The Daily Show: Ears Edition Bondi Spins Out Over Epstein Questions & Olympian Confesses Affair on Live TV | Andrew Jarecki
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Feb 12, 2026 
Andrew Jarecki, filmmaker known for The Alabama Solution, discusses his multi-year probe into Alabama prisons using contraband cell-phone footage. They cover how inmates became documentarians, the role of hidden videos in exposing abuses, and the retaliation faced by those who spoke out. The conversation focuses on investigation, accountability, and the power of evidence.
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Prison Story Emerged From Hidden Footage
- Andrew Jarecki discovered the Alabama prison story after getting rare access and then being told inmates had contraband phones revealing hidden abuses.
- The film evolved into a seven-year collaboration with incarcerated men who used phones to document systemic brutality.
Phones Became Tools Of Witnessing
- Contraband phones arrived in Alabama prisons around 2013 and became tools for both connection and documentation.
- Jarecki says inmates used phones intentionally to expose abuses and communicate with loved ones despite risks.
Guards Profited From Contraband Markets
- Guards sold phones and drugs, doubling some guards' income and entrenching the contraband economy.
- Jarecki recounts guards admitting they earned far more from illicit sales than their official salaries.