In transition — reported converted to a transitional center (women) · State Prison · GDC

Lee Arrendale State Prison

Alto, Habersham County, Georgia

An independent guide — not the facility's own website. The phone number below reaches the facility directly.

Visiting schedules change without notice. Always call before traveling.

Call Visiting Office: (706) 776-4700 Info last verified: September 2026

Long Georgia's largest women's prison and its statewide women's intake center, in Alto — organizations working with women in GDC custody report it has been converted to a transitional center, so confirm a person's location on GDC's locator first.

Statewide rules that apply at every Georgia state prison

These rules are set by GDC and apply at every unit. The full list — including all permitted and prohibited items and the approval process — is in Visiting in Georgia.

Dress code

Shirts must cover the chest, shoulders, back, and waist; women's slacks, dresses, or skirts may be no more than two inches above the knee, and a complete set of foundation garments (bra, slip, and underwear) is required.
No tank, halter, tube, or thin-strap tops, nothing sheer or transparent, and nothing that bares the midriff.
No shorts or above-the-knee slacks for anyone 12 or older (children under 12 may wear shorts); shoes are required for every visitor.

ID: Every visitor must first be approved on the person's visiting list — apply on GDC's Application for Visitation Privilege, mailed to the prison (the warden has 14 working days to decide) — and visitors 16 and older must show a government-issued photo ID, which is held during the visit. The visiting list can be changed only when the person reaches a permanent facility or during May or November.
What to bring: Bring only a photo ID, a car key, and up to $20 in coins (or a vending debit card where accepted). No outside food or drink (store-bought baby formula is the exception), and no phones, cameras, or bags; money for the person is sent through JPay, never handed over at a visit.
Scheduling: Visits are by appointment through GDC's online portal, on Saturdays, Sundays, and state holidays in two-hour blocks; requests for a given week are accepted Monday through Wednesday. A newly received person in diagnostic status is generally not eligible for visits until reaching a permanent prison.

Full statewide rules: Visiting in Georgia

Organizations that work directly with women in GDC custody report that Lee Arrendale no longer operates as a prison and now functions as a transitional center. That matches the plan GDC announced in 2023: wind down the prison, move roughly 1,000 women to other women’s prisons — including the state-run women’s prison at McRae that opened in 2025 — and keep a small transitional center on the Alto campus. GDC’s own published pages have not been updated to reflect a completed change: as of the date below, its facility list still shows Lee Arrendale State Prison (special mission, capacity about 1,476) alongside the Arrendale Transitional Center (minimum security, about 117 beds, phone (706) 776-0845, mail to P.O. Box 186, Alto, GA 30510) on the same campus.

What this means in practice: check GDC’s Find an Offender before doing anything else. A woman previously held at Lee Arrendale may now be at McRae Women’s Facility, Pulaski, Whitworth, Emanuel, or another facility, and each has its own visiting arrangements and mailing address. If the locator shows the person at Arrendale, call the facility to confirm which operation holds her and how visiting works before traveling or sending mail.

Overview

Lee Arrendale, on Gainesville Highway in Alto, Habersham County, has long been Georgia’s largest women’s prison and its statewide women’s diagnostic and intake center — a close-security facility with capacity for about 1,476 women, housing the state’s death row for women. In 2023, GDC announced it would convert the site to a roughly 112-bed minimum-security transitional center and transfer most of the population to other women’s prisons, a move tied to the opening of the state-run women’s prison at McRae in January 2025.

Organizations that work directly with women in GDC custody have since told this site the conversion has happened — that the site now operates as the Arrendale Transitional Center, a small work-release facility, rather than as a prison. GDC has not announced the change on its website, which still lists both the prison and the transitional center, and it has not published where the women’s diagnostic function or death-row housing now sit. For any individual woman, the authoritative answer is GDC’s Find an Offender, which shows her current facility.

What This Means for Families

A woman who was at Lee Arrendale may have been transferred. Check the locator before traveling, sending mail, or submitting a visiting application — applications go to the specific facility that holds the person.
Intake may no longer happen here. GDC has long processed newly sentenced women at Lee Arrendale for diagnostic assessment; GDC has not published a replacement intake site. The locator shows where a newly received woman actually is.
The transitional center is a different operation. It is a minimum-security work-release facility of about 117 beds with its own phone, (706) 776-0845, and its own mailing address, P.O. Box 186, Alto, GA 30510. Transitional centers run their own visiting arrangements — contact the center directly.

Visiting

The statewide GDC rules — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID, and item limits — apply at GDC facilities, including transitional centers. As of the date at the top of this page:

The full approval process is in Visiting in Georgia.

Getting There and Parking

The facility is on Gainesville Highway in Alto, along the GA-365 corridor northeast of Atlanta.

Distances are approximate, based on map routing. Visitor parking is on site.

Nearby Services

Alto, Cornelia, and Gainesville have the closest gas, food, and lodging; Atlanta, about 75 miles southwest, has the fullest range. The nearest 24-hour emergency room is Northeast Georgia Medical Center–Habersham in Demorest, about 9 miles away.

Mail

Confirm the person’s location on the locator before mailing anything — mail sent to a facility that no longer holds the person is delayed or returned. Mail to someone the locator shows at this site goes to the address the locator lists, with the person’s full name and GDC ID number; the prison’s published address is P.O. Box 709 and the transitional center’s is P.O. Box 186, both in Alto, GA 30510. Books and magazines must come from a publisher or established retailer, and legal mail is opened only in the person’s presence. Full rules are in Mail & Packages.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone in a Georgia state prison:

Visiting in Georgia — the approved list, dress code, and the appointment portal
Mail & Packages — addressing mail and the publisher-only rule
Phone & Video Calls — Securus calls and tablet messaging
Sending Money — depositing through JPay
Medical & Mental Health — the co-pay, grievances, and the Ombudsman
Transfers & Finding Someone — intake, permanent assignment, and the locator

Sources

This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.