The Alabama Solution (2025) on Netflix
R20251h 57mDocumentary
Sandy Ray seeks answers about her son Steven Davis, beaten to death by guards in an Alabama prison. Incarcerated men use contraband cell phones to document abuse and organize protests.
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- Netflix4.5/5
- IMDb7.8/106,655 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 2019, filmmakers visiting Easterling Correctional Facility to record a religious revival meeting are approached off camera by incarcerated men who describe abuse and systemic failures in Alabama's prisons. That visit begins a six-year investigation in which men inside use contraband cell phones to capture conditions and stay in contact with the filmmakers. Sandy Ray, Steven Davis's mother, seeks answers about her son's death. Robert Earl Council, known as Kinetik Justice, and Melvin Ray, known as Bennu Hannibal Ra-Sun, are the two men who founded the Free Alabama Movement and led protests from inside. The title comes from Governor Kay Ivey's insistence that Alabama could solve its prison problems without federal intervention.
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Alabama Solution (2025)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Robert Earl Council, Melvin Ray and Raoul Poole were placed in "extreme" solitary confinement in mid-January 2026, after appearing in The Alabama Solution and calling for another prisoner's strike; the next month the three men sued the Alabama Department of Corrections, alleging their First Amendment free speech rights were violated over their involvement with the film.
- The film's images came from two sources: cinematographer Nicholas Kraus's traditional documentary footage, and video that incarcerated men shot inside the prisons on contraband cell phones.
