#EndMassIncarceration Archives

Decarceration IS Inevitable — Georgia Can Choose How, or Let the Courts Decide

Decarceration is a choice for now. Until the courts get involved.

Georgia’s prison system is collapsing. With 100+ homicides in 2024, record deaths, DOJ findings of unconstitutional conditions, and $700 million in new spending that failed to improve safety, decarceration is no longer optional. Evidence from New York, California, and Europe proves it works.

Georgia’s 2026 Legislative Session: A Second Chance for Real Parole Reform

Georgia’s 2026 legislative session could finally bring transparency and fairness to parole. With SB 25 and the new *Second Chance Parole Reform Act of 2026*, advocates are demanding written explanations, video hearings, and real opportunities for release. Learn how families can act now and use Impact Justice AI to push lawmakers for change.

The Price of Love: How Georgia’s Prisons Bleed Families Dry

For many families in Georgia, having a loved one behind bars doesn’t mean only missing birthdays and phone calls—it means chronic financial strain. A new national study finds that families who provide direct support to incarcerated relatives spend on average 6 % of their household income each month just to cover direct costs like commissary items, hygiene products and phone calls.
When that national figure meets the realities inside Georgia’s prison system—sky-high commissary mark‐ups, inadequate meals that force reliance on overpriced snacks—the results are devastating.

Sheqweetta Vaughan’s Death at Arrendale Prison: Another Tragedy of Neglect in Georgia

On July 9, 2025, Sheqweetta Vaughan, a 32-year-old mother incarcerated at Lee Arrendale State Prison in Georgia, was found dead in her cell. By the time staff discovered her, her body was already decomposing. Her death is not only a tragedy—it’s a stark indictment of the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) and how it treats …

📢 The FCC wants to allow prison cell phone jammers. In Georgia’s understaffed prisons, phones aren’t just contraband—they’re lifelines that save lives. Families must speak NOW.

Read why and how to contact the FCC to voice your opinion

Record Every Call: How to Expose Contempt and Abuse

When Georgia families call the GDC, they’re often ignored, belittled, or cursed at — and left in the dark about whether their loved one was stabbed, hospitalized, or even died. Georgia is a one-party consent state. Record every call. Show the world how GDC treats families.

The Hidden Violence in Georgia’s Prisons: Beyond the Death Toll

For every person killed in Georgia’s prisons, as many as 12 to 18 others are stabbed, slashed, or beaten so severely they require hospitalization. In 2024, that means nearly 1,200 men and women left with permanent scars, organ loss, or lifelong trauma — violence the state never counts.

Slavery by Another Name: Forced Labor in Georgia Prisons

Prisoner planting crops at Georgia prison, inmates in orange uniform working outdoors, highlighting issues of incarceration and forced labor in Georgia, Georgia Prisoners' Speak.

Slavery never ended in Georgia—it just changed names. Today, thousands of incarcerated people are forced to work for free sustaining state agencies and private corporations under threat of punishment. This is slavery by another name.

Why Georgia Hasn’t Had Its Attica—Yet

Inmate speech at Georgia prison highlighting issues related to detention, incarceration, and prisoner rights.

Despite horrific conditions, Georgia’s prisons haven’t erupted like Attica—yet. Fear, fragmentation, and surveillance suppress rebellion, but pressure is building. This exposé examines why no major uprising has happened, and what must change before one does.

Unconstitutional: Georgia’s Extrajudicial Punishment

When judges hand down prison sentences, the punishment is supposed to match the crime. But in Georgia, the real sentence isn’t what’s on paper—it’s what happens behind the walls: violence, medical neglect, and trauma that far exceed what the law allows. This isn’t just a moral crisis. It’s a constitutional one.