At least 30 cell phones were seized in a post-riot search at Holman Prison in Atmore. News and pictures of the riot reached the outside world on social media.

Which, in Alabama, is a crime.

But the burning question is how, in a prison system in which cell phones are considered to be a huge problem and a kind of contraband that will not be tolerated, can inmates charge their phones?

It's not like there are electrical outlets in the cells or anything.

One inmate answered my question. On his illegal cell phone.

"There are places in some cell blocks where you can plug it in, but you have to sit there and guard it," he said. "In the civilized world we wire it into the light system and take it down when it is unneeded."

Ingenious?

Nah, he says. Just part of being in prison.

"There are people in here who can take a double-edged razor blade and turn it into a knife just like that. You can do just about anything if you have to."

They do have plenty of time to think about it.