04/04/2026
Inside Alabamaās Prisons: Violence, Profit, and the Fight for Human Dignity
Federal findings, deaths in custody, forced labor allegations, and unanswered questions expose a system under scrutinyāand a public reckoning still to come.
By Angela Blair | The Blair Perspective
Iāve spoken directly with inmates inside Alabamaās prisonsāover and over again. Different facilities. Different voices. Same patterns. What they describe isnāt just a broken systemāitās a system that feels dangerous, unchecked, and inhumane.
This isnāt speculation. The federal government already investigated Alabamaās prison system and concluded that the state failed to protect inmates from violence, sexual abuse, and unsafe conditionsāand that led to a federal lawsuit. That is documented. That is on record.
And yetāwhat Iām hearing from the inside suggests the reality may go even deeper than what has already been exposed.
Iāve been told about constant violence. About people living in fear every single day. About a system where survival depends on who you are, who you know, and what youāre willing to endure.
And one statement keeps coming up, over and over again:
If you make it out of one of Alabamaās prisonsāyouāre lucky.
That should stop everyone in their tracks.
Because prison is supposed to be a sentenceānot a death sentence.
And yet, deaths in custody continue to raise serious questions.
Take the case of Steven Davisāan inmate whose death is no longer just a question, but a documented tragedy. The state of Alabama paid his mother a $250,000 settlement after he was beaten to death inside Donaldson Correctional Facility. His death was ruled a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head.
A man dies in state custody. The state pays. And no one is held criminally accountable.
Correctional officer Roderick Gadson was one of the officers involved in that beating. He has been named in multiple lawsuits over excessive forceāand yet, instead of being removed, he was promoted. Public payroll records show Gadson earned $200,029 in 2024, after earning $148,607.23 in 2023 and $113,656.34 in 2021.
Governor Kay Ivey earns about $127,833 a yearābased on publicly reported salary records.
He makes significantly more than the Governor.
If that doesnāt raise serious questionsāwhat does?
And understand thisāthose are just the numbers on paper.
While inmates are working for penniesāor nothing at allāthis is what the system pays the people accused of abusing them.
People are starting to ask harder questions.
Because from the outside, this doesnāt look like accountability.
It doesnāt stop bad behaviorāit rewards and enables it.
And when taxpayers are the ones footing the billāpaying settlements, paying salaries, paying legal feesāpeople are starting to realize something even bigger.
They are funding it.
They are unknowingly part of a system that continues to operate no matter how many red flags are raised.
So letās all understand thisāthis affects everyone in Alabama, especially those who pay taxes.
Alabama doesnāt have the lottery Alabama citizens voted onābut there is one being played. Not by the public, but by a system operating in the shadows. And if youāre not carefulā¦ you might end up the one they cash in.
And when the same names keep coming up, the same outcomes keep happening, and the same lack of accountability followsā
It stops looking like coincidence.
It starts looking like a pattern.
And then there are the accounts surrounding Seales, highlighted in The Alabama Solution. On camera, inmates describe fear, retaliation, and allege that Seales said he planned to tell the truthābut that he was afraid for his life. Those same accounts allege he was given a āhot shot.ā
Autopsy findings donāt bring clarity.
They raise more questions.
Families deserve answers.
Not silence.
Not confusion.
Answers.
And if anyone still questions whatās happening inside these prisonsā
Go watch the footage being shared right nowā¦
Or go watch The Alabama Solution on HBO Max.
In videos circulating online, including clips tied to The Alabama Solution, incarcerated men themselves risked everything to smuggle out footage from inside Alabamaās prisons.
Not actors.
Not media spin.
Inmates.
Filming their own reality.
What those videos showāand what people are now seeing for themselvesāis a system described as built on brutality, exploitation, and control.
The evidence isnāt just coming from reports anymore.
Itās coming from inside the prisons themselves.
And they had to risk punishmentārisk their livesāto get that truth out.
So the question becomes even harder to ignore:
If people inside are risking everything to show the world whatās happeningā
Why isnāt more being done?
But this isnāt just about violence.
Itās about what happens every single day inside those walls.
Menās prisons.
Womenās prisons.
Reports, lawsuits, and firsthand accounts describe people being beaten, assaulted, r***d, and in some cases beaten to death. Others describe living under constant threatāwhere fear is not the exception, it is the environment.
And the damage doesnāt stop when someone walks out.
Those who do make it out often carry it with them.
Many come out with severe traumaāwhat some describe as PTSDālike theyāve been to war, but worse. Trapped. Surrounded. No escape.
These are supposed to be correctional institutionsāplaces meant for rehabilitation.
Not places that leave people mentally broken.
Not places that create long-term psychological damage.
Not places that send people back into society worse than when they went in.
And yetāthatās exactly what people are describing.
And where is the mental health support?
Where are the resources to help people cope, heal, and survive what they are experiencing inside those walls?
Because su***de rates inside prisons are high.
And people are asking why.
Is it because there is no escape?
Because for some, it becomes a choice between enduring constant fear, violence, and psychological tormentā
Or ending it.
That is not rehabilitation.
That is failure at the most basic human level.
Then thereās the labor.
In Alabama, inmates are required to work. If they refuse, they can be punished. In work-release programs, the state takes a significant portion of what they earnāoften 40% or moreāplus additional fees.
Forty percent.
Plus fees.
And taxpayers are still footing the bill.
So the question isā
where is that money going?
Why are fees being added on top of already reduced wages?
What exactly are those fees paying for?
And why isnāt that money clearly reducing the burden on taxpayers?
Work or be punished.
Thatās the reality.
And when you step back and look at itāpeople are asking harder questions:
If someone is required to work, paid a fraction of their wages, and then charged additional fees on top of thatā
what do you call it?
Because advocates, lawsuits, and critics are already calling it what it looks like:
Modern-day slavery.
Private prisons are not illegal.
They are legal.
Companies can be paid to detain human beings.
That is the reality.
But when money is tied to incarcerationā
Questions follow.
Why is parole constantly denied?
Why release someone when keeping them inside generates profit?
Why let them go when their labor is part of the system?
This is not different than a cotton field and a master. The only difference now is they donāt care what race, color, or creed you areāfree labor is free labor, and itās coming from poor citizens. Your only real advantage of making it out is if you have the money and knowledge to become a threat. The poor are seen as easy targetsāfed into a broken system that often starts with a failing education structure. When people lack resources but still have to survive and provide for themselves or their families, it can push them toward desperate choices. And the system is waitingāready to take them in. For many, thereās only one way out. The grave.
For all the ones that say, āDonāt do something to go to prison,ā understand thisāthere are innocent people sitting in prison right now because the system failed them. Because the system is not always built to protectāitās built in a way where the odds are stacked. Itās like walking into a casinoāthe house almost always wins.
Lawsuits involving the University of Alabama at Birmingham allege organs were taken from deceased inmates without proper next-of-kin consent and retained after autopsy. A judge allowed those claims to move forward. In one court filing, plaintiffs allege a UAB pathology employee said it was āstandard practiceā to retain organs and that it was ātoo lateā to return them. UAB has denied wrongdoing in related reporting, and no final settlement has been publicly confirmed in these specific cases.
Families are now questioning not just how their loved ones diedā
But what happened after death.
At the facility, federal investigators confirmed systemic sexual abuseāstaff were fired, arrested, and convicted. Yet many others remain working inside these facilities without any real consequences.
Women in custodyācompletely dependent on the systemāwere abused by those responsible for protecting them.
There have also been reports and allegations involving pregnancies tied to that abuse.
So how does this continue?
Because this doesnāt stop at Alabama.
Under Donald Trump, federal policy expanded detentionāputting more people into systems already under scrutiny. Not creating the systemābut feeding it.
Kenneth Sharpton-Glasgow, others, and I have reached outāvideos, emails, phone callsāto Trump and the Department of Justice.
And yetāit feels like silence.
Even with The Alabama Solution reaching the Oscarsā
Raw footage.
From inside.
Not actors.
Not scripts.
Inmates.
So how can the world see thisāand nothing changes?
Why do inmatesā lives seem not to matter?
Because when you follow the systemāyou see the money.
Labor.
Contracts.
Funding tied to incarceration.
And people are askingā
Are human beings being reduced to profit?
To a payday?
Because when patterns repeatāviolence, deaths, alleged cover-ups, financial incentivesā
It stops looking isolated.
It starts looking systemic.
Thatās where federal law comes in.
The RICO Actādesigned to address patterns of organized wrongdoing.
No court has ruled that Alabamaās prison system meets that thresholdāyet.
But people are asking if it should be investigated that way.
Because at some pointā
This stops looking like failure.
And starts looking like a system.
This is not about excusing crime.
This is about human rights.
Because no one is sentenced to be abused.
No one is sentenced to die.
No one is sentenced to be treated as less than human.
And yetāthat is what people are saying is happening.
So what can you do?
Demand transparency.
Contact your representatives.
Ask questions.
Support investigative journalism.
Refuse to ignore it.
Because silence is what allows systems like this to continue.
This is bigger than politics.
This is bigger than Alabama.
This is about accountability.
This is about humanity.
And the question is no longer whether something is wrong.
The question isā
How much more has to happen before itās forced to change?
And Iāll say this clearlyā
I currently have a finished documentary from Kenneth Sharpton-Glasgow, with a trailer ready. As his agent, I am actively looking for the right producer to bring the RAW footage and full stories to the publicābecause the truth deserves to be seen, not buried.
