NORTHUMBERLAND, Pa. — Alexander Schaffner returned to his home school district in a small, rust-belt town in central Pennsylvania, but not as an alumnus.

On Thursday, Schaffner was shackled by the hands and feet, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and guarded by officials from the Northumberland County Prison system as he sat in the gymnasium of the new Shikellamy Middle School in Northumberland, in front of some of his former teachers.

He and another inmate were brought to the school by Warden Bruce Kovach to talk to the eighth-grade class about the consequences of drug use.

The 19-year-old Sunbury resident was once a good, athletic student who participated in the wrestling and baseball programs. He dropped out in his sophomore year. 

“I wish I was back on your side,” Schaffner said to the students. 

Principal Mary Murphy-Kahn and Assistant Principal Steve Renn said they remember Schaffner when he was in school.

“He was sitting in these bleachers,” Murphy-Kahn told the students. “He was you.”

“I watched Alex play baseball,” Renn said. “To see him like this, that’s upsetting.”

Schaffner and fellow inmate Logan Foust, 20, of nearby Coal Township, both told their stories to the students. Schaffner and Faust are both county inmates at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institute in Coal Township for drug and theft charges.

Schaffner is behind bars for the third time in eight months. Faust for the fourth time. Both inmates delivered a similar message last week at Shamokin Area High School, but this one hit closer to home for Schaffner.

Schaffner said started using painkillers to treat injuries from wrestling, and eventually started abusing them, buying them illegally and stealing from friends, family and strangers to feed his habit. He eventually starting using harder substances like heroin.

Foust described the cells as 60-square-foot rooms where he spends 145 hours a week and must share a toilet, table and bunk beds with another person.

“You can’t even look out the window because they’re spraypainted over,” Foust said.

Several of the students said they learned a lot from the inmates.

“(I learned) how dangerous drugs can be, how they had good careers or school and it turned around due to simple drugs,” said Ben Heemstra, 14, of Northumberland.

“Doing a few simple drugs you think are harmless can mess up your family and put you in jail for a long time,” said Drew Balestrini, 13, of Sunbury.

Kovach has already brought inmates to other high schools in the area and he plans to return for another grade level.

Sunbury District Judge Benjamin Apfelbaum, also a special guest speaker, told the students why he supported bringing the drug assembly to such a young age.

“I would rather you be a little bit scared than totally unprepared for it,” he said. “We all make mistakes, but this is a big one.”

Strawser writes for the Sunbury, Pennsylvania Daily Item.