Open Letter on Conditions at Arrendale State Prison

Every time I drive down highway 365 towards Atlanta, right before I hit Jaemor Farms and the Schoolbus Graveyard, I see a sign on the side of the road that reads “Arrendale State Prison” with an arrow pointing down another asphalt laden road. Whenever I pass that sign, I think about the women incarcerated at the facility and the individuals incarcerated at facilities across Georgia. I have never met any of them, and I have never seen any of them. They are, for all intents and purposes, invisible to me and the countless other people driving south to Atlanta or north to North Carolina.

While I do not know them personally, they exist. They appear in my mind every time I drive past the green sign on the side of the road. The women incarcerated at Arrendale are counted in the 2020 census as residing in Habersham County and Georgia’s Ninth Congressional District for the next decade, thus impacting voting districts. Ultimately, then, these women are the constituents of the representatives of the city of Alto, Habersham County, Georgia’s Ninth Congressional District, and Georgia itself. However, they cannot vote and when they speak about the atrocities and inhumane treatment that they receive within the confines of the prison, their representatives and the community turn a deaf ear.