Arrendale State Prison

If anyone ever asks me if I have been to prison, I can honestly answer that question «yes». I was an awful child, and I was reminded of that on a frequent basis. I was bad enough that I went on a field trip with fellow classmates/​thugs/​gangbangers to Arrendale State Prison, aka Alto (the city it resides in). Mind you, this was over 15 years ago. And mind you, I remember most of that day like it was yesterday.
In fact, it left so much of an impression on me, when I came home from the mountains this past weekend, I took my best friend to the compound on a late Friday night, to show him what a prison looks like. It left so much of an impression, I wanted to write about it. The purpose of this review is to entertain, yet educate.
Alto started out as a TB hospital in 1926 and became a prison in 1951 (one of the oldest operating prisons in the state). It housed mostly male felons and some juveniles. I will never forget when I first approached the prison (we were on the short bus!) was the amount of razor wire and guard towers surrounding the place. There was a visitors lot, and we all walked in the front.
From that point on, we walked single file, with our hands behind our backs. We had to leave everything on the bus, and went through detector after detector. They then gave us a quick rundown of the prison, and the tour began.
We started in the booking area, where they had cages where you would pretty much be visually inspected head to toe, to make sure you are not smuggling anything, and then you got assigned to whatever fate you hold.
The first area we went to was pretty intense, as we went to the general population area, where there were about 60 felons bunking together, and they put us in there with them! Mind you, there was 17 people– including 2 teachers, and one female. No student was over 18 at the time. Thankfully, nothing happened in there. They then pulled one the guys aside, to tell his story (he was in there for murder), and it was just heart breaking. After that deputy downer, we got to walk outside to head to solitary.
Now solitary is the worst of the worst. I will never forget walking towards the building (with very small windows) and all you would hear were screams. And then we heard things like «hey #3 in line, I can’t wait to F*CK YOU!» (mind you, it was a teenage male they were referring to). So knowing we were heading into that building was… well…
There was a maximum security area we went into as well, for people on Witness Protection Program and stuff, but all you heard was screaming and yelling there too. I head a few people were murdered in that cell.
I could go on, but I think you can get the point… Alto was one of the most violent prisons in the state, so they actually turned it into an all female prison with special needs and programs to help them get back on their feet if they ever make it back to society– which I think is a great thing to give them something to live for at the end of the prison road. I even heard rapper «Da Brat» spent a few years here after whooping some ass in public.
I am a braindead mofo, but I will never forget that day I went to prison… It makes me thankful I was able to get out of that path.
I highly recommend if you ever have the free time to see if you can schedule a visit or a tour, just to learn about the system, and to learn of all the history. Hell yea it is morbid, but whatever– it’s still fascinating!