Prisoners Who Appeared in HBO Documentary “The Alabama Solution” Are Being Punished and Isolated

I don’t normally write about higher profile prisoners opting instead to interview those prisoners who no one has heard of and have never accessed journalists before, for whatever reason. I don’t feel I’m contributing much unless I’m finding people I feel are really successfully hidden.

Recently, however, and especially in the last week, on the heels of the major HBO documentary about the horrendous conditions in Alabama’s prisons and the struggle for freedom and human rights inside of them, and with a statewide prisoner work stoppage looming in February, the Alabama Department of Corrections is working hard to keep the most prominent, often the most accessible and well known voices inside the prisons inaccessible and suppressed. So, I figured I’d try to make myself useful in a slightly different way this week.

As reported here earlier this week, from Tuesday night to Wednesday, in under 24 hours, three of the prisoners featured most prominently in the HBO documentary, Robert Earle Council (AKA “Kinetic Justice”), Melvin Ray, and Raoul Poole were suddenly transferred to Kilby Prison and lost contact with the free world. Melvin and Kinetic are two of the main figures within the prisoner-run Halifax County law group and the Free Alabama Movement. They were both transferred to Kilby the same day despite an ADOC written policy that they can never be in the same prison together.

From Wednesday on, I’ve been working to learn more about what is happening to these men and received a tip from inside the prison: The three men have all been taken to a basement, described initially to me as a “dungeon-like” area, which has six cells in it. Each of the three men has been placed alone into one of these cells. They are being denied contact with the free world. No prison tablets, no wall phone, no mail materials or writing materials. They’re not allowed out. No hall runner can see them to deliver their food or anything else. They’re not allowed contact with other prisoners for any reason. Only an armed guard can see them, and there is an armed guard watching them around the clock. Melvin and Raoul were each allowed one chance to make one phone call. Neither of them have been heard from since. Kinetic, who is the voice of the movement, has not been allowed to make a phone call. I was also told Raoul had stopped eating and taking his medication. I was told Melvin and Raoul used their single phone calls to try to reach their families, to give them these details and update them on the situation. I was told Melvin wasn’t able to get through to anyone. So, in an effort to corroborate these tips and learn more, I found my way to Raoul’s girlfriend Julie, 44, who is the person Raoul used that single phone call to contact before not having been heard from since. I interviewed her Sunday night.

She begins by recounting the events of this week, as she was told by Raoul in his one phone call.

“Raoul was taken on Wednesday via armed guard,” she says. “They had ARs and handguns. There was a car in front of him and a car behind him on the way from Bullock to Kilby. There, everything they came in with was taken. They had new clothes issued, new sheets, new towels. Nothing from Bullock were they allowed to take. The other two guys weren’t allowed to take anything from St. Clair or Limestone.

“They have nothing in their cells,” she continues. “They were put in solitary confinement. They’re five two-person cells. They are the only inmates down there. They are watched 24-7. Earle said he felt like he was like America’s most wanted terrorist coming in there. They have, like I said, nothing. They have a toothbrush, toothpaste, and soap, and that’s it.

“They don’t have their religious materials. They are not being told why they’re there, how long they’ll be there. We were able to get a legal visit on Friday and they told [the lawyer] when they went to see her that they had the entire dorms, all the other dorms, locked down so that they have not passed or seen another inmate since they’ve been there. I was one of the lucky ones.

“Raoul was able to call me on Thursday. The guards brought him a phone and he called me. He is highly concerned that, being down there, away from any witnesses, that they’ll try to put something in his food, that he is worried that if he takes medicine, blood pressure medicine and others, he is worried and concerned that they’ll put stuff in his food or put stuff with his medicine. He specifically mentioned James Sales from the documentary, how they took him out.”

I ask Julie, “Has he stopped eating and taking his meds as a result of that?”

“As of Friday, he was not eating,” says Julie.

“And do you know if he is taking his meds?” I ask.

“I don’t think he is,” she answers. After a pause, she elaborates, “He said, ‘If I go out, it’s going to be on my own accord, my own will, on my own terms, not them,’ that he is not going to let the ADOC take him out.”

Raoul had been in Bullock for a year and a half before this transfer to Kilby.

“This has been awful,” Julie continues. “Raoul and I have not ever had to go through something like this before. He’s always been able to get word to me as to what’s happening before it happens, or as it’s happening. This has just been out of nowhere. He hadn’t had any disciplinaries. He’s not on social media. He didn’t have a cell phone. None of this was… He was not posting on social media.

“His cousin has been trying to call down there and get any kind of answer. We just don’t understand why now, why him, just why. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without speaking to him. We would talk on the phone several times a day, and now it’s nothing.”

“Has he ever told you about anything else that could potentially be perceived as retaliation for his participation in the documentary, before this?” I ask.

“Yeah,” says Julie. “He’s had several issues with some COs at Bullock, where they would tell the open dorm that he was the police, and make claims against him, like that he was the police, and he said if it weren’t for the fact that everybody knew who he was in just about every camp he’d ever been assigned to — he has a reputation for being a solid guy, like they know who Raoul is and they know he’s not police — but I mean, if it hadn’t been for that, that could have been a death sentence for him if he was someone else.”

“Do you happen to know the names of any of the officers who said those things?” I ask.

“I wrote a lot of stuff down, so hang on,” says Julie.

While she’s looking, I ask, “When did they start telling people in the dorm that he was police?”

“December,” Julie answers.

“So, not long after the documentary came out,” I say. “And any other examples of—”

“Thomas,” Julie interjects.

“Oh, sorry, go ahead,” I say.

“Captain Thomas and Captain Jones,” Julie says, are the ones who tried to put Raoul’s life in danger by spreading false rumors to other prisoners that he was working with the police.

“Another aspect of this is the upcoming prisoner work strike looming in February. Do you feel that part of the retaliation is also about the planning of the work strike, trying to keep these particular figures away from other prisoners?” I ask.

“The fact that they’re trying to keep them so isolated from any other incarcerated person in Alabama’s prisons makes me think that’s what it is, but I mean, we have no way of knowing what the ADOC is thinking or doing or anything,” Julie replies.

“As a family member, as someone who cares about these guys and also about the issue in general, what are your hopes, concerns, or any thoughts or feelings about the upcoming work stoppage?” I ask.

“Raoul doesn’t have a job,” says Julie. “He hasn’t worked in prison since he was very first a runner down in Holman. That’s where he actually met Kinetic.” After a pause, adds, “There was one cool kind of thing. This is… Well, not ‘cool.’ But, this is the first time in 13 years that the three of them have been under one roof. I was like, man, they’re having a family reunion down there if it weren’t for any other situation.

“But, as far as the work stoppage,” she continues, “I mean, I’m not going to tell anyone not to use their first amendment rights for free speech, for protest, and I think it speaks to… The fact that the ADOC was taking away their commissary, cutting it in half to 50 dollars, the week that all this happened, the fact that the ADOC was doing that and then they had even threatened some camps with no visitation for February, it tells me — it shows me — that the strike in 2022 obviously had more of an impact than they’re willing to admit.”

“It seems like they are betting on the fact that the rest of the prisoners cannot pull off another successful work stoppage without these three guys,” I suggest.

“Right, and once they took Kinetic and isolated him from the last one,” says Julie, “that is kind of when it did die down, honestly. Also, I mean, it had been going on for almost three weeks, but it’s kind of like they… Kinetic is very charming and charismatic, and he is a great uniter.

“And so, I mean… But, again, Raoul has never been targeted like this. The only thing that he really has to do with it is the fact that he was in the film as well. He’s never had any kind of retaliation like this. It’s been verbal, and that’s been laughable, because people know who he is and they know he’s not police.

“I was talking to somebody that was starting a letter writing campaign, and she told me that Raoul had helped her with her son when, back in Donaldson, years ago — her son is out of prison now — but that she knew him, knew Raoul, because her son was in lockup and she was trying to get food to him, and Raoul helped her with that, and she’s like, ‘I’ve never forgotten it,’ and he helped her take care of her son, and she would do anything she can to help him, and that’s just the kind of person Raoul is. I mean, he is the strangest person to be behind bars. That’s for sure.”

This piece first appeared on Hard Times Reviewer.

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