The Alabama Solution

A suspicious death occurs in the Alabama prison system and the official account does not match what the men inside describe. The documentary starts from that single case and reaches the whole system: deaths, forced labour and organised resistance rising from within. Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman directed. The film rests on a six-year investigation. Its material is unusual: most of the footage was shot inside by incarcerated men on contraband mobile phones. The person recording and the situation recorded are in the same place, and keeping the record is itself a separate risk. That method lifts the film out of testimony and into evidence; what happens on the block is not described, it is shown. It premiered at Sundance in January 2025 and went out on HBO Max in October that year. It was nominated for the documentary feature Oscar and won critics' awards. Who it is for: viewers who follow prison system criticism and investigative documentary. Who it is not for: anyone unprepared for footage of violence; the material is uncensored.