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October 14, 2025

The Alabama Solution: "We're at a humanitarian-crisis level"

the true crime that's worth your time

Andrew Jarecki's latest HBO doc takes testimony from incarcerated men in Alabama. Should you look inside?

The crime
Human-rights violations, forced/slave labor, assault, and murder in Alabama's state prisons.

The story
The Alabama Solution, a two-hour documentary feature from directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman (The Jinx), gets right into it. After a text card lets viewers know that the doc "was made with the cooperation of a group of incarcerated men, incorporating footage filmed over a decade by them and others to document their circumstances" – and warns that "Some of this material may be disturbing for viewers," which proved correct – we start at a revival of sorts in the yard of Easterling Correctional. 

Old mobile phones collection laid out on wooden surface, showcasing various models and styles, emphasizing mobile technology, phones, and electronics.
The phones are symptomatic more of CO rule-breaking than that of prisoners. (HBO)

It takes exactly no time for those incarcerated there to approach the cameras grumbling that the edible food and amiable CO behavior is just "for company," and that the Deep South summer sun outside is nothing compared to the oven-esque atmosphere inside the walls.

And it takes very little time after that for prison officials to inform the production that filming is over, period. 

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