Lockup: Holman Correctional Facility

Documentary producer Hillary Heath took a camera crew to Atmore, Alabama to get a look at life inside a prison where some of America’s most violent inmates are housed.

The Doc Block staff asked documentary producer Hillary Heath via e-mail about filming “LOCKUP: Holman Correctional Facility.”

Doc Block: Over the years Holman has made a name for itself as a dangerous place to serve time.  How do the inmates describe the prison?

Hillary Heath, LOCKUP Inside producer: Since it opened in the late 1960's, Holman has had a reputation for being the most violent prison in the state.  When I asked inmates to describe the place they used names like “The Slaughterhouse,” “Slaughter Pen of the South” and “House of Pain,” which all refer to the frequent stabbings that used to occur there.  “The Bottom” and “The Pit” speak to its geographical location in the southernmost part of the state.  As one inmate described it, in Alabama “you can’t get any lower than this.”

According to both staff and inmates Holman is not nearly as dangerous as it used to be. Since Warden Grantt Culliver’s arrival, violence among inmates is down.  But within the prison community reputations die hard.  Holman’s deeply southern locale only adds to its mystique. The fact is many of the inmates there are serving lengthy sentences for violent crimes including murder. The potential for violence is still very real.

Today Holman is grossly overcrowded. Originally built to house 500 inmates, the facility now holds 1000 men. The warden told me his biggest challenge is finding enough qualified people willing to work in what is perhaps Alabama’s most notorious prison.

Doc Block: The inmates talked about the heat in the prison, mostly in the summer. You were there in mid to late June.  How did it seem to you?

Heath: Warden Culliver invited us to a weekly staff meeting where the main topic of discussion was whether there was adequate ventilation throughout the prison. It was late June, and southern Alabama’s 100-degree temperatures had begun to set in.  Air conditioning is a luxury the prison cannot afford. Hundreds of industrial fans run constantly as a means of cooling down the facility. The hum of these fans is clearly audible throughout the documentary.

The hottest place by far was the kitchen where inmate workers sweat it out for hours each day. The kitchen felt like a sauna. Within minutes, we were all covered in sweat. While the 30-cent-an-hour jobs at Holman are highly coveted, I spoke to one kitchen worker who told us he couldn’t wait to transfer out.

Doc Block: What were your impressions of the inmates who are members of the Aryan Brotherhood and other hate groups talking about “being able to take over the prison” if they wanted to?  Warden Culliver seems to take it in stride.

Heath: As Warden Culliver pointed out in his interview, white supremacy is far less influential at Holman than at other prisons. This is clearly due to the fact that nearly 70% of the population is African American.

As with most correctional facilities across the U.S., these kinds of groups are an undeniable fact of prison life. I met Steven Parker in segregation where he was serving time for assaulting another prisoner. According to his account, he slit the inmate’s jugular vein after a deal over a tattoo went awry. Steven had hoped to add another swastika to his already budding collection. He used racist, anti-Semitic language in our interview.  MSNBC chose to bleep one of his more offensive phrases.

Steven went on to reveal that he’d recently become a “ranking” member of the Southern Brotherhood. He refused to explain his rank or much of anything about the group itself, but confirmed his belief in white supremacy. Steven’s back story is important. He is serving life without parole for murdering his stepmother and almost killing his father.  In his interview he spoke a lot about violence. Like most of the guys in segregation, he also expressed frustration over his current situation.  When I asked Steven what he thought his biggest problem was, he answered, “I guess I hate too much.”

I also asked him how he remains an active and ranking member of this group from a segregation cell in a predominantly black prison? Steven told me it was simple: through the mail. 

Doc Block: There’s a scene in the documentary where a staff member describes what is and isn’t allowed to go through the mail.  Some of it can get pretty risqué.  Can you tell us a little more about the rules, and some of the crazy things she sees?

Heath: The mailroom serves as the main communication artery for the entire prison. Anything and everything you can imagine passes though there from greeting cards and letters to legal documents, magazines, newspapers, care packages and other items. There is also plenty of contraband.

Kyra Guyton showed us some of the items in the “reject” pile.  Among them was a letter from Steven Parker addressed to another inmate. The letter contained hateful language and made threats against Warden Culliver and the prison administration.

We watched as Guyton screened hundreds of pieces of incoming mail. She told us that it is not uncommon to find money, drugs and what the prison defines as pornography.  While "Playboy" and "Hustler" are banned, other seemingly racy men’s magazines like "Maxim" are approved as long as the images don’t reveal a breast’s nipple or the outline of genitals. Guyton also explained that even though the June issue of "Maxim" might be approved, July’s edition might just as easily be rejected. 

Doc Block: What did you learn about julep, the prison whiskey? How do inmates make it and how do officers track it down? What did it smell like and how strong is it?

Heath: On our last day at Holman we followed several officers as they searched for julep.  The 4th of July is a notorious party weekend at Holman and the staff was pretty confident they would find some. After a 30-minute search an officer found a gallon of the stuff inside one inmate’s locker. The mixture resembled raw sewage; brown liquid, with dark chunks floating in. But the smell was not as vile as I’d imagined.  It had an aroma of a combination of prunes and sourdough bread.

Several of the men accused the administration of planting the contraband for the purposes of our camera.  But there is no denying that julep is among the many forms of contraband that can be found at Holman. The recipe for this prison brew is simple: sugar, fruit, yeast and water- all items that can be found within the facility. Let the liquid sit for a few days in the stifling Alabama heat and voila! Julep.

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