Bondi Spins Out Over Epstein Questions & Olympian Confesses Affair on Live TV | Andrew Jarecki
40 min
•Feb 12, 20262 months agoSummary
This Daily Show episode features host Jordan Clapper discussing Trump's threats to block the Gordie Howe Bridge (allegedly due to donor pressure), Pam Bondi's contentious congressional testimony on Epstein, and international news stories. The episode concludes with an interview with filmmaker Andrew Jarecki about his Oscar-nominated documentary 'The Alabama Solution,' which exposes systemic abuse and forced labor in Alabama's prison system.
Insights
- Prison systems operate as legalized forced labor operations generating hundreds of millions annually, with guards incentivized to smuggle contraband for supplemental income
- Contraband cell phones have become critical tools for incarcerated individuals to document abuse and communicate with the outside world, functioning as accountability mechanisms against institutional retaliation
- Public pressure and social media mobilization can directly impact prisoner safety, as demonstrated by the release of activists after public outcry following the film's Oscar nomination
- Authoritarian institutions systematically suppress journalism and documentation as a threat to their operations, treating witnesses and cameras as weapons to be eliminated
- Political corruption operates transparently in modern governance, with policy reversals directly traceable to donor influence without significant consequences
Trends
Documentary filmmaking as investigative journalism tool for exposing systemic institutional failuresIncarcerated individuals leveraging contraband technology for activism and accountability journalismPublic mobilization via social media as enforcement mechanism for prisoner rights and safetyForced labor systems persisting in U.S. criminal justice with historical parallels to convict leasingAuthoritarian suppression of documentation and journalism as institutional control mechanismPolitical decision-making driven by donor influence with transparent policy reversalsInternational prison reform advocacy through streaming platform distribution
Topics
Alabama Prison System Abuse and Forced LaborContraband Cell Phones in Prisons as Accountability ToolsPrison Guard Corruption and Drug TraffickingIncarcerated Activism and Nonviolent ProtestDocumentary Filmmaking and Investigative JournalismPrisoner Rights and RetaliationForced Labor in U.S. CorrectionsCongressional Accountability and OversightEpstein Investigation and Victim JusticePolitical Corruption and Donor InfluenceInternational Bridge Infrastructure PoliticsInstitutional Suppression of Journalism
Companies
Alabama Department of Corrections
Subject of documentary investigation for systemic abuse, forced labor generating $450M annually, and guard-facilitate...
McDonald's
Mentioned as employer of incarcerated workers leased by Alabama prison system for unpaid labor
Burger King
Mentioned as employer of incarcerated workers leased by Alabama prison system for unpaid labor
Hyundai Parts Company
Mentioned as employer of incarcerated workers leased by Alabama prison system for unpaid labor
Budweiser
Mentioned as employer of incarcerated workers leased by Alabama prison system for unpaid labor
People
Andrew Jarecki
Award-winning filmmaker and co-director of Oscar-nominated documentary 'The Alabama Solution' exposing Alabama prison...
Pam Bondi
Attorney General whose contentious congressional testimony on Epstein and ICE drew criticism for evasiveness and defe...
Donald Trump
President threatening to block Gordie Howe Bridge opening, allegedly due to donor pressure from Ambassador Bridge owner
Robert Old Council
Incarcerated activist and primary subject in 'The Alabama Solution' documentary, placed in solitary confinement for w...
Melvin Ray
Incarcerated activist featured in documentary, placed in solitary confinement then released after public outcry follo...
Raul Poole
Incarcerated activist featured in documentary, placed in solitary confinement for work strike participation
Stephen Davis
Incarcerated individual beaten to death in Alabama prison system, documented in 'The Alabama Solution'
Matthew Maroon
Owner of Ambassador Bridge who allegedly lobbied Trump administration, influencing his opposition to competing Gordie...
Charlotte
Co-director of 'The Alabama Solution' documentary with Andrew Jarecki
Sturla Homelagarde
Norwegian biathlete who confessed to cheating on girlfriend during post-Olympic bronze medal interview
Quotes
"The Alabama Department of Corrections is the biggest law enforcement agency in the state. And it's also the biggest drug dealing operation in the state."
Andrew Jarecki
"They get $450 million a year in unpaid labor. And it's really forced labor, right? Because you can say, well, I don't feel like working today. And they can put you in solitary confinement."
Andrew Jarecki
"These are guys who've been locked up for decades for crimes they probably never should have been locked up for before to start with. And so we have this opportunity to see inside in a way that is completely unique."
Andrew Jarecki
"They are afraid of the witnesses, right? You've got to keep taking your camera out, and you've got to keep taking pictures."
Andrew Jarecki
"Trump is just not that complicated. It always comes down to a bribe."
Jordan Clapper
Full Transcript
This episode is brought to you by Ninja Luxe Cafe, the three-in-one machine that makes espresso, drip coffee, and cold brew. No barista skills required. You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Jordan Clever. Welcome to The Daily Show. I'm George Clapper. We got so much to talk about tonight. Trump tells Canada, you shall not pass. China will let you know when you're dead. And if downplaying international sex rings were an Olympic sport, Pam Bondi would take home the gold. So, let's get into the headlines. You know what? Let's kick things off with something uplifting. The Winter Olympics are underway. And if there's one thing I love, it's those post-victory interviews where medal winners from around the world just radiate pure joy. I can't get enough of it. Congratulations so much on Olympic bronze. How are you? It's been the worst week of my life. Okay, a little less joy than I expected. That was Norway's Sturla Homelagarde, who won bronze in the biathlon. But he got a bronze. I mean, I know it's not gold, but it's still bronze. So why is he so upset? Half a year ago, I met the love of my life, the world's most beautiful, finest person. and three months ago I made my biggest mistake which was cheating on her okay not how I would have celebrated in a post game interview I would have gone with a thank you mom and dad or a thank you god but you know instead you went with guess what world I can't keep it in my pants buddy buddy there are other ways of dealing with your guilt. How about, I don't know, flowers? An edible arrangement? Or burying the shame deep inside you and letting it fester until it explodes in a public meltdown in the freezer section of Trader Joe's? I need a pizza for one because I ruined the best thing that ever happened to me! And by the way, if I was listening closely, did I hear that right that you met her six months ago? I mean, you guys weren't even dating long enough to fart in front of each other. You are still in that honeymoon phase where you pretend you need something in the other room and go fart there. You know what? You know what? If repairing your six-month situationship is that important, I guess it's fine to hijack the news cycle to talk about it. I'm sure your teammate, who won the gold, had nothing more important to draw attention to. And it was an emotional win for Norway's Johan Olau-Botten in men's 20-kilometer individual biathlon. The reneging dedicated it to his late teammates, who died unexpectedly in December. Oh, right! Our dead teammates! I was between honoring him or talking about how much pussy I was getting. I was just... Dude! Come on! You hijacked that to try to win back your fling? This is basically like if instead of interrupting Taylor Swift, Kanye had interrupted the In Memoriam segment. You know what? You know what? Love is a rocky road sometimes. And if this big display helped our boy get his girl back, it was all worth it. Well, speaking to a Norwegian tabloid, the former girlfriend says it's hard to forgive what he did and that she did not appreciate him making their private issue so public. Ah. Shit. Well, you know what? Look at the bright side. You didn't get your girlfriend back, but every woman you date from now on knows you can't go three months without cheating. I mean, no things aren't going well for you when even Lindsey Vonn is like, this guy's having a bad week. I mean, what a mess. This is why I'm always saying we need to keep men out of men's sports. You don't see the women's teams having this much drama. In the women's 15K individual biathlon, the gold goes to Julia Simone of France. Last fall, she was found guilty by a French court of theft and credit card fraud and given a three-month suspended prison sentence after stealing the credit card numbers of a teammate. What? What? What? What is it about this sport where you voluntarily freeze your genitals off in spandex and shoot guns that attracts so many lunatics? And, you know, to be fair to her, it's not right to steal, but what do you think skiing with a gun even pays these days? Nobody's hiring. She probably gets one or two contracts a year to kill James Bond, but that barely covers rent, you know? Moving on to something else going downhill, America. Today, Congress heard testimony from Pam Bondi, attorney general and woman who stresses everyone out at book club, but it's not worth uninviting her because that'll become a whole thing. Congress had a lot of serious questions for her about everything from ICE to Epstein, and I'm sure she handled them with the grace and maturity we have come to expect from the Trump administration. Are you kidding? I'm gonna answer the question the way I want to answer the question. I'm not gonna get in the gutter for her theatrics. Can I finish, please? I'm not being rude. She doesn't say how much money she took from Reid Hoffman, did you? You don't tell me anything. Yeah, oh, I did tell you because we saw what you did in the Senate. You're a lawyer. Not even a lawyer. You're a failed politician. Hypocrite. Shame on you. You don't get to reclaim your time. Your time is up. This is so ridiculous. Wow. I mean, you could do something like that in Congress, but when I do it in a Chili's, I get banned for life? To be fair, though, you'd be in a bad mood, too, if you'd spent the last month redacting images of old man generals from the Epstein files. Allegedly. Now, keep in mind, this is not how these hearings traditionally go. The attorney general used to carry some level of seriousness and gravitas. It's only recently that they'd spend a congressional hearing acting like a bratty senior who got called into the principal's office. Suck my d***, Principal Gilbert. I already got to ASU. You can eat it. Now, look, look. Her performance upset a lot of people because they were hoping for justice for Jeffrey Epstein's victims. But for Pam Bondi, there's only one victim in all of this. Have you apologized to President Trump? Have you apologized to President Trump? All of you, I find it interesting that she keeps going after President Trump, the greatest president in American history. You sit here and you attack the president, and I am not going to have it. He is the most transparent president in the nation's history. Donald Trump, the Dow, the Dow right now is over... The Dow is over $50,000. I don't know why you're laughing. Hold on. Oh, okay, hold on. Come, you know, if you're gonna embarrass yourself on national television like that, at least win a bronze medal first. Have you no dignity? No dignity. You know, there is some good news for Donald Trump, for Donald Trump, and it comes right out of my own home state of Michigan, where the state motto is, Welcome to Michigan. We're sorry about Kid Rock. For decades now, the only bridge between Canada and Detroit has been the Ambassador Bridge. But in Trump's first term, Canada started construction on the Gordie Howe Bridge. And Trump was so excited about it that he even got a little poetic. America is deeply fortunate to have a neighbor like Canada. We have before us the opportunity to build even more bridges and bridges of cooperation and bridges of commerce. Wow. Remember when he used to pretend to try? At the time, we were like, look at him phoning in diplomacy. Now we're like, dear God, please phone in some diplomacy. Anyway, the point is the bridge is almost complete, which will soon open up a public crossing that will enrich both our nations. Trump must be so excited for this new era of U friendship This morning President Trump threatening to block the opening of a brand new bridge between Canada and the U I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them. Or friendship. After all, what has friendship ever done for Trump other than associate him with the world's largest sex trafficking ring? Still, still, Mr. President, this bridge is a win-win. Canada is paying for all of it, and they're going to share ownership with Michigan. We get a public bridge instead of having to pay tolls to the billionaire owner of the Ambassador Bridge. Why would the president oppose that? The owner of the older Ambassador Bridge, Matthew Maroon, lobbied the Trump administration on the same day the president unleashed his tirade about the Gordy House ban. Oh, I see. You were for it. Then one of your donors called you, and you immediately turned against it. I mean, say what you want about Trump. He is always transparent with his corruption. You never have to follow the money with him, you know? The money is like, I'm going to Donald Trump, I'll drop you a pin. Well done, Mr. Jordan. Looks like he solved me riddle. I, I, wait, who said that? Tis I, the troll of the Gordie Howe Bridge. It seemed you solved the riddle of the bridge dispute. Give Trump a bribe and you'll have your root. Yeah, it wasn't that hard. The answer with Trump is probably always a bribe. But if true, puzzle master ye be, then see if ye can answer these riddle three. Yeah, I'm sorry. I actually have a show to do. Brittle one. Okay. If two companies want profits to surge, they'll need this in order to merge. If two companies want to merge, I'm guessing you try to give Trump a bribe? Aren't you clever? No, I'm not. The answer is just always going to be... Brittle number two. Okay. If thou desires an ocean for drilling, only this will make Trump willing. Uh, again, I'm gonna guess a bribe. What? Where are you getting these answers from? Did you hack my laptop? Bridge trolls have laptops? Yes. And the password is impenetrable. Is the password bribe? Riddle number three. If a 20-year sex trafficking sentence ye face, with this, your punishment may be erased. Oh, wow. Yeah, you know, this is a tough one. Oh, I've got you now, mister. Is it a bribe? Motherfucker. I'm sorry. Look, I'm sorry. Troll. Troll. Trump is just not that complicated. It always comes down to a bribe. Why are you even guarding a bridge anyway? Because I tried to bribe Trump by buying his crypto, but then it crashed and I lost everything. So I live here now. Oh. I'm sorry. That's very sad. I know. I just, like... Honestly, I could really use a place to stay until I, like, get back up on my feet. Well, good luck to you. I guess we're done here. Not just yet! If you wish to end your bout, permit me to crush on your couch! I mean, we're not even rhyming now. Slayer rhymes count! Okay, Gordie Howe Bridge Troll, everyone. We'll come back. We'll find out what other countries have wrong with them. Don't go away. While many skincare brands focus only on surface-level aesthetics, true skin health begins at the cellular level. One Skin is a pioneer in the field of skin longevity, shifting the focus from simply masking the signs of aging to addressing the biological drivers behind them. At the core of their lineup is the patented OS1 peptide. This is the first ingredient proven to target senescent cells, often called zombie cells, which are the key driver of wrinkles, fine lines, and loss of elasticity. These results have been validated in four separate peer-reviewed clinical studies, ensuring that the technology is rooted in rigorous science. Founded by an all-woman team of longevity scientists with PhDs in stem cell biology and skin regeneration, one skin is designed to be both powerful and safe. The products are dermatologist-tested, free from over 1,500 harsh ingredients, and have been awarded the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance, making them ideal even for sensitive skin. Born from over a decade of longevity research, OneSkin's OS1 peptide is proven to target the visible signs of aging, helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age. For a limited time, try OneSkin with 15% off using code DAILY at oneskin.co slash DAILY. That's 15% off oneskin.co with code DAILY. After your purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Welcome back to The Daily Show. Contrary to what they teach in Texas schools, America is not the only country in the world. For more, we go to our senior international correspondent, Troy Iwata, in his new segment, So Not Our Problem. The world is always ragging on America these days. Like, your president sucks. Your economy is just AI. You're all dying of measles. Like, we get it. We get it. We're not perfect. We know we have problems. But guess what? The rest of the world has got issues, too. Okay? All right. For instance, China. With your fancy solar panels and your fast trains and your sneezing pandas falling down. You know, China. You've got problems. Check this out. Condoms and birth control pills just got more expensive in China. The change is part of a push from China's government to reverse the country's falling birth rate and encourage more couples to have children. Okay, first of all, why would you pay for condoms? Just go outside. They're on the ground. But, like, ha-ha, China, you've got falling birth rates. And I know, I know you're gonna say, hey, Americans, don't you also have falling birth rates? Yeah, but we find ways to embrace them. Like, like, becoming Disney adults, okay? It's like, we don't need kids, we are kids! Also, who does this condom tax target exactly? Someone's like, I wanna have sex, but I'm a cheapskate, so I guess I'll just have a baby? Like, if China really wants to put condoms out of reach, they should put them on the top shelf. Oh, actually, yeah, no, no. Really, though, their overall health has improved, so they are getting taller. But, you know, you know what else they're getting? Lonelier. There's a new app in China that's making headlines, are you dead? Skyrocketing to the number one paid app spot, it's a quote, safety tool crafted for solo dwellers, aka people living alone, to let their loved ones know that they're alive. Users have to hit a big green button once a day, and if you fail to do it two days in a row, it reaches out to your emergency contact. Okay, wait. So first of all, this is a paid app? So after the free trial, I have to, like, watch an ad for DraftKings before finding out if my grandma's dead? Okay, so, like, doing it through an app is so impersonal. Like, just do what I do. I text my mom, are you dead? And she always says no, and then I respond, how about now? Like, it's this cute little thing that we do, and although she hasn't texted me back in two days, so miss you, old gal. But, see, this is like the Uber Eats of wellness checks. It's like, hey, do I smell rotting flesh? I could get up from the couch, or I can check the old dead neighbor app. Sorry about that China but that is so not a problem And do you think we forgot about you, England? Yeah, maybe we don't have health care like you do, and we did end up with a king after all, but at least this didn't happen to us. An English beach has been covered in French fries after a cargo ship spilled. Thousands of spuds and other veggies have washed up, tumbling off a container ship in a storm. And it could take years to clean it up. What? French fries go in your mouth, not the sea. Also, it's going to take years to clean this up? Just get a group of girlfriends together who will be like, hold on, should we be bad and eat all these ocean fries? They'll have the beach cleaned up in an hour. This is what British people get for not seasoning their food, okay? Food deserves better. Frankly, I'm not convinced those French fries didn't just kill themselves. So, sorry, Brits. Maybe we're clogging our arteries with French fries, but you're clogging the channel with them. And that, that is... So, na, na, bravo. Guten Tag, Germany. You think you're better than us because you have, what, accordions and giant pretzels? It's not like you don't have your own weird shit going on. Cyborg cockroaches ready for the battlefield. Sci-fi? Fantasy? Absolutely not. Swarm Biotactics in central Germany is working with the Bundeswehr to develop technology that can steer the creepy critters autonomously and send them on reconnaissance missions. Jesus Christ. cockroaches in the military? Can you imagine? Wait, so now instead of screaming when I see a cockroach, I have to say thank you for your service? Let me guess. Let me guess. They get to board the plane before everyone else, too? You know, if they get 10% off at Carvel, I'm going to f***ing lose it. But hey, as long as this isn't part of a larger trend in Germany. Germany's new chancellor has vowed to build the strongest army in Europe. Germany wants to recruit an estimated 80,000 more active soldiers in the upcoming years. Deutschland! Deutschland! Deutschland! The world hasn't heard Germany assert itself like this since World War II. Yes! Germany's rebuilding its military for the first time since World War II. And that's okay, because it's... Actually, maybe that is everyone's problem. Join me on everyone. When we come back, Andrew Jurecki will be joining me on the show. Don't go away. Cafe quality brews without a barista. That's the Ninja Lux Cafe. Yep, no skills needed. Rich espresso, balanced drip coffee, rapid cold brew. All made by you because barista assist technology handles the details. Grinding, weighing, brewing, so you don't have to. Finish with silky microfoam made with dairy or plant-based milk. Hot or cold, hands-free, still no skills needed. From first timer to full-blown coffee fan, you can brew it all. Brew it all with the Ninja Luxe Cafe. No skills needed. Cafe quality coffee without the guesswork. Make espresso, drip coffee, cold brew, and more with the Ninja Luxe Cafe. Listeners of this show get $60 off the Ninja Luxe Cafe premiere series with the code Stuart, exclusive on SharkNinja.com, while supplies last. That's $60 off the Ninja Luxe Cafe premiere series with code Stuart, exclusively on SharkNinja.com, while supplies last. Welcome back to The Daily Show. My guest tonight is an award-winning filmmaker whose latest documentary, The Alabama Solution, is currently nominated for an Oscar. Please welcome Andrew Jarecki. First of all, congratulations on the Academy Award nomination. Thank you. Do you think you would have gotten that if Melania was in the category? I considered doing that, but I was actually just too busy with the Alabama thing. But I'm going to try to go back for part two. For part two, yes, yes. I'm sure Melania would take all of the attention she should get. So, yeah, yeah, think about it. This movie is, it is harrowing. But this isn't the movie you started out thinking you were going to make. Is that right? I mean, I knew that there were problems in the Alabama state prison system. Yeah. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get in there because it's such a secretive system, as a lot of prisons are in the U.S. And then we sort of miraculously got access to one of the prisons to go in and film a revival meeting. And we saw this kind of beautiful meeting. But the understory was that there were really terrible things happening in the prison. And the men inside said to us, the stuff they're showing you here is not real. This is curated. You need to know what's going on in that building over there. You need to know what's going on in that bunker over there. And then when we sort of got kicked out, which you see in the beginning of the film, because we got too nosy, we discovered that there were these men inside who had contraband cell phones and were incredible leaders and had been running sort of a nonviolent protest effort to try to get the word out. And so we began a collaboration with them in a way, and it really ended up being this like seven-year journey. So you're essentially, as you're making this film, you're communicating with them. When we're watching a lot of this FaceTime with what's going on, essentially there are almost citizen journalists reporting on what's happening inside the prison as you're communicating with them. Was there, like, how are you navigating that as a filmmaker knowing that these are people on the inside who could be in a lot of trouble if they're found to be recording what's going on? Well, they've been doing this kind of activism and this kind of sort of outspoken truth-telling for a long time. And we were an opportunity, I think, for them to get the story to have a bigger platform. and they really are there struggling to try to survive. And so the idea of getting the word out was important. Also, they really believe in the power of journalism. They really believe in the power of the fourth estate. And so, you know, the audience is, for them, the only way out is to have people understand what's happening to them. It's remarkable, the images you see. You see people addicted to drugs and the way in which they're treated there. There's a murder that takes place that they're essentially tracking the entire time. But specifically the role of the phone is so important as a witness. What did you notice what the phone brought to it? Well, the phones were sort of introduced into the Alabama state prison system around 2013. And the men instantly realized that if they wanted to get the story out, they were going to have to use these phones to do it. And they were also going to be able to use the phones to communicate with their children and their loved ones. Are they supposed to have phones in there? Oh, no, they are not supposed to have phones in there. So how are they getting these phones? The guards are selling them the phones. I mean, clearly, you know, I've spoken to guards who said, well, you know, I make like $36,000 a year without the phones, but I make like $70,000 a year with the phones, so the phones aren't going anywhere. That's even part of the argument inside as well, right? A lot of the drugs, there are people trying to kick the drug habit, and guards are selling drugs because they're getting more money there. You know, the Alabama Department of Corrections is the biggest law enforcement agency in the state. And it's also the biggest drug dealing operation in the state. It's bonkers. Bonkers. So you do this film, and it is remarkable and harrowing. But so much of this, you're rooting for accountability, exposing this. And I was telling you backstage a little bit as well, what resonated so much with me in seeing this, a lot of these things I'd never imagined. And you can imagine pretty horrific things happening inside a prison that you never hear or see, but it goes beyond that. And you're rooting for accountability. And it echoes so many things we see today in the news that we watch today where you're rooting for accountability and you're just not seeing that kind of accountability. But then you're putting it out and it's been out for since August. Is that correct? Well, it was at Sundance last year and then it just came out on HBO in October. So it's been out in sort of in front of the public. But now you can see it on airplanes and things. So it's just getting more into people's consciousness. But many of these people are still in prison. Yeah. Yeah, and what has happened since then now that what they have been doing, what they've been filming has now sort of been outed? What has happened? You know the men who are in prison and the people who are depicted in our film are so extraordinary And you know one of the things that is so difficult about people being in prison and us not being able to see in is that you can see the brutality you can see the terrible things that are happening, but you also can't see the beauty in these men. And these are guys who've been locked up for decades for crimes they probably never should have been locked up for before to start with. And so we have this opportunity to see inside in a way that is completely unique. And a lot of people are just saying to me when they see the film or to Charlotte, my co-director, she, you know, they'll say, this is kind of the first time I ever feel like I was in a conversation with an incarcerated person. Like just being able to talk to those people and just so much propaganda. And of course, there are people in prison who are Jeffrey Dahmer and maybe not redeemable or mentally ill. But there's so many people in prison who've just been there for decades when they committed a crime when they were 18. and now they're an ordained minister and they have a college degree from being in prison. So it's a loss of humanity. It's a really frightening thing. But you're seeing it now in our daily lives. What was happening in Minneapolis and the way that Alex Preddy was really murdered for having a cell phone, for using a cell phone, and that Chrissy Noem had to come out and say that he was brandishing a weapon. And this is exactly what these men are doing. And it's exactly what any authoritarian organization, the U.S. government, the Alabama state prison system, thinks, is that if somebody brings the light of journalism, it's going to be a problem. And it needs to be eliminated because it's a weapon and it prevents them from doing what they would otherwise do. So these men are kind of really freedom fighters. We just don't get to see them. We don't get to know them. And there's a lot of propaganda to say, don't even talk to those guys. When we first went into that very first prison you see, the warden said to us, look, you can talk to that guy and that guy. You can't go over there and you can't go over there. And, you know, I said, why can't we talk to anybody? And he said, oh, they're very dangerous. You don't want to talk to these men. And when we went in, I always felt so much more comfortable talking to the men who were incarcerated than the guards. I was much more comfortable with the men, right? And they're just trying to tell you their story. Have any of these men been punished for appearing in the film? I wouldn't say for appearing in the film, but for their activism throughout time. You'll see in the film, they're regularly retaliated against. And most recently, you know, the film was out for like a year. And then they hadn't been retaliated against. And then they announced or their supporters announced a work strike. And that's very, very problematic for Alabama. They get $450 million a year in unpaid labor. $450 million a year. Is that right? Yeah. And it's really forced labor, right? Because you can say, well, I don't feel like working today. And they can put you in solitary confinement. They regularly do that. They will regularly essentially extend your sentence by giving you disciplinaries. So, you know, they'll put you in an institution where you can be beaten to death, as Stephen Davis was in our film. And so it's not very different than what we saw in the earlier days in America. You know, there's not a lot of difference between this and convict leasing or anything like that. I mean, I think that's also what's haunting there is you're rooting for people to find a path on a way out, this idea of rehabilitation, and you see images of people working outside of the prison system for no pay with an idea that perhaps this is a path towards reentering society, although your film alludes to that not being the case for a lot of these people. Well, it's a scam, and I think the men inside want to be hopeful. We learned that there were statistics that Alabama does not track for reasons that are obvious when you see the film. But, for example, people who are deemed safe enough to be given the opportunity to go work in the community. And Alabama, you know, essentially leases people out, not just to be the guys that are managing the prison and helping with the food and stuff like that, which maybe people could understand. And they also send them out to work on road crews, construction crews, to work at the governor's mansion and clean up and do landscaping. And they also send them to work at McDonald's and at Burger King and at the Hyundai Parts Company. And they also work at the Budweiser distributorship. So all of these, this is a very, very ingrained system and it's worth so much money. And when they announced or their supporters announced this work strike, the three main people in our film, Robert Old Council, Melvin Ray and Raul Poole, were all whisked off to solitary confinement. And they were put in kind of like a Hannibal Lecter type environment where where they couldn't talk to each other. There were no windows in the cells. Two of them are there right now. the good news is that so many people now have been watching the film that we could go on social media and say hey these guys are locked up and there was a huge outcry and on you know people went to the website and they got the phone number for bibb county correctional and hundreds of people called bibb and said we care about these guys like we're watching don't do anything bad to them and and then they released the first of them melvin ray just a couple days ago so we feel like the public is, you know, maddering. I mean... Have you... Have you heard from the governor at all? Such a great question. You know, the governor is called Meemaw by the people who love her. Sure. And, you know, she's quite old, and she's quite confident that they're doing the right thing in the prison system. And she didn't... These are basic beliefs of a Meemaw. Yeah, exactly. Perhaps that Meemaw and a lot of Meemaw. This is Meemaw-like behavior. Yeah, uh-huh. But essentially, she said nothing, and her office said nothing. Like, I think GMA reached out to them and said, what do you think about this film? And they said, well, we're aware of the film, but we cannot comment on the authenticity of the material in it. Because it was, you know, contraband cell phones. Like, anybody was asking them if this is authentic. And then a year later, you know, we got nominated for the Oscar. and they immediately came out with a statement basically saying, like, the Oscars are for suckers, you know. It was a very Trumpy kind of amazing statement. Oh, and they also said, they said the Oscars have a low... We always knew the Oscars had a low bar. And by the way, Meemaw is the best governor ever. Like, nobody has done prisoning as good as Meemaw. And it really is quite a statement. I don't know if you heard the news. she won the FIFA Governor's Award recently. It's remarkable. Well deserved. I want to take note of that. You allude to this here, but people watch this and they get mad and they get frustrated, as I think they should. Where should they take that frustration? You know, the website for the film is not like a promotional website. It's really, it's kind of a deep dive into the investigation we did on 1,500 deaths which have happened in the Alabama prison system since we started making the film. And it's pretty remarkable. And secondly, there's a take action button, and that will tell you some things you can do without taking too much time. But there are places that you can engage, and it's not like give money. It's really, you know, like, you've got to try to make phone calls. You've got to let people know that we're paying attention because this goes way beyond Alabama. You know, Alabama is sort of famously bad, but we just saw in upstate New York, Robert Brooks got murdered by corrections officers. The only reason we know is because of the remote cameras. So these cameras and your ability to expose what these authoritarian-type people are doing, like they did in Minneapolis, you've got to keep doing that. You've got to keep taking your camera out, and you've got to keep taking pictures. They are afraid of the witnesses, right? Yeah, it's truly an incredible film. I hope everybody sees it. The Alabama Solution is available to stream now on HBO Max. Andrew Jarecki, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. That's our show for tonight. Now, here it is. Your moment is nice. I've seen some of the protesters. I know some of them are deeply weird. Some of them give off this, I don't know, I've got a freezer full of body parts in my basement vibe. But that's not against the law. You can be deeply weird in America. us. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.