Kelsey and Gen take on HBO’s The Alabama Solution, a documentary that drags the Alabama prison system out of the shadows and into full, brutal light. Through hidden cell-phone footage, inmate testimonies, and interviews captured at enormous personal risk, the film exposes violence, corruption, and conditions that defy any notion of rehabilitation. They break down the men who spoke up, the failures of the system around them, and the human cost the state would rather you never see, but it’s impossible to unsee once you have.

Next up:

"The Long Shot" on Netflix, a short 40 minute Netflix doc from 2017 about a man wrongly accused of murder and exonerated via footage from the TV show Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

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Mentioned:

The Business with Kim Masters at KCRW interview with the filmmakers, Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman
Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-business/id73330606?i=1000735737607 Spotify Podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/5OFaujqzWadpJujV5fUc1D?si=vikI80tMQfu5BphQVOLBXw

Alabama Reflector article

https://alabamareflector.com/2025/09/04/analysis-says-alabama-department-of-corrections-received-5-billion-in-state-funding-in-five-years/

https://alabamaappleseed.org/news/alabama-department-of-corrections-5-billion-in-spending-in-five-years/

Where Are They Now?

Robert Earl Council (Kinetik)

https://thecinemaholic.com/the-alabama-solution/

https://www.thekinetikjusticeproject.com/

https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-robert-earl-council-reopen-his-case-now?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=mobileNativeShare&utm_campaign=share_petition&recruited_by_id=e2cc3780-94f8-11f0-ab8e-0744652ddffc

Melvin Ray

https://moviedelic.com/melvin-ray/

https://thecinemaholic.com/the-alabama-solution/

Raoul Poole

https://thecinemaholic.com/the-alabama-solution/

Sandy Ray

https://abc3340.com/news/abc-3340-news-iteam/state-lawmaker-demands-firing-of-officer-after-documentary-exposes-prison-beating-death

Roderick Gadson

https://www.alreporter.com/2025/10/16/petition-calls-for-federal-investigation-into-killing-of-inmate-steven-davis/

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Ivey

https://www.theplainsman.com/article/2019/02/blackface-racist-photos-among-those-in-pages-of-old-glomerata-yearbooks

https://s3.amazonaws.com/snwceomedia/atp/c9c85d24-7aae-4f34-8770-5ba91627ffab.original.pdf

Support Resources:

Families for justice reform

https://famm.org/

Civil liberties in prison

https://www.aclu.org/issues/prisoners-rights/civil-liberties-prison