Incarcerated people use TikTok videos to expose Alabama’s prison conditions

Understaffing, overcrowding and a lack of healthcare fueled a crisis in a state with the world’s highest incarceration rate

Last year 270 people in Alabama’s prisons died, the most of any calendar year on record. The deaths included 19 homicides. Those in prison, their family members and prison advocates have used TikTok to highlight the degrading conditions in Alabama’s prisons, even as the Department of Justice is preparing an unprecedented legal action against the state.

Severe understaffing, overcrowding, violence, drug use and a lack of adequate medical and mental healthcare and basic necessities have fueled a crisis in the state’s prisons for years. But the horrific state of Alabama’s prisons has begun to attract new attention as those affected have posted videos using the #prisontoks and #alabama hashtags to highlight the parlous state of affairs.