Oscar-Nominated Film Uses Prisoner Cellphones to Show U.S.’s Deadliest Prisons

The Oscar-nominated documentary “The Alabama Solution” features footage clandestinely shot on contraband cellphones wielded by men incarcerated by the fifth-largest state prison system in the United States. Last month, three of the incarcerated activists featured in the film were moved to solitary confinement in what advocates believe is retaliation for their role in exposing the abuses of the state’s prison system. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey declined to speak with the filmmakers during production but issued a press statement criticizing the documentary when its Oscars nomination was announced.