Stephanie Pedersen: Seeing familiar face during jail tour leads to reflection

I saw her, and she saw me. We locked eyes for a brief moment, and then she never looked my way again.

I knew she was ashamed to be there: Her on that end, myself on the other. But I knew she had made some bad decisions over the last few years, so I wasn't surprised to see her there.

That was the scene in the laundry room of the Muscogee County Jail when social issues reporter Alva James-Johnson and I toured the facility a little over a month ago.

My former classmate was an inmate who was helping with the laundry when I toured the jail.

I didn't just go to high school with her. We were friends until silly high-school rifts pushed us in other directions. I spent time with her and her family. I was even involved in my first car wreck on the way to pick her up for school one morning.

I look at mugshots every day. It's part of the job. And unfortunately I've seen more classmates' mugshots than you can imagine. There's a handful who are in and out of jail for mostly misdemeanors, but illegal drugs is usually the common denominator.

I have seen her mugshot at least twice since I've moved from sports to the news desk. From looking at the jail website, it appears she recently was released after almost five months there.

Nothing really surprises me now, but like most people in this industry, there are certain parts of random days that stick with you.

The tour of the facility was eye-opening. You can feel the potential for danger inside those walls. It's intense and sterile. We had two great men taking us on the tour, and still I felt the need to consistently look over my shoulder.

According to a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, Georgia's recidivism rate is near 40 percent. That means two out of every five people in our jails will eventually return.

My former classmate is one of those.

I would have still gotten a lot out of that tour if I hadn't run into her. It helped me understand the facility, the job of correctional officers and the sheriff's deputies, how the dorms function and the claustrophobic nature of a building that has very few windows.

But that moment with my old classmate made the jail real for me. Maybe it was actually being in the same space and seeing the effect of bad decisions or maybe I saw how quickly things can change.

But my main takeaway was this: That could have been me, because 15 years ago we weren't that different.

We took many of the same AP classes, and at one point we hung out with the same crowd. I've wondered since then what would have happened if we had remained friends.

Either way, our encounter has taught me that even small decisions can make a drastic impact on our lives. I didn't realize at the time how crucial those years and decisions were.

Stephanie Pedersen, senior editor, spedersen@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 11:09 PM with the headline "Stephanie Pedersen: Seeing familiar face during jail tour leads to reflection."