Holman also operates two major correctional industries within the facility's perimeter: a license plate plant and a sewing factory.

It was constructed for $5,000,000 during the administration of Governor Lurleen Wallace and Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner James T. Hagan.

[2] Due in part to legislative rules creating long-term penalties for drug crimes, the prison population at Holman and other facilities began to climb in the 1970s.

[9] Since Holman opened, it gained a reputation for being the most violent prison in Alabama, a situation exacerbated by the years of overcrowding.

[11] The city of Atmore annexed the land in the prison in 2008, in accordance with a request from the state department of corrections.

Eight of them were placed in solitary confinement, because warden Cynthia Smith said "significant safety and security concerns" to staff and other inmates would arise from them being placed in general population.

Those eight men began a hunger strike on March 18, 2019, each stating that: "I am not suicidal, but I'm doing this because I'm being held in Holman Correctional Facility segregation without any justifiable reasons why.

"[18] In late January 2020, the state announced most of the site would be closed due to severe deterioration of underground utilities that served the prison.

[21] In December 2018, press reports indicated the facility had only 72 of the 195 guards needed for routine operations without officers on overtime.

"[11] Heath reported that Holman inmates made "julep," a homegrown whiskey, using water, sugar, and yeast.

She described julep as a brown liquid with dark floating chunks, resembling raw sewage.

Violating rule 38 of ADOC policy requires an inmate to attend sex addiction courses.