Alabama’s Department of Corrections is the largest law enforcement agency in the State, but people in its care are twenty times more likely to die of a drug overdose than those in the free world. With the Department of Justice abandoning its responsibility to protect the constitutional rights of people in detention, and upending traditional definitions of what constitutes criminality, it falls to filmmakers and journalists to investigate and call out abuses. In Alabama, there are glimmers of hope since the film’s release: thousands of Alabamians have signed an open letter to the governor demanding change; impacted families marched on the capitol; a class action suit has been filed against the State for using forced prison labor; oversight laws are being proposed in the legislature; the parole rate has increased; and at least one violent guard appears to have been transferred to administrative duty.
Author: Kate Erbland
Published at: 2026-01-15 23:00:00
Still want to read the full version? Full article
