1 of 3 | "The Alabama Solution," on HBO Friday, investigates Alabam Prisons. Photo courtesy of HBO
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman say investigating the Alabama prison system in their documentary The Alabama Solution, premiering Friday at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO and streaming on HBO Max, raised more questions than they could fit in one film.
The Alabama Solution, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, includes footage captured by prisoners with contraband cell phones. The inmates documented overcrowded, filthy living conditions, and physical abuse by some of the guards.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Kaufman said there were many different stories they could have followed in the film. In editing, they structured the feature around the death of inmate Steven Davis, which overlapped with some of the stories of abusive guards.
"Prior to Steven Davis, we had been investigating a group of abusive officers," Kaufman said. "We had created a database of lawsuits, of pro se lawsuits that had been filed by men and we started seeing patterns of abuse."
