Sheqweetta Vaughan Should Be Alive. Demand Accountability Now.

Sheqweeta Vaughan should be alive! Instead she died alone inside a hot and poorly ventilated segregation cell inside the Lee Arrendale State Prison on the morning of July 9. Temperatures that day reached 90 degrees, speeding up the decomposition of her body.

For the second time in two years, a decomposing body has been discovered inside a Georgia run prison. Georgia’s corrections policy requires officers to check on inmates in segregation at least every 30 minutes. The Deputy Habersham County coroner, Dr. Kenneth Franklin, said “That degree of decomposition doesn’t come within 30 minutes, within an hour, or within two hours”. 

This is more than a personal tragedy. It’s a failure of a system that treats Black lives as disposable. Officers were required to check on her every 30 minutes. Instead, Sheqweetta was left to die, alone and ignored.

We cannot allow the Georgia Department of Corrections to bury the truth.

Sheqweetta, a new mother, deserved dignity. She deserved life. She deserved to see her child grow up. Together, we can demand justice in her name and fight for a system that values every life.

Here is the Petition:

• Open an independent investigation into Sheqweetta Vaughan’s death.
• Immediate release of segregation unit logs and surveillance footage.
• Accountability for staff who failed to conduct required wellness checks.
• A statewide plan to address unsafe conditions in Georgia prisons.