“A system working exactly as intended”: a firsthand indictment of the violence, abandonment, and cruelty at the heart of American incarceration.
Bullock: Chronicles of Deprivation and Despair in an American Prison is not simply a book about conditions inside one of Alabama’s most notorious prisons—it is a collective testimony, a record of survival and resistance, and a call to confront the prison system as an instrument of state violence. Through a series of in-depth interviews with prisoners at Bullock Correctional Facility, journalist and writer Matthew Vernon Whalan brings forward the voices of people most often silenced: those who have lived, suffered, and endured inside the largest prison system in the world today.
Overcrowded to 150% of its capacity, flooded with fentanyl and sewage alike, and structurally collapsing, Bullock is presented here not as an outlier but as emblematic of the American carceral state. Through the words of people like Derek, Jordan, and Cecile, we hear of prisoners with untreated HIV and seizure disorders shackled to hospital beds; people sleeping on concrete floors without blankets in freezing temperatures; elders and people with disabilities extorted, ignored, and assaulted with impunity; a dorm flooded with feces on Christmas Eve. And we learn how state officials—fully aware of these conditions—have responded with indifference, cover-ups, and profiteering, including the diversion of federal COVID relief funds to build more prisons.
This is not journalism in the abstract. Whalan’s work is a direct intervention against the cultural and political forces that normalize prison as a solution. He refuses to flatten his subjects into statistics or morality tales, instead allowing them to narrate their own experience, contradictions and all. In the process, Bullock offers a rare and unflinching look into the everyday horror of incarceration, grounded in the legacy of lawsuits like Pugh v. Locke, which decades ago declared Alabama’s prisons cruel and unusual—a ruling that remains brutally relevant today.
With a foreword by Eddie Burkhalter of Alabama Appleseed, Bullock is a document of deep listening and political urgency. It shows how prison is not failing but functioning: as a regime of disposability, where lives are discarded and death is bureaucratized. It dares readers—especially those on the outside—to grapple with what it means to organize in solidarity with the incarcerated, and to confront the larger system that makes such cruelty inevitable.
For those committed to abolition, justice, and the dignity of all people, this book is essential reading.
What People Are Saying
“The conditions of prisoners are ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for most Americans who don’t know anyone on the inside. If we’re going to be honest about this, most of us would prefer to look away. Whalan doesn’t, and his work is immensely valuable. He lets us hear from prisoners themselves, in their own words. Anyone who’s serious about doing something about the injustices that afflict our criminal justice system needs to listen.” Ben Burgis, professor of philosophy, author of Give Them an Argument, contributor to MSNBC and Jacobin
“Whalan is a voice of our generation reminding us that prisoners are people—and deserve to be treated with dignity, starting with the conditions of their immediate environments. Bullock isn’t the only prison with myriad issues: overcrowding, violence, poor medical treatment, unsanitary facilities, and more. But Whalan’s thorough reporting shows us exactly what life is like in these circumstances, direct from the people living it.” Kat Bodrie, founder & editor of bramble press, co-author of Digging Deep: Writing for Self-Discovery, Healing, & Transformation
"In Bullock, Matthew Vernon Whalan takes us deep into the bowels of the U.S. carceral system. It's a bumpy, dark ride, at times infuriating, and other times hopeful. A must-read for anyone looking to understand life inside the country's ever-expanding prison industrial complex." Joshua Frank, CounterPunch
“Whalan’s reporting on Bullock prison humanizes inmates and gives us a unique look into the world behind bars. This is essential context for anyone interested in the US criminal system.” Eoin Higgins, author of Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left
About the Author
Matthew Vernon Whalan is a writer and oral historian living in New England. His work has appeared in Counterpunch Magazine, Alabama Political Reporter, Scheer Post, Jacobin, Eunoia Review, New York Journal of Books, The Brattleboro Reformer, and elsewhere. He runs the publication Hard Times Reviewer at hardtimesreviewer.substack.com.