Champ Lyons]
Please take your seats.
We have a limited amount of time to deal with this.
[Dunn]
I can’t speak to specifics.
It’s an ongoing investigation,
and I pledge to you that
It’s still going on?
It is still going on.
And we are going to pursue it, based on the facts, to the fullest extent thatthat we’re allowed.
You told me I can call the DA’s office?
Yes, ma’am.
And find out?
Yes, ma’am. That’s correct.
They said they didn’t have Stevie’s name.
Well, I can’t respond to whatwhat they may tell you, but that’s the actions that we took.
It’s good to see you. Okay.
Good to see you.
Nothing. Nothing.
[indistinct chattering]
[Sandy] You know, they don’t want that picture to be seen. I know they don’t. But I want to show the world what they’ve done, why I’m out here screaming and hollering.
And you know the prisoners are scared.
They’re seeing all this go down and nothing, no justice being done.
Don’t you know they’re scared they’re liable to be killed too?
Hmm.
I would be, if I was next door and they beat my buddy to death.
[foreboding music plays]
[birds chirping]
[phone ringing]
[source] They just found inmate James Sales dead in his cell. I was told by nursing staff he was bleeding from his rectum, mouth, and nose. He was Steven Davis’ cellmate when Steven was beaten to death by officers. Since then, he was convinced that the Department of Corrections was trying to kill him and begging to be transferred. He was scheduled for release less than a month away.
[ambient traffic noises]
[printer whirring]
[Hank]
This is James Sales’ autopsy. Young guy. No drugs. No injuries. Cause of death: undetermined. Somebody this close to release, this young, no other health problems just suddenly drops dead, just doesn’t sit right with me.
He’s like a poster child for how fucked up, how totally fucked up this system is.
[somber music playing]
Mr. Sales committed a minor crime, breaking into an unoccupied building. Didn’t hurt anybody, doesn’t even appear he necessarily even took anything.
And then he gets 15 years? And then he’s put in the highest security prison in the state of Alabama? This guy needed rehabilitation. He didn’t need to be put in the worst hellhole in the Department of Corrections system. And then he had to witness Steven Davis get murdered right in front of him.
[man]
Most of the coincidences I run into don’t turn out to be coincidences.
[ominous music playing]
[ambient traffic noises]
[tractor rumbling]
[inmates chatting]
[Robert Earl]
[slow dramatic music playing]
[music fades out]
[Sandy] It’s been almost three years since Stevie died. We finally have a meeting with the Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office to let us know if they’re going to press charges against the people that killed Stevie. I want to hear how they can explain stomping him. How that’s not murder.
How he deserved that. You know?
Tell me how he deserved being stomped to death.
It’s the cruelty of it all. He did explain to me how they…
[inhales]
Hang on… [coughs] How they, uh… [coughs] How they…
[exhales] I need air.
How they… [inhales]
[choking up]
How they investigated.
They told me the story, from their view, with their investigators.
They told me why he died.
[somber music playing]
Stevie was attacking them to kill them, so they had to kill him.
There’s a law that if someone’s trying to kill you and you kill them back, you kill them, it’s a Stand Your Ground law.
He says Alabama has a Stand Your Ground law that we adopted from Florida.
They told me the whole horrible story.
What they say happened.
[music fades out]
[contemplative music playing]
[cicadas chirping]
[Robert Earl]
[music stops]
[phone vibrating]
[vibrating continues]
[indistinct chatter]
[phone beeping]
[automated voice]
There are 11 participants in the conference.
[phone beeps]
[contemplative music playing]
[caller] Yeah.
[Robert Earl] [caller] Okay.
[caller] Correct.
We’ve always understood that our labor is what this is all about.
[Robert Earl]
They give you a job. It doesn’t matter if the job is dangerous. It doesn’t matter if you’re sick. You can be written a disciplinary for refusing to work and placed in solitary confinement. And it’s not just prison jobs. A lot of prisoners are being leased out to corporations. Or to do state work.
[man]
[string trimmer buzzing]
[Robert Earl] Kay Ivey being so afraid of prisoners being so dangerous, and all the murderers and rapists, you don’t want them in your community.
Well, you got a group of them that’s walking around your mansion every day.
[somber music playing]
[man]
[ducks quacking]
[producer] In your mind, can people be genuinely rehabilitated?
I don’t know that I can speak to that specifically.
I mean, look, I think anybody can have a change of heart.
I’ll say that.
I think God can invade somebody.
I believe in the concept of grace.
But grace itself doesn’t mean release from prison.
Grace means that you’re relieved from the burden of your sin.
[meditative music playing]
[Robert Earl]
[tense music playing]
[Robert Earl]
[caller]
Right.
[caller] Mmhmm.
[Robert Earl]
[phone dinging]
This is to force Alabama to address this humanitarian crisis right now.
Not when a judge rules on a lawsuit. Right now.
We dying right now.
[birds chirping]
[Trey] Any work done by any incarcerated individual is prohibited from this day forward. Alabama inmates are on strike.
It is affecting every major prison facility in the state.
[reporter 1]
The unprecedented systemwide worker stoppage sending a message to lawmakers. Some are saying this protest has been a long time coming after the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Alabama over its prison conditions.
Inmates have refused to show up for work in the kitchen, doing laundry, or anything else.
[phone dinging]
[Robert Earl]
[indistinct chatter]
♪ And we praying… ♪
[in unison]
♪ I got Jesus on my mind ♪
♪ In truth, yeah, we praying ♪
[in unison]
♪ I got Jesus on my mind ♪
[Robert Earl]
[chuckles]
[Melvin]
[reporter 1] Inmates in Alabama are demanding the U.S. Justice Department intervene and put an immediate stop to, quote, Alabama’s systematic denial of human and dignity rights.
[reporter 2] The Governor’s Office said that the demands are, quote, unreasonable. As far as the demands, they were reasonable.
It wasn’t, “Let me go or I’m gonna kill somebody.”
It was just, “Here are some things that we’d like you to look at.
And we’re protesting because of that.”
[Melvin]
[fastpaced music playing]
We know the injustices and the corruption that’s going on in the Department of Corrections.
[reporter] Today in Montgomery, family members rallied on behalf of inmates, saying they won’t be working until the Alabama Department of Corrections makes changes and improvements.
[music intensifies]
[man]
[phone dinging]
[reporter]
ADOC officials scrambling to come up with a plan to manage operations if inmates refuse to work.
[music stops]
[phone dialer beeping]
[automated voice] Conference will begin momentarily.
[beeps]
[caller]
[Robert Earl]
[phone dings]
[Raoul]
[Robert Earl]
[reporter] ADOC says the changes are logistical, but a correctional officer who spoke with us off camera, fearing retaliation, believes that administrators are intentionally dragging out the feeding schedules so at times, inmates are waiting up to 14 hours between meals, as a way to break this strike here.
[man] We’ve been saving up food for the folks that might need some food.
So that folks know that they’re not in this alone, we’re all in this together.
[man 1]
[man 2]
[man 1]
[man]
[music fades out]
[cicadas chirping]
[man]
[Raoul]
[reporter] Weekend visitations at prisons all across Alabama are canceled. The administrators are trying to put the pressure on some of the inmates to make them go back to work.
[phone dings]
[reporter 1] Day five of the Alabama Department of Corrections protest continues.
[reporter 2]
Special response team is actually inside Limestone right now doing a major search.
[clamoring]
The team is traveling to each of the prisons.
[man]
[indistinct yelling]
[banging]
[man]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[cicadas chirping]
[radio announcer]
Live and local, Talk 99.5.
[radio host 1] Alabama prisoners are refusing to work. Eventually, they’ll get tired of the food that is being prepared by the handful of employees,
and they’ll get back to work.
[radio host 2] Yeah. You’re not in any position to make any demands. You’re in prison. [laughs] Continue to serve the meals, continue to do the laundry.
[radio host 1]
Look down at your legs. Are there shackles? Not really in a position to do anything about it. Sorry about that.
[foreboding music playing]
[reporter] It’s now week two of the Alabama state prison inmate work strike. Everything’s still operational.
There’s no disruption in essential services.
[reporter] I’m told by current staff members things have stayed pretty nonviolent inside these prison walls. But they say that this just cannot keep going the way it is right now.
There’s just too much stress on this system without the inmates helping out and doing those jobs.
[grim music playing]
[indistinct yelling]
[Raoul]
[sighs]
[somber music playing]
[phone dings]
[Omar]
[dings]
[man 1]
[man 2]
[reporter] Work stoppage is slowing down, with inmates at only a handful of prisons continuing their protest.
[Martin]
[dings]
[reporter] Work stoppage by inmates at Alabama prisons is fading. There are now just five lockups affected.
[Miles]
[reporter]
State prison officials say only two facilities are now experiencing stoppages.
[wind whooshing]
[slow dramatic music playing]
[Robert Earl]
[music fades out]
[birds twittering]
[slow music playing]
[reporter 1] Prison operations are back to normal after a three-week-long inmate protest.
[reporter 2]
Inmates had hoped their protest would spur some action by lawmakers and ADOC leaders. But that didn’t really happen.
[radio host 2]
You are a prisoner. You did commit a crime.
[radio host 1] You’re in prison. It’s prison. It’s supposed to suck.
[radio host 2] Shipshape. Let’s go. Chop, chop.
[radio host 1]
You sure showed the man. Well done.
[music fades out]
[marching band playing]
[reporter 1] It’s Inauguration Day in Alabama. Steve Marshall with his family there with him. Gov. Kay Ivey will officially be sworn into office.
[reporter 2] A landslide victory for Kay Ivey, galvanizing her two terms here as governor in the state of Alabama.
[Ivey] The primary function of all levels of government is to keep our citizens safe.
Just last week, I signed an executive order to ensure violent criminals remain off the streets.
[cheers and applause]
You can change the name of it but the undergirdings of it are the same.
Exploitation.
And they’re getting rich all the way to the bank.
And they’re laughing at us who are talking about truth and justice.
[somber music playing]
[vigil speaker] Everyone who is here is standing with the family members that we have lost in Alabama’s prisons.
[Robert Earl]
[man] This is E.M.C.F., correctional facility.
The Louisiana State Prison in Angola.
[man 2] What’s up, man.
We need y’all’s help, man.
[Robert Earl] Let me be clear when I tell you that the things that you see taking place in Alabama and worse are taking place in your state, and in your name.
[blow lands]
[indistinct yelling]
[banging]
[taser fires, zapping]
[grunting]
[Robert Earl]
It’s not beneficial to anyone. Not to the jailer, not to the people who were harmed, not to society. No one benefits from this version of what they call “justice.”
[man 1]
[man 2]
Whatever your opinion is about this film, it would not have been possible if we didn’t violate the rules to get the story out.
[Robert Earl]
[indistinct yelling]
[somber music playing]
[Sandy] Come here, kitty.
[attorney]
Do you know who this is?
No.
No, I don’t.
I don’t. No.
Hey.
[producer] How are you? Hey, Papa Smooth.
This is Papa Smooth.
Papa Smooth, you don’t want to be on no video, do you?
[talking indistinctly]
[laughs] Now that’s Papa Smooth, he really, really grouchy.
[laughs]
Hold on.
[producer] Okay. Hold on one second.
Don’t talk. Don’t talk.
[birds twittering]
[reporter 1] The cost of a new Alabama prison is up to one billion dollars.
[reporter 2] At this rate, the price of all three of the new prisons could triple the original estimate.
[reporter 3]
Governor Kay Ivey is suggesting state lawmakers use money from the education budget.
[interviewee] You’re literally robbing our children to pay for these new prisons.
And are you still supporting the $100 million going to the prisons from the Education Fund?
Sure.
[melancholy music playing]
[music fades out]
[fast-paced music playing]
