I whip my head to the right!

It is Tuesday morning and already this week has been ridiculous.

Yesterday's tour was a crazy experience. I will save myself the mortification and NOT mention what happened on the drive to the prison... just suffice it to say it was hard to get out of bed this morning. I will never forget it, that's for sure.

Once we arrived at the prison, we had to trek through the rain to go inside. We surrendered our shoes at the metal detector and, once scanned and deemed safe, we traded our drivers' licenses for visitor passes so that we could tour through the facility without concern. We started with a nice powerpoint presentation about the prison's statistics, general history, etc. and then we visited the inmates in a cellblock devoted to prisoners who are 'permanent residents,' meaning that, regardless of the timeframe, they will stay at Jackson until the end of their sentence and not be transferred elsewhere. They had a special uniform to denote this information and most were able to mingle about normally. I assume because of this that they were not 'dangerous criminals.' They even thanked us military-style ("SIR! MA'AM!") for coming.

From there, we went to death row. It was pretty sobering. These inmates, of course, were required to stay within their 6x9s and we were under complete lockdown whilst inside this portion of the prison. This meant that you could not get in or out of a cell, even with a key. A guy called a 'cert' accompanied us for this leg of the tour. Based on his appearance, I guess 'cert' means "a really HUGE black guy with so many muscles, even his ears were muscular." As we were leaving this area, one of the inmates called out to us. He actually had been tried and sentenced in our county...and I later learned he was 'the' Silver Comet Trail killer. Eerie.

After that lovely walk through Hell, we visited 'general population' where temporary-ish inmates are housed. These are the lesser offenders - probably about 30 men in dorm-style fashion. I imagine there were more gen-pop dorms, but we only toured one. What really floored me was the set-up for bathroom and showering facilities. You would literally have to go to the restroom sitting next to someone else. No partitions, no doors of course; basically, NO privacy. It was unreal.

The last portion of our tour was to see where executions take place. To get to this area of the prison, we had to trek through the downpour yet again. See, Jackson is the place in GA where all executions occur, by lethal injection. We were able to learn the process, see the 'bed,' and even see the old electric chair from back when that was the, er, method. This whole portion of the day gave me some serious willies.

All in all, the experience was amazing. It was a once in a lifetime sort of thing, so I am glad I was able to buck up and do it, despite the horrendous morning. I love being vague-ish.

"What doesn't kill you (or mortify you beyond all comprehension) only makes you stronger!"

In other news...

My coworker had her baby early yesterday morning. He is a cutie! She and her husband opted not to know the gender until the baby was born - something I find incredibly sweet and wonderful, but something I myself would not be able to do. I am WAY too much of a control freak. Just sayin'.

What else? It's May, which is wacky. Time flies! I have now been out of college for one year and will celebrate my first wedding anniversary in a month! WOW! It's amazing to me what all has happened since then.

I suppose I will be on my way now. I'm somewhat 'hiding out' until lunchtime. I will have to go pick something up today, as I failed to pack a lunch this morning. Hmm. What do I want? Adios!