Time to Open Up ACC JailS Campaign
For six years, hundreds of people inside the Athens-Clarke County Jail have lived without a hug from their children, a visit from their parents, or the comfort of seeing a familiar face across a table. No hands held. No eye contact without a screen. No human presence beyond guards and concrete walls.
What began as an emergency response to COVID has quietly hardened into a permanent policy of isolation.
In 2020, Sheriff Williams suspended in-person visitation at the jail, citing public health concerns and the need to protect a vulnerable population from the spread of COVID-19. At the time, many accepted the decision as a necessary precaution. But the world has changed. Vaccines are widely available, public spaces have reopened, and correctional facilities across Georgia—including state prisons have resumed in-person visitation.
Yet the doors at the ACC Jail remain closed.
The health justification for this policy has long passed. What remains is an unnecessary and deeply harmful practice that punishes people without due process, fractures families, undermines reentry, and shields jail conditions from public view. It is time to end COVID-era isolation and restore in-person visitation at the ACC Jail.
The vast majority of people incarcerated in the ACC Jail have not been convicted of a crime. They are pretrial detainees who, under the U.S. Constitution, are presumed innocent. Many are jailed not because a judge found them dangerous, but because they are too poor to afford bail. Others are being held for extended periods to ensure their appearance in court or out of concern for public safety. Some have waited one, two, even three years for their day in court.
There is no justification for a blanket ban that prevents these individuals from seeing their spouses, children, parents, siblings, friends, or community caregivers. Denying this most basic form of human contact amounts to the harshest punishment—imposed before guilt has been proven.
The harm does not stop at the jail doors.
Families suffer deeply when visitation is denied, especially children. When a parent is incarcerated, children often experience sudden upheaval—new caregivers, new neighborhoods, new schools. That trauma is compounded when the parent is effectively erased from their daily life, reduced to phone calls and video screens. Regular, in-person visitation allows children to maintain emotional bonds that are essential to their well-being and stability. It reminds them that their parent still exists, still loves them, still matters.
This is why AADM has launched the “Time to Open the ACC Jail” Campaign for Jail visitations.
The campaign calls for the immediate restoration of in-person visitation at the ACC Jail as a matter of human dignity, constitutional rights, and public accountability. AADM is urging local officials, the Sheriff’s Department, and county leadership to implement a clear, safe, and accessible visitation policy that centers families, children, and community caregivers, not profit-driven video visitation systems or administrative convenience.
In-person visitation is also essential for transparency.
Most people incarcerated in the ACC Jail will return to the Athens community within a year or two. The Sheriff’s Department itself has acknowledged this reality, recently highlighting programs aimed at supporting reentry and reducing recidivism. These programs are important but they are no substitute for sustained connection to family, friends, and community support networks. The State of Georgia recognizes this truth and permits regular in-person visitation at its prisons.
If in-person visitation is safe and appropriate for people serving long-term sentences in state facilities, it is indefensible to deny it to people who have not been convicted of any crime.
Community-based organizations play a critical role in supporting incarcerated people, particularly those with limited resources or no family in the area. Groups such as the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement (AADM), Oconee Street United Methodist Church’s Bail Fund Project, and others provide advocacy, support, and bail assistance. Their work is severely hampered by restrictions that prevent them from meeting with incarcerated individuals in person to assess needs, build trust, and help people prepare for life beyond incarceration.
We know from Sheriff Williams that staffing levels remain dangerously low, even as the jail population hovers around 500 people. Without visitation, the Athens community is left in the dark about daily conditions inside the jail. This lack of transparency is especially alarming following the recent deaths of four relatively young incarcerated people, still under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
In-person visitation lets families see their loved ones, stay connected, and reduces reliance on costly video systems—providing support where it matters most.
How the Community Can Support the AADM Campaign for Jail Visitations
Restoring visitation will not happen without public pressure. Community members can support the campaign by:
Contacting the Sheriff’s Office and ACC Commissioners to demand the reinstatement of in-person jail visitation and for a clear timeline and policy for reopening visitation
Attending public meetings and work sessions to raise the issue on the public record
Support the AADM Freedom Fund that provides bail assistance, advocacy, and reentry support
Share your story — especially if you are formerly incarcerated, a family member, or a caregiver—about the real harm isolation causes to people and families.
Check on your love one’s behind bars: Give them hope and human connection.
Isolation should never be normalized. It should never become policy by default.
The time has come to open up the jail, not just its doors, but our commitment to human dignity, constitutional rights, and community accountability.
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