“I Am Telling You What I Saw”: A Letter From Georgia’s Women’s Prisons

17 women died at Arrendale and Pulaski over 27 months. For 12, no cause was made public. A formerly incarcerated doctor wrote to the lawmakers who fund these prisons. Read her letter: https://gps.press/i-am-telling-you-what-i-saw-a-letter-from-georgias-womens-prisons/

GPS's mortality registry counts 17 women who died at Lee Arrendale and Pulaski state prisons between June 2023 and August 2025. For 12 of those deaths, no cause has been made public. Dr. Rachelle Terry, who spent more than two years in those two facilities, wrote to the General Assembly and the Department of Corrections in September. "I am not telling you what I heard," she wrote. "I am telling you what I saw." Her letter asks for staffing, medical care that arrives in time, treatment for addiction, programs that actually run, and public reporting on all of it. Georgia's own records show a 52.5% average correctional officer vacancy rate in 2023, per DOJ findings. If the state can't say how 12 women died, what can it tell you about the women still inside? Read her full letter at the link.

17 women died at Lee Arrendale and Pulaski state prisons between June 2023 and August 2025, per GPS's mortality registry. For 12 of them, no cause of death has been made public. Dr. Rachelle Terry spent more than two years inside both facilities. In September, she wrote to the General Assembly and the Department of Corrections: "I am not telling you what I heard. I am telling you what I saw." Her letter asks for enough trained staff, medical care that comes in time, addiction treatment, programs that run, and public reporting on all of it. Read it in full at the link in our bio. #GeorgiaPrisons #WomensPrisons #GDC #PrisonAccountability #InvestigativeJournalism #GeorgiaPolitics

A formerly incarcerated Georgia woman has sent state lawmakers and the Department of Corrections a detailed account of conditions inside two women's prisons, backed by public records GPS reviewed independently. Dr. Rachelle Terry spent more than two years at Lee Arrendale and Pulaski state prisons. Over that same 27-month period, GPS's mortality registry counts 17 deaths at the two facilities; for 12 of them, no cause has been made public. DOJ findings put GDC's average correctional officer vacancy rate at 52.5% in 2023, the year she entered the system. Her letter asks for facility-level accountability that reaches wardens, timely medical care, addiction treatment, and public reporting that includes program cancellations caused by staffing shortages, a count GPS could not find in the Department's own inmate services reports. As of September 24, one state senator's office had responded; one representative's copy came back undeliverable. The full letter and the records behind it are published at GPS.