By C1 Staff
MOBILE, Ala. — As the Mannequin Challenge craze sweeps the nation, prison officials are investigating how a group of inmates managed to film their version of the viral trend.
The video, obtained by WKRG, shows inmates in a brawl, protesting conditions, and praying, reading, and working out.
The caption on the video reads, “Free us… prison reform… free my family!,” with the hashtags, #ALLlivesMATTER, #GodLovesAll, and #ChaingangChallange.
Tier Talk host and Corrections1 columnist Anthony Gangi told the news station that the video is meant to show people the system is broken, not to make people laugh.
“It’s not meant for people to enjoy. It’s meant to show people this facility’s in trouble, the more people laugh about it, the situation will never get resolved,” Gangi said.
When asked why COs didn’t break up the filming Gangi said the prison could be critically understaffed.
“A lot of people don’t realize this is a problem of under-staffing facilities,” Gangi said. “It’s not the problem of officers not wanting to do their job, it’s a problem of can the officers do their job?”
Officials are still investigating which prison the video came from. The release of a video from a contraband cell phone has officials worried of more dangerous contraband.
“Until somebody gets hurt, that’s when people do something about it, but at that point, we become totally reactive and it’s too late,” Gangi said.