This is the category for the Tell My Story system.
In 1996, newly appointed GDC Commissioner Wayne Garner responded to a published inmate letter by systematically removing prison amenities and allegedly authorizing a violent raid on Hays State Prison. This account details the removal of equipment, alleged beatings, and subsequent cover-up attempts that led to Garner’s removal.
For 27 years, a mother has watched her son serve time for a crime he didn’t commit, repeatedly denied parole despite completing every program and excelling at work. She shares the emotional toll of the system and questions: how much time is enough?
In March 2020, a 58-year-old inmate was locked down with 63 other men in a cramped concrete dormitory at Macon State Prison during the COVID-19 outbreak. This firsthand account reveals the prison’s failure to provide basic health protections, medical testing, and adequate staffing—and how a journalist’s investigation briefly exposed the system’s deadly negligence.
After nearly ten years in Georgia’s prison system, an inmate reveals the deteriorating conditions of prison meals—from roaches and mold to bone shards and severe malnutrition. He exposes how budget cuts and unpaid labor have created a healthcare crisis affecting thousands.
At 52 years old with no criminal record, she entered county jail thinking it was a formality. Two years later, she was released—all charges dropped, but everything lost. Her story exposes the dehumanizing conditions of pretrial detention and her journey from inmate to criminal justice advocate.
Working in Telfair’s tier unit during a sweltering July, I witnessed an act of deliberate cruelty I’ll never forget. The Unit Manager intentionally turned on the heat in cells already baking from metal-plated windows, telling staff these men were ‘supposed to be punished.’ That same officer now runs Georgia’s largest prison.
After snapping mentally and committing murder, this military veteran received life without parole. Seventeen years later, he shares how he earned a college degree, found faith, and chooses redemption daily despite gang violence, officer shortages, and a system that offers no hope of release.
Incarcerated at 17, now 50, this narrator has survived 32 years navigating constant violence, isolation, and institutional neglect. Through contraband cell phones that became lifelines to family and education, he maintained his humanity while learning to survive in what he describes as a war zone.
At 19, I received 17 years for armed robbery—the take was $140, split two ways. Seventy dollars cost me my twenties and thirties. Between 1992 and 2009, I survived four Georgia prisons, learning hard lessons about violence, exploitation, and what it takes to hold onto hope when the system tells you you’ll die inside.
After two years in solitary confinement at county jail, I arrived at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison expecting the worst. What I found was beyond imagination—violence, medical neglect, and conditions that would be illegal for shelter animals.