By John Sharp
al.com
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A new prison oversight pilot program is launching at possibly four state prisons replacing legislation that sparked emotional debate on Wednesday and arriving just days before the documentary “The Alabama Solution” competes for an Oscar.
The pilot, negotiated by state lawmakers and prison reform advocates, incorporates key elements of SB316, a prison reform bill requiring oversight and transparency of the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Instead of mandating systemwide oversight across 14 state-run prisons, the program will focus on Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and “two to three men’s prisons,” according to State Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia.
He said the specific facilities will be identified next week.
Stutts, who sponsored SB316 after being inspired by the Oscar-nominated documentary, said Thursday that the Alabama Department of Corrections agreed to a pilot “that does exactly what the bill wants us to do.”
“We can get started faster this way,” he said, noting that only a few days remain in the 2026 legislative session for legislation.
“It won’t be all 14 prisons, but it will be a significant sample of them and we’ll get going on this faster. We’ll come back next legislative session to see if we can do it systemwide.”
Agreement
The agreement came hours after a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on SB316, where former inmates and family members described violence and dire conditions inside Alabama prisons, years after the Department of Justice began investigating the Alabama Department of Corrections.
“I don’t know how you can listen to that testimony and not be moved by it,” Stutts said.
“And that we have to do something. When you hear about murder and at Tutwiler and (female inmates) went for weeks without toilet paper, you wonder why people are mad. You wonder why there is violence. We have to have basic, adequate living conditions.”
He added, “I understand you are in prison. But that doesn’t mean you are not treated humanely.”
The Alabama Appleseed Center for Justice praised the creation of the pilot program, calling it the result of “years of relentless advocacy by families of incarcerated Alabamians.”
The group said the program will bring “transparency and accountability” to the Department of Corrections.
Appleseed also credited “The Alabama Solution” for drawing national attention to the crisis.
The HBO Max film relies heavily on secretly recorded cellphone footage from inside Alabama prisons, showing death investigations, assaults, and the lack of oversight.
“We believe this program will help bring some sunshine to a department that has long been shrouded in darkness, creating more transparency for the legislature, public and families,” said Elaine Burdeshaw, Appleseed’s Policy and Advocacy Director.
She credited Stutts and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger for advancing the effort.
The Alabama Department of Corrections declined earlier this week to comment on SB316 and has not responded Thursday to a request for comment on the pilot program.
Expanded oversight
The pilot will expand oversight responsibilities within the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts . SB316 would have created a full-time prison oversight coordinator, but Stutts said the department already has a part-time coordinator and that Chief Examiner Rachel Riddle assured him they can increase oversight internally without additional funding.
“Yes, a pilot program was agreed upon with the general structure being some of the framework set out in the bill regarding data for individuals prisons,” Riddle said in a statement to AL.com.
“The specifics of such will be ironed out as we go through this process. The purpose of such is to make sure we come up with an efficient but effective way to handle these. Implementation of this will be key in producing a work product that is useful for future policy decisions of the Legislature.”
The legislation also proposed a new Corrections Oversight Board, but Stutts said the existing Joint Legislative Prison Oversight Committee, created in 2021, can take on that role. “The one we have currently is just going to be energized,” he said.
SB316 also assigned the State Bureau of Investigation, part of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), to handle investigations within the prison system.
ALEA opposed the proposal during Wednesday’s hearing, arguing it would require significant manpower and divert resources from highway patrols. Stutts said he was not overly concerned.
“Those concerns may be there, but it certainly can be done,” he said. “There are so many things like this that you are looking for a reason that you can’t do it, or a reason you can do it.”
Documentary reaction
Stutts said he has not discussed the program or SB316 with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office.
Attorney General Steve Marshall did not respond to a request for comment.
Marshall, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate this year, has been the most vocal critic of “The Alabama Solution,” arguing the film ignores crime victims.
He said director Andrew Jarecki should have included “one frame, one interview, one portion” featuring victims’ families.
Wanda Miller, executive director of Victims of Crime and Leniency (VOCAL), said the documentary was “well-made,” held her attention, and raised important concerns, but she also felt it lacked context.
“We want a system that works,” Miller said.
“More than anything, we want offenders to be held accountable. I noticed immediately there was no mention of victims. There was one inmate that mentioned victims and that victims have been through hell, but the (public) watching this program has no idea what the crime was committed that put people into prison. I don’t know what the crime was.
“I think leaving that part out of any narrative and talking about incarceration and accountability and you don’t factor in the crime victims, then I don’t think the public is getting the true story.”
The documentary arrives as a six-year-old federal lawsuit stemming from the DOJ’s 2016 investigation continues. Recent disputes center on whether a DOJ investigator must sit for a deposition by the Department of Corrections.
The film’s title references Gov. Kay Ivey’s 2019 State of the State address, when she said the prison crisis was an “Alabama problem that must be solved by an Alabama solution.”
If the film wins Best Documentary Feature at Sunday’s 98th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, it would be only the second Oscar-winning documentary connected to Alabama , following a 1995 short film about the civil rights era.
Stutts, a physician and among the most conservative members of the Alabama Senate, said he’s unlikely to watch the Oscars on Sunday. However, he said he has a prediction for the film.
“It sounds like it may be on the fast track to winning,” he said.
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