On Sunday, Oct. 26, local filmmaker Andrew Jarecki showed his HBO documentary highlighting the Alabama Department of Corrections, “The Alabama Solution,” at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck. The presentation was bookended by commentary from Jarecki, who directed the film along with Charlotte Kaufman, co-producer Alex Duran, and Max Kenner, the head of the Bard Prison Initiative. Duran, now freed from prison, is a graduate of the Bard program.
The screening drew a crowd that included local, county, and state officials, among them State Sen. Michelle Hinchey and Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.
The documentary cuts between footage filmed by inmates inside prison walls and the political maneuvering outside that shapes their confinement. Shot on contraband cellphones, the inmates’ videos reveal a world of rot and neglect — trash-strewn floors, leaking roofs, flooding hallways, and pools of blood outside cell doors. One man, held in solitary confinement for five years, peers through the narrow slot where his meals are passed. Inside and beyond the walls, prisoners labor long hours without pay, generating an estimated $450 million a year for the state.
The mother of Steven Davis, an inmate who the film presents as having been beaten to death by corrections officers, tries to find the truth about the death of her son. In one early interview, she said she was told there would be no investigation into the killing because the officers said they were afraid for their lives, and “stand your ground” laws in Alabama protected their actions. Davis’ cellmate, James Sales, is a witness to Davis’ beating. One month before Sales is due for release, he is found dead in his cell.
Under pressure from the DOJ, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey convenes a committee to investigate allegations of misconduct and inhumane treatment of prisoners. The committee’s opening remarks come from Alabama Supreme Court Justice Champ Lyons: “Of course, the way to assure absolute and total protection of the public upon the conviction of a crime would be execution of all who are convicted,” he said. “However, conscience and the limits of the U.S. Constitution do not tolerate such extreme consequences of wrongdoing. So we live with the reality that most of those convicted of crime will someday walk the streets.”
“New York has a great deal to learn from this film – if we’re willing to look in the mirror,” Duran said. “It’s easy to clutch our pearls and point to Alabama as the problem, as the extreme. But to me, Alabama is anywhere south of the Canadian border. Just a few months ago, New York state correction officers beat Robert Brooks to death. On camera. This film removes the comfort of pretending we didn’t know. It takes away the luxury of ignorance, especially for those in power.”